May 16, 1998
LAS VEGAS - Top-seeded Pepperdine won a marathon doubles point and held on in singles to defeat upset-minded New Mexico 4-1 in the final of NCAA men's tennis regional held Saturday at UNLV.
Pepperdine won both completed doubles matches, which took nearly 90 minutes amid hot and windy conditions. The Waves then got victories from Robert Lindstedt and Kelly Gullett before Brad Sceney clinched things at the third spot. The two remaining matches were halted in the third sets.
The Waves (26-5), ranked ninth, now move on to the NCAA men's finals to be held in Athens, Ga., on May 23-26.
"It's been a long weekend," Pepperdine's first-year Head Coach Peter Smith said. "It seemed different out here for us today. Weather was a real equalizer. It was so big to win the doubles point. Then our lower guys really stepped it up. You've got to give credit to New Mexico. They had a lot of team spirit and made a surprising run."
The sixth-seeded Lobos (12-13), ranked 57th, concluded a strong weekend that saw them upset two of the top three seeds.
"Our guys came out to play this weekend and we wanted it more than anyone here," New Mexico Head Coach Alan Dils said. "When you do that, good things happen. We came to win three but came up one short. Despite that, I'm very proud of all of our players."
UNM's lone point came from a singles victory by Assaf Drori.
1998 NCAA REGION VII MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP--FINALSPEPPERDINE 4, NEW MEXICO 1At Fertitta Tennis Complex, Las Vegas
SINGLES-1. Jeff Williams (UNM) vs. Michael Jessup (PEPP) Halted2. Robert Lindstedt (PEPP) def. Pepe Caballero (UNM) 6-2, 6-4 3. Brad Sceney (PEPP) def. Nicolas Dubey (UNM) 7-5, 6-4 4. Assaf Drori (UNM) def. Eni Ghidirmic (PEPP) 6-4, 6-1 5. Kelly Gullett (PEPP) def. Takeshi Itoh (UNM) 6-3, 6-2 6. Rodolfo Cisneros (UNM) vs. John Lundquist (PEPP) Halted
DOUBLES--1. Caballero/Williams (UNM) vs. Gullett/Lindstedt (PEPP) Halted2. Jessup/Ghidirmic (PEPP) def. Drori/Dubey (UNM) 9-73. Sceney/Lundquist (PEPP) def. Kyle Russell/Itoh (UNM) 8-4
