Pepperdine University junior Edward Winter is set to compete in the NCAA Singles Championships for the second time in his collegiate career. Winter, ranked No. 16 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Rankings, will face Harvard senior Melchior Delloye in the first round of the tournament on Tuesday.
Winter enters the tournament as an unseeded player after a brief but effective fall season. He qualified for the NCAA event by reaching the semifinals at the ITA Conference Masters, defeating Maxime Dubouch of Memphis to secure his spot. In addition to his college play, Winter has found success on the professional circuit, making it to the finals of the ATP Fairfield Challenger and participating in six ATP Challenger events with 11 match wins.
He joins teammate Maxi Homberg as one of two Pepperdine players to qualify for this year’s NCAA Singles Championships under the current fall format. Winter is also only the second player under Director of Tennis Adam Schaechterle to make multiple appearances at this level, following Daniel De Jonge.
Reflecting on last season, Winter made his NCAA individual debut as a freshman but was eliminated in the first round by Tennessee’s Shunsuke Mitsui. If he advances past Delloye this year, he would become the first Pepperdine player since De Jonge to move forward in an NCAA singles draw.
Harvard’s Melchior Delloye is making his first appearance at an NCAA Tournament after reaching the semifinals at the ITA East Sectional and posting an 8-6 record this fall. Last season, Delloye played primarily in Harvard’s middle lineup and recorded an 18-8 mark.
Should Winter win his opening match, he will meet either Kenta Miyoshi from Illinois or Dominique Rolland from UC Santa Barbara. Miyoshi is seeded sixth and holds an 8-2 record this fall while Rolland enters with an 8-5 record and is making his championship debut.
The bracket also includes Arizona senior Jay Friend—the top seed—who defeated Winter earlier this year at Fairfield Challenger. Other notable seeds are Petar Jovanovic from Mississippi State and Jeremy Jin from Florida.
Pepperdine men’s tennis has a history that includes an NCAA Championship title in 2006 and its first NAIA Championship back in 1952. The program boasts numerous accolades including a singles national championship by Robbie Weiss in 1988 and doubles titles in both 1984 and 1985. The Waves have claimed 44 West Coast Conference championships and have seen more than fifty All-Americans represent their team over forty appearances at NCAA Tournaments.
Fans can follow updates about Pepperdine men’s tennis through social media @PepperdineMTEN.
