March 25, 2006
FORT WORTH, Texas - The No. 32 TCU men's tennis team dropped a 4-0 decision to No. 2 Pepperdine Saturday evening at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
Freshman Kriegler Brink and senior Jacopo Tezza got the Frogs off to a strong start and excited the crowd with a decisive 8-2 victory at court No. 3 over Pepperdine's Richard Johnson and Omar Altmann.
The Waves' Ivor Lovrak and Pedro Rico, ranked No. 27 in the current ITA polls for doubles play, defeated sophomores Cosmin Cotet and Andrei Mlenda 8-4 at No. 2.
TCU's No. 33 doubles tandem of Rafael Abreu and Jordan Freitas battled in a see-saw match with the top-ranked doubles team in the country of Scott Doerner and Andre Beggeman to a 5-5 tie. Doerner and Beggeman were able to fight off Abreu and Freitas to take the match 8-5 and clinch the doubles point for Pepperdine.
66th-ranked Lovrak grabbed the first singles victory of the match with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Cotet at No. 3. Doerner, ranked No. 4 in singles play, followed with a 6-2, 6-2 victory versus 64th-ranked Mlendea.
No. 19 Rico clinched the match for Pepperdine with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over 70th-ranked Abreu.
TCU returns to action on Monday when it welcomes No. 26 California. Match time is slated for 2 p.m.
No. 2 Pepperdine def. No. 32 TCU, 4-0
Singles
1. No. 4 Scott Doerner (PEP) def. No. 64 Andrei Mlendea (TCU) 6-2, 6-2
2. No. 19 Pedro Rico (PEP) def. No. 70 Rafael Abreu (TCU) 6-2, 6-2
3. No. 66 Ivor Lovrak (PEP) def. Cosmin Cotet (TCU) 6-2, 6-2
4. Jacopo Tezza (TCU) vs. Andre Beggeman (PEP) 3-6, 5-4(DNF)
5. Jordan Freitas (TCU) vs. Richard Johnson (PEP) 6-1, 4-6, 2-0(DNF)
6. Radu Barbu (TCU) vs. Omar Altmann (PEP) 4-6, 6-2(DNF)
Note: TCU scores listed first in DNF matches
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
Doubles
No. 1 Doerner/Beggemen(PEP) def. No. 33 Abreu/Freitas (TCU) 8-5
No. 27 Lovrak/Rico (PEP) def. Cotet/Mlendea (TCU) 8-4
Brink/Tezza (TCU) def. Altmann/Johnson (PEP) 8-2
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
