Stockton, Calif. - The No. 72 Pacific men's tennis team outlasted No. 54 Pepperdine, 4-3, Saturday afternoon at Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center.
The Tigers picked up their third win of the year against a ranked opponent, and improved to 4-1 in West Coast Conference play, 12-9 overall.
Pacific earned the doubles point as Sem Verbeek & Alex Giannini finished off Stefan Menichella and Gabriel /Sidney, 6-3 at second doubles. At third position, Guilherme Hadlich & Jack Van Slyke answered with a 6-2 win over Bernardo Oliveira & Kumara Pardha Adavelly, 6-2.
Miguel Diaz & Jose Chamba clinched the point with a 6-4 victory over Lautaro Pane & Pedro Iamachkine.
In singles, Iamachkine won in straight sets over Giannini, 6-1, 6-4, at the fifth spot. At first singles, Verbeek downed Hadlich, 6-4, 6-1, to run his season record to 14-2 and win his fifth singles match in a row.
At sixth singles, Van Slyke pulled away from Adavelly, 7-5, 6-2, evening the match at 2-2. Diaz posted a second-set tie-breaker win in fourth singles over Sidney, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) as the Tigers led 3-2 on Diaz's 10th singles win of the season.
But Pane rallied for a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 win over Chamba at fourth singles as the match came down to court three.
Alameh completed a comeback win over Menichella by staving off elimination in the second set and prevailing in the third, 2-6, 7-5, 6-3. Alameh moved his record to 10-5 on the year with the match-clinching victory.
"What an epic match," head coach Ryan Redondo said. "We had great synergy in doubles, which was key. It was tooth and nail all the way through and everyone at Pacific was a part of that victory. Their were special moments all over that match and I am really proud of the team. They are the warriors in the arena and I give them full team effort-credit. Yet, the ride still goes on. We have big match on Wednesday against the Oregon Ducks at home. Practice is always our focus."
Pepperdine falls to 8-8 overall, 2-1 in WCC play.
Pacific will face No. 39 Oregon in a non-conference match at Eve Zimmerman Tennis Center on Wednesday. First serve is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
