No. 28 Princeton Takes Down No. 27 Pepperdine 4-1

Friday, March 6

Princeton, N.J.

2:00 PM

Princeton University

Pepperdine

March 06, 2026 | Men's Tennis

The award for style went to Paul Inchauspe, who hit a "how did he do that" between the legs shot during his doubles match. As it turned out, there was more to that winner than just something for the highlight reel.

Inchauspe's shot came at set point of the deciding doubles match Friday afternoon as No. 28 Princeton took on No. 27 Pepperdine at the Si Qin Family Indoor Tennis Center. With the doubles point secured, Princeton needed only three singles matches instead of four, and that's exactly what the Tigers got to take down the Waves 4-1.

The Princeton win dropped Pepperdine to 2-2 against Ivy League opponents on its Eastern swing, after wins at Harvard and Yale and a loss to Columbia. Princeton, now 13-4 on the season, heads to California this coming week for matches at the University of San Diego against Memphis and the host school.

Inchauspe's winner gave him and Landon Ardila a win at No. 1 doubles, after the teams had split the other two, all of which came via 6-4 scores. Princeton's other win came from Top Nidunjianzan and Meecah Bigun at No. 2.

Ardila and Inchauspe built the lead to 3-0 with straight set singles win at No. 3 and No. 1, but the Waves' Lasse Poertner took the No. 2 match in straight sets to make it 3-1 and keep Princeton in need of one more win to close it out as the remaining three matches were all in the third set.

With Pepperdine ahead at No. 4 and No. 5 — and in fact heading to two match points on Court 5 and a 5-2 lead on Court 4 — it figured that Princeton's best chance at that fourth point rested with Aleksandar Mitric at No. 6. Ultimately, Mitric got a service break at 4-4 and then served it out, winning 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

"Today was a tough, gritty win against a great team," said Princeton head coach Billy Pate. "Pepperdine is well coached and we knew it would be a battle on every court today. I'm proud of our guys for rebounding after a brutal stretch last week as our team faced illnesses and that coupled with guys having to manage their midterms, regain their form, and prepare for this match made it that much more impressive. I know the team will look forward to the travel to the West Coast and the chance to get back outdoors for two great matches next week."

Princeton vs. Pepperdine
Singles
No. 1 Paul Inchauspe (Pr) def. Edward Winter (Pe) 6-3, 6-3
No. 2 Lasse Poertner (Pe) def. Top Nindunjianzan (Pr) 6-4, 7-5
No. 3 Landon Ardila (Pr) def. Maxi Homberg (Pe) 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 Sebastian Sec (Pr) vs. Aleksa Pisaric (Pe) 3-6, 6-3, 2-5 (DNF)
No. 5 Milan Markovits (Pr) vs. Gustavo Ribeiro De Almeida (Pe) 5-7, 6-4, 2-5
No. 6 Aleksandar Mitric (Pr) def. David Fix (Pe) 2-6, 6-2, 6-3
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2, 6

Doubles
No. 1 Paul Inchauspe/Landon Ardila (Pr) vs. Aleksa Pisaric/Lasse Poertner (Pe) 6-4
No. 2 Top Nidunjianzan/Meecah Bigun (Pr) def. Maxi Homberg/David Fix 6-4
No. 3 Edward Winter/Hugh Winter (Pe) def. Sebastian Sec/Aleksandar Mitric (Pr) 6-4
Order of finish 2,3,1