Tennis tumbles at Malibu


With all the May Commencement hype over the weekend, we neglected to report that the Green Bay men’s tennis team put forth a strong effort in its first NCAA Tournament appearance May 11, but the hosts from Pepperdine proved to be too much as the Phoenix fell to the seventh-ranked Waves 4-0 at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu.

“I thought we fought hard and played pretty well,” Coach Mark Thomas said. “It was our first time at the NCAAs, and we’re looking forward to bigger and better things in the future.”

Both senior Christoph Hopfe (Castrop-Rauxel, Germany) and junior Erik Finkenbrink (Duelmen, Germany) were in striking distance of singles-match wins when Pepperdine’s overall power elsewhere ended the day on points. Athletics has great coverage.