Women's Tennis Opens Season in Midland, Texas
9/10/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Tournament Website | Tournament Notes 
MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine women's tennis team gets the 2014-15 season underway this weekend with the annual Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational, held on September 12-14. A Wave has won the singles title at the tournament in two of the last three years.
TOURNAMENT 1: Pepperdine at the Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational | September 12-14 | Midland, Texas
EVENT INFO: The three-day tournament will be contested at the Racquet Club in Midland, Texas ... Singles play will be divided up into two flights ... The doubles bracket consists of 36 pairs ... There will also be a consolation draw for both singles and doubles.
THE FIELD: The Waves will face student-athletes from Rice, North Texas, Kansas, Penn State, Texas State, Lamar, Tulsa, Abilene Christian, SMU, UAB, and New Mexico ... Senior Lorraine Guillermo earned the No. 1 overall seed in the singles bracket ... Michaela Capannolo, Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai and Christine Maddox will join Guillermo in Flight 1 singles ... Danielle Feneridis will represent Pepperdine in Flight 2 ... In doubles, Guillermo and Runglerdkriangkrai will partner up, along with Capannolo and Maddox ... Guillermo is ranked #20 on the ITA preseason singles poll, while Capannolo and Maddox earned a preseason doubles ranking of #57.
RACQUET CLUB HISTORY: Lorraine Guillermo won six matches in a row last year at the Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational to win the singles title ... Ale Granillo took home the singles crown in 2011 as a sophomore.
COVERAGE: Recaps and results will be posted on www.PepperdineSports.com daily ... Any available score updates will be posted on Twitter at @PeppWTEN ... Draws are available at rc10s.com, the Racquet Club Collegiate Invitational website.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Waves continue to fall schedule on Sept. 26-28 with the SDSU Fall Classic, hosted by San Diego State.
Per Nilsson: Per Nilsson returned to Pepperdine in June 2014 to succeed Gualberto Escudero as head coach of the women's tennis team ... He was an assistant coach for the Pepperdine men's tennis team from 2003-07 under head coach Adam Steinberg, where the Waves went 119-38 in those five seasons ... Pepperdine won the NCAA team championship in 2006 with Nilsson on the sidelines ... He was the head men's coach at Mississippi State, his alma mater, for seven seasons from 2008-2014 ... Nilsson compiled a record of 95-76 during his time at MSU.
Gualberto Escudero - Gualberto Escudero ended the 2013-14 campaign with a career record of 651-334 (.661) in his final season as head coach ... He is believed to rank second among all NCAA women's tennis coaches -- active or inactive -- for his win total, and is just one of three coaches to reach the 600 wins milestone ... He stepped down at the end of the 2014 season and now serves as associate head coach ... Escudero took over as head coach in 1977-78 after a decorated career as a student-athlete at Pepperdine ... On the court, he was a finalist at the 1969 WCAC singles tournament and won the doubles title with John Lovelace ... Pepperdine won conference titles in 1969 and 1970 and finished second the next two seasons ... His transition from player to coach was a successful one as Escudero has tutored 31 All-Americans, and was honored as WCC Coach of the Year on four occasions ... Escudero was inducted into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame in a ceremony on Oct. 20 , 2013.
2014 SEASON RECAP: The Pepperdine women's tennis team went 19-5 in 2014, winning both the West Coast Conference regular-season and tournament championships ... The Waves set a new program record with 15 consecutive wins ... The previous record was set at 14 consecutive dual match victories in 1999 ... Pepperdine ended the 2014 regular-season with a 9-0 record at home, marking just the second season in program history the Waves have gone undefeated at home in single year ... Lorraine Guillermo was an All-WCC first team selection in both singles and doubles ... Ale Granillo and Matea Cutura were All-WCC second team picks in singles and together in doubles ... Guillermo was joined by Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai as a first-team doubles honoree ... Michaela Capannolo and Yuki Chiang were also voted to the All-WCC second team in doubles and went on to reach the second round of the NCAA Doubles Championship.
#PURPOSE: The Pepperdine University Department of Athletics is committed to Christian values, to the academic well-being of all of our student-athletes and to competing for championships ... We prepare students for success by challenging them to think differently - find your purpose, serve others and lead by example ... The Competing with Purpose campaign highlights the commitment to our core values that student-athletes, coaches and staff dedicate themselves to daily ... Competing with Purpose provides the foundation on which champions are built.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE: Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports — one of just 17 schools to have accomplished this feat — and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 23 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #57 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
