MALIBU, Calif. - No. 23 Pepperdine beat No. 46 Denver in the first round of the ITA National Indoor Kick-Off today at Ralph-Straus Tennis Center today in Malibu, Calif. Pepperdine won the doubles point and five of six matches to improve to 4-2 overall, while Denver falls to 2-1.

"We played pretty well today, but came up short in several matches," DU head coach Danny Westerman said. "This match reminds our guys how close the competition is on the national level. The experience we get today and tomorrow will be valuable for our team success down the road."

Freshman Yannick Weihs (Guntramsdorf, Austria) posted DU's lone point with an impressive 3-6, 7-6, 6-2 win over No. 58 Mahmoud Kamel at No. 4 singles. Benny Althaus (Saarbrucken, Germany)  and Johan Gunnarsson (Vaxjo, Sweden) also lost close three-set matches at No. 3 and No. 5 singles, respectively.

"Yannick's win was definitely the highlight of the day," Westerman said. "We'll look forward to tomorrow's consolation match against Miami or Alabama."