June 13, 2005

Malibu, CA - Last winter Pepperdine men's tennis head coach Adam Steinberg laid out the expectations he had for his seven man roster. "Our overall expectations are to bring this program back to the top ten where we belong. A WCC Championship and a trip to the Sweet 16 are a few of the goals we have set for ourselves." High sights for a squad ranked No. 27 in January, but in the spring all of those goals had been accomplished and then some.

By March the Waves had scaled the ranks of the nation's top programs and settled back into the top ten for the first time in Steinberg's three years in Malibu. The jump came as a result of their 14-2 record and their 5-2 upset of No. 2 Illinois on March 25.

Exactly one month after beating Illinois, Pepperdine defeated San Diego for their 15th consecutive West Coast Conference crown.

Having not lost in over two months, Pepperdine hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament and was just two victories away from accomplishing their third goal. Wins over UC Irvine and perennial powerhouse Stanford put the Waves where they had dreamed of being, in the Sweet 16.

Meeting the nation's best teams in College Station, Texas, Pepperdine was undaunted. As the number eight seed they matched up with ninth-seeded Duke. A 4-3 win over the Blue Devils pitted Pepperdine against defending national champions and top-seeded Baylor in the national quarterfinals.

Baylor ended the Waves' season, but not before Pepperdine earned a number eight final national ranking, won the West Coast Conference and advanced to the Elite Eight.

As if those accomplishments weren't lofty enough the Waves posted 24 wins against just three losses, won 26 consecutive doubles points, sent Pedro Rico and Scott Doerner to the NCAA Singles Championship and saw Rico/Doerner earn All-American status as one of the top doubles teams in the country.

Needless to say, when the Waves return six players in 2006 expectations will again be high.