No. 16 Stanford men’s tennis kicked off its dual-match season with a 5-2 win over No. 22 Pepperdine at the Taube Family Tennis Center on Friday. After an impressive fall campaign for individuals like sophomore Arthur Fery and senior Alexandre Rotsaert, it is now time for the Cardinal to test their mettle as a team.

First up was doubles play. Stanford earned the point thanks to a 7-6 (4) win from the No. 8 nationally ranked pair of Fery and Rotsaert as well as a 6-3 win from fifth-year Axel Geller and senior Tomas Kopczynski. Freshman Max Basing and fifth-year Timothy Sah lost 6-4 at the No. 3 spot.

Next up was the singles action. Basing made quick work of his opponent — No. 72 Tim Zeitvogel — 6-1, 6-1, playing in the No. 4 slot in the Cardinal’s lineup. At the No. 6, sophomore Aryan Chaudhary beat Eric Hadigan 6-3, 6-4. Hadigan is the nation’s No. 99 ranked player. The Waves then earned a point to their name as Eero Vasa took down Sah 6-1, 7-6 (6).

Pepperdine’s resurgence continued as No. 15 Andrew Rogers beat Geller 7-6 (3), 6-3. With the score then at 3-2 in favor of Stanford, the Cardinal needed to win just one more match to clinch the victory.

Clinch it they did, as No. 7 Fery made it past No. 8 Daniel de Jonge 6-2, 7-6 (4) at the top of the lineup. It is not often that you get a matchup between two top-10 players in the country, and this one proved to be decisive. Rotsaert topped off the afternoon with a win at the two spot, defeating No. 24 Pietro Fellin 6-3, 6-7 (3), 1-0 (8).

The Cardinal men’s tennis team will return to action on Jan. 29 against Tulane in Orlando, Fla., as part of the ITA Kick-off Weekend. With both an experienced and talented roster, Stanford could be a very dangerous squad this spring.