The Stanford men’s tennis team’s season ended on Sunday with a loss to No. 13 Pepperdine in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The No. 22 Cardinal’s bid for an upset fell short in a 4-2 loss to the Waves in Malibu, Calif.

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Matt Bruch and the Cardinal saw their season come to a close on Saturday, as Stanford fell 4-2 to Pepperdine after taking an early lead in doubles play. #gallery http://daily.stanford.org/image/full/9172
Jaclyn Tandler

Matt Bruch and the Cardinal saw their season come to a close on Saturday, as Stanford fell 4-2 to Pepperdine after taking an early lead in doubles play.

The match started out with all the momentum in Stanford’s favor. The team played one of its best doubles points all season, winning convincingly at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles to secure the point. At No. 1, juniors Blake Muller and Matt Bruch beat No. 24-ranked Andre Begemann and Omar Altmann, 8-4, while sophomore Richard Wire and freshman Greg Hirshman won at No. 3 doubles over James Lemke and Mahmoud Kamel.

With Stanford up 1-0 after the break and only needing three out of six singles victories to move on, Pepperdine came out firing. They jumped ahead at No. 1 and 2 singles very quickly and never looked back.

“We were really excited about [doubles],” said head coach John Whitlinger. “We played a good doubles point. Everybody played the way they were capable of playing.”

Freshman Alex Clayton, Stanford’s leader in singles victories this year, fell to No. 11-ranked Begemann, 6-0, 6-3. Whitlinger described Begemann’s play simply, calling it “incredible.” Bruch, a two-time Pac-10 individual champion, was quickly bested by No. 37 Bassam Beidas, 6-0, 6-4. Senior Phil Kao lost to Kamel, 7-5, 6-0, and Pepperdine was up 3-1.

Muller then won at No. 4 singles to cut the lead to 3-2 after earning a straight sets victory over Lemke, 6-4, 6-0.

The final two singles matches both went to three sets. Stanford would need to win both of those matches to move on.

At No. 6 singles, Hirshman, a hero on two occasions earlier in the year for his match-clinching victories, had a triple set point in the first set against Rikus de Villiers. Hirshman ended up losing the set 7-6 but won the next set to force a third. He would lose 6-2 in the final set, however, as Pepperdine secured the necessary four points for victory. Wire’s match, which was 1-1 in the third set, was unfinished because Pepperdine had already clinched the win.

“I give Pepperdine credit for turning the momentum,” said Whitlinger. “They came out firing.”

“It’s not about what we didn’t do, it’s about what they did do,” he continued.

Pepperdine will move on to face Georgia in the Round of 16, while Stanford ends its season with a record of 13-9 overall and 5-2 in the Pac-10. Stanford’s players are not completely done yet, though, as Clayton will be moving on to play in the NCAA individual tournament held next week, where he is the No. 8 overall seed.

“I’m really proud of all the guys,” Whitlinger said. “We took a giant step forward [this year]. We are disappointed, but looking to the future.”

“We didn’t want [the season] to end,” he said. “Everyone is ready to go for next year already.”