Women's Tennis to Play UCLA, Arizona State
2/25/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 25, 2015
MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine women's tennis team, up 10 spots to #18 this week in the ITA rankings, has two Pac-12 squads on this week's docket. The Waves first host #11 UCLA on Friday, February 27, before traveling to Tempe to face #32 Arizona State on Sunday, March 1.
DUAL 7: #18 Pepperdine (4-2) vs. #11 UCLA (7-2) | Friday, February 27 | 1:30 p.m. | Malibu, Calif.
DUAL 8: #18 Pepperdine at Arizona State (4-2) | Sunday, March 1 | 11 a.m. | Tempe, Ariz.
COVERAGE: Live scores will be available on Friday through PepperdineSports.com .... Updates can be followed on Twitter @PeppWTEN ... Links to available coverage can always be found on the women's tennis schedule page at PepperdineSports.com.
LOOKING BACK: The Waves captured back-to-back wins over top-25 teams last week in Malibu ... Despite dropping the doubles point, Pepperdine won five of the six singles matches vs. #25 Texas to win 5-2 ... Their only loss in singles came in three sets ... The Waves fell in doubles against #17 TCU two days later, but continued its dominance in singles ... Pepperdine gave up just 13 games in the six singles matches, winning handily 4-1.
WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: The Waves have swept the first two installments of WCC Player of the Week honors ... Michaela Capannolo was the year's first player of the week honoree (Feb. 18) ... Lorraine Guillermo is the reigning singles player of the week, while Matea Cutura and Christine Maddox were dubbed the doubles team of the week (Feb. 24)
WCC PRESEASON POLL: The defending West Coast Conference champion Waves were picked to finish first in the WCC this year in a poll of the league's coaches. Pepperdine tallied 79 points and seven first-place votes to finish six points ahead of Saint Mary's (73, 1 first-place vote). BYU snagged the remaining two first-place votes to finish third behind 66 points. The remaining standings are as follows: 4. San Francisco (53); 5. San Diego (43); 6. Santa Clara (39); 7. Portland (35); 8. Gonzaga (28); 9. Loyola Marymount (19); 10. Pacific (13). The 2015 All-WCC Preseason team was comprised of Pepperdine's Lorraine Guillermo, along with Lucia Butkovska (Portland), Danielle Flores (Saint Mary's), Mayci Jones (BYU), Andrea Ka (San Francisco) and Maja Mladenovic (Portland).
LOOKING FURTHER BACK: Pepperdine dropped the doubles point at San Diego State before bouncing back in singles for the 5-2 victory ... Lorraine Guillermo, Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai, Michaela Capannolo and Christine Maddox all won in straight sets ... Matea Cutura, newly off the disabled list, earned her first win of the dual season with a three-set triumph.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Waves host Long Beach State (3/11) and Cal (3/14), before opening West Coast Conference play in Malibu vs. Gonzaga (3/22)
IN THE RANKINGS: The Waves opened the 2015 dual season at #26 in the ITA team rankings and currently sit at #18 ... Senior Lorraine Guillermo began her final campaign ranked a career-best #17 in singles, but dropped to #41 in the second singles rankings installment of the season. She is now back up to #30 ... Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai and Michaela Capannolo made their season debuts at #109 and #118, respectively, on Feb. 10 ... Runglerdkriangkrai is up to a career-high #96.
OPPONENT NOTES: UCLA is 7-2 on the season, and dropped from #4 to #11 in the ITA's first computerized rankings of the year, released on Tuesday ... Six Bruins are ranked in singles including Robin Anderson (#3), Chanelle Van Nguyen (#7), Kyle McPhillips (#28), Jennifer Brady (#33), Catherine Harrison (#72) and Kaitlin Ray (#91) ... Harrison and McPhillips are the #2-ranked doubles duo in the country, while VanNguyen and Anderson are listed at #28 ... Arizona State is ranked #32 and 4-2 heading into the week ... The Sun Devils' ace, Desirae Krawczyk, is ranked #52 in singles.
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 ranks second among all NCAA Div. I 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.
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 #54 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
DUAL 7: #18 Pepperdine (4-2) vs. #11 UCLA (7-2) | Friday, February 27 | 1:30 p.m. | Malibu, Calif.
DUAL 8: #18 Pepperdine at Arizona State (4-2) | Sunday, March 1 | 11 a.m. | Tempe, Ariz.
COVERAGE: Live scores will be available on Friday through PepperdineSports.com .... Updates can be followed on Twitter @PeppWTEN ... Links to available coverage can always be found on the women's tennis schedule page at PepperdineSports.com.
LOOKING BACK: The Waves captured back-to-back wins over top-25 teams last week in Malibu ... Despite dropping the doubles point, Pepperdine won five of the six singles matches vs. #25 Texas to win 5-2 ... Their only loss in singles came in three sets ... The Waves fell in doubles against #17 TCU two days later, but continued its dominance in singles ... Pepperdine gave up just 13 games in the six singles matches, winning handily 4-1.
WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: The Waves have swept the first two installments of WCC Player of the Week honors ... Michaela Capannolo was the year's first player of the week honoree (Feb. 18) ... Lorraine Guillermo is the reigning singles player of the week, while Matea Cutura and Christine Maddox were dubbed the doubles team of the week (Feb. 24)
WCC PRESEASON POLL: The defending West Coast Conference champion Waves were picked to finish first in the WCC this year in a poll of the league's coaches. Pepperdine tallied 79 points and seven first-place votes to finish six points ahead of Saint Mary's (73, 1 first-place vote). BYU snagged the remaining two first-place votes to finish third behind 66 points. The remaining standings are as follows: 4. San Francisco (53); 5. San Diego (43); 6. Santa Clara (39); 7. Portland (35); 8. Gonzaga (28); 9. Loyola Marymount (19); 10. Pacific (13). The 2015 All-WCC Preseason team was comprised of Pepperdine's Lorraine Guillermo, along with Lucia Butkovska (Portland), Danielle Flores (Saint Mary's), Mayci Jones (BYU), Andrea Ka (San Francisco) and Maja Mladenovic (Portland).
LOOKING FURTHER BACK: Pepperdine dropped the doubles point at San Diego State before bouncing back in singles for the 5-2 victory ... Lorraine Guillermo, Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai, Michaela Capannolo and Christine Maddox all won in straight sets ... Matea Cutura, newly off the disabled list, earned her first win of the dual season with a three-set triumph.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Waves host Long Beach State (3/11) and Cal (3/14), before opening West Coast Conference play in Malibu vs. Gonzaga (3/22)
IN THE RANKINGS: The Waves opened the 2015 dual season at #26 in the ITA team rankings and currently sit at #18 ... Senior Lorraine Guillermo began her final campaign ranked a career-best #17 in singles, but dropped to #41 in the second singles rankings installment of the season. She is now back up to #30 ... Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai and Michaela Capannolo made their season debuts at #109 and #118, respectively, on Feb. 10 ... Runglerdkriangkrai is up to a career-high #96.
OPPONENT NOTES: UCLA is 7-2 on the season, and dropped from #4 to #11 in the ITA's first computerized rankings of the year, released on Tuesday ... Six Bruins are ranked in singles including Robin Anderson (#3), Chanelle Van Nguyen (#7), Kyle McPhillips (#28), Jennifer Brady (#33), Catherine Harrison (#72) and Kaitlin Ray (#91) ... Harrison and McPhillips are the #2-ranked doubles duo in the country, while VanNguyen and Anderson are listed at #28 ... Arizona State is ranked #32 and 4-2 heading into the week ... The Sun Devils' ace, Desirae Krawczyk, is ranked #52 in singles.
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 ranks second among all NCAA Div. I 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.
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 #54 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
