Thursday, 05/24/2012

ATHENS, Ga. – Both Lorraine Guillermo and Khunpak Issara of the Pepperdine women’s tennis team, and Finn Tearney and Alex Llompart of the men’s squad, won their opening round match of the NCAA Doubles Championship today at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Both pairs will compete in the round of 16 on Friday.

Guillermo (Walnut, Calif./Rowland HS) and Issara (Bangkok, Thailand/Bangkok Patana School) made short work of their first-round matchup. The Wave duo won their 15th straight with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over Texas A&M’s Sun Wen and Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar.

Guillermo and Issara will face Alex Anghelescu and Jillian O’Neill of Georgia Tech in Friday’s round of 16 contest. The Waves enter the match ranked #32, while the Georgia Tech pair is listed at #23.

It was a dramatic first-round match for Llompart (Carolina, Puerto Rico/San Juan Educational School) and Tearney (Wellington, New Zealand/Wellington College), who grinded out a three-set win against Andreas Mies and Alexander Stamchev of Auburn.

Mies, who topped Tearney in the singles tournament yesterday, and Stamchev edged Llompart and Tearney 7-2 in the first set tiebreaker, before the Pepperdine tandem responded with a 6-3 victory in the second frame.

The Waves held the early advantage in the deciding set, and led 5-2 before the Aggies stormed back with two-straight breaks of serve to knot the score 5-5.

Both teams were unable to hold serve, and went to a tiebreaker at 6-6. Tearney and Llompart claimed the first three points, and never trailed as they went on to win 7-2.

Tomorrow Pepperdine plays Costin Pavel and Dane Webb of Oklahoma. Tearney and Llompart defeated Pavel and Webb during the regular season, 8-6.

A win by either of the Waves’ doubles teams tomorrow would result in a berth in the quarterfinals, and ITA All-American status.

NCAA Doubles Championship
May 24-28, 2012 at Athens, Ga. (Dan Magill Tennis Complex)
Doubles First Round
#15 Tearney/Llompart (Pepperdine) def. #9 Stamchev/Mies (Auburn) 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 (2)
#32 Issara/Guillermo (Pepperdine) def. #29 Wen/Sanchez-Quintanar (Texas A&M) 6-4, 6-2

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