MALIBU, Calif. – A tough road through California ended in a heartbreaker, as UW fell 4-3 at No. 39 Pepperdine this afternoon in its fourth road match in the past six days. Clutch third set singles wins from Nedim Suko and Han-Chih Lin tied the match up at 3-3, but the Waves got a third-set win on the No. 6 court to clinch it.
The Huskies (6-9) got a great start to the match, picking up the doubles point for the first time on the road trip, punctuated by a win on court three from Ivan Sodan, and on his birthday, Heman Nama. Nama and Sodan had a couple match points at 5-4 but Waves duo Stephens/Papa saved them to tie it up at 5-5, but the Husky pair broke serve and then Nama served it out for the 7-5 win.
It’s Heman’s Birthday Party and we’re all invited!! ????
He serves out a 7-5 win to clinch the doubles point for the Dawgs!!
UW leads 1-0 heading to singles in Malibu#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/BNKGFSvte1
— Washington Men’s Tennis (@UW_MTennis) March 21, 2024
That win at No. 3 broke the 1-1 tie as Cesar Bouchelaghem and Dzianis Zharyn had a 6-4 win at No. 1 doubles, and Nedim Suko and Brett Pearson fell, 3-6, at No. 2 doubles.
Pepperdine got control with wins on the top two courts from their ranked singles players. 35th-ranked Edward Winter beat Bouchelaghem, 6-4, 6-4, at No. 1 singles. Then 121st-ranked Pietro Fellin flipped things on Zharyn, after the Husky won the first set, 6-2, Fellin won the next two sets losing only two games total.
Freshman Ivan Sodan fell in two sets at No. 5 singles, 5-7, 5-7, to Zach Stephens, which made it 3-1 for the home team. Sodan came back from 1-5 down in set two to tie it, but couldn’t complete the comeback.
But Nedim Suko could complete a comeback of his own. He trailed George Davis in the third set, 1-5, but came all the way back with a remarkable six straight games to win it, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 and keep UW’s hopes alive.
Incredible comeback from Nedim Suko! ??
From 1-5 down, he wins 6?? games in a row to win, 7-5, and keep the Huskies in this!
Now ?? – 3; ??- 2#GoHuskies pic.twitter.com/y0CuPbzlZ1
— Washington Men’s Tennis (@UW_MTennis) March 21, 2024
Lin then battled to a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory on the No. 3 court over Linus Halldin, which tied it back up at 3-3. At that point, Jim Hendrikx was trailing 2-5 in his third set, after he had kept things going with a second set tiebreak win. Hendrikx was unable to fight back into the last frame, falling 2-6 to Robert Shelton, for the final…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at University of Washington Athletics…