Jan. 11, 2006

Malibu, Calif. - The Pepperdine women's tennis team, who concluded its 2005 season with a 15-9 record, including the West Coast Conference Championship title, will begin its 2006 campaign with a No. 28 national ranking, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced Tuesday.

Pepperdine will face six programs ranked in the Top 20 with the Waves hosting No. 1 Stanford, No. 9 Baylor, No.12 UCLA and No.18 Harvard, while traveling to No. 5 USC.

Leading the Waves is sophomore Bianca Dulgheru, who received a No. 15 national ranking in the 2006 Fila Collegiate National Rankings. The doubles teams of Dulgheru and junior Eva Dickes along with senior Merve Asimgil and Kosakowski garnered national rankings of 21 and 22, respectively.

Senior Natalie Braverman, juniors Lise Sissler and Caroline Raba, sophomores Vanessa Dunlap and Jelena Jovic and newcomer Alicia Poladian all had successful fall tournament play and add to Pepperdine's talented roster.

The Waves open their 2006 dual meet schedule on Sunday, January 15, when they face the visiting Cal Poly Mustangs at the Ralphs-Strauss Tennis Center in Malibu, California. The first serve will swing at noon.

Pepperdine, who leads the series 9-0 over Cal Poly, shut out the Mustangs 7-0 last season and look to open its spring schedule with the same result.