GAME NOTES| BRACKET

MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine women's tennis team has four Waves competing in NCAA singles and doubles championships this week from May 25-30 at the Michael Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. Freshman Luisa Stefani will play in both the singles tournament and the doubles tournament alongside junior partner Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai. Senior Matea Cutura and junior Christine Maddox will also compete in the doubles championship.

NCAA SINGLES & DOUBLES: Wednesday-Monday (May 25-30) at Michael D. Case Tennis Center in Tulsa, Okla. | NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournament | Singles round of 64 - No. 7 seed Luisa Stefani vs. Gabriela Porubin (Wichita State) at 1:30 p.m. | Doubles round of 32 - Matea Cutura/ Christine Maddox vs. Sydney Campbell/Courtney Colton (Vanderbilt), TBD and Stefani/Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai vs. Paige Hourigan/Kendal Woodard (Georgia Tech), TBD.

MULTIMEDIA: The NCAA Championship singles and doubles brackets are located here: http://gowav.es/NCAASD16. Follow @WavesTennis on Twitter for immediate updates and go to PepperdineSports.com for full recaps and results.

SINGLES TOURNAMENT: Prior to this season and since 1984, Pepperdine has sent 24 total student-athletes a combined 46 times to the NCAA Singles Championship. Of those 46 appearances, 15 have advanced to the second round while five advanced to the round of 16. Two Pepperdine standouts have emerged as quarterfinalists and one has reached the semifinal round.

Freshman Luisa Stefani, ranked sixth in the Oracle/ITA rankings, has earned a spot in the singles tournament as the No. 7 seed, and will be the 25th Wave all-time to enter since 1984. Currently ranked sixth in the Oracle/ITA national singles rankings, she has gone 36-5 in singles since donning the Waves' uniform last September. She has amassed an impressive 22-4 record against nationally ranked opposition and heads into the NCAA singles tournament on an eight-match winning streak. The freshman went 22-2 in the number one singles position throughout the dual campaign, leading Pepperdine to the NCAA Championship quarterfinal match-up.

DOUBLES TOURNAMENT: Prior to this season, the Waves have sent 18 different doubles teams to the NCAA Doubles Championships a combined 23 times since 1982. The Waves had two teams advance to the semifinals of the tournament in 1991 and 2000. Collectively, Pepperdine teams are 24-23 at the championships. This year marks the first time since 1997 that the Waves have sent two teams to the doubles championship.

Freshman Luisa Stefani and junior partner Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai tabbed a spot in the doubles tournament. The pair is ranked 26th in the nation currently and have gone 22-5 overall since September, including a 16-4 record throughout the dual campaign this spring. The duo has gone 6-3 against nationally ranked opponents and amassed an 11-3 record since moving into the number one doubles position this season for the Waves.

Also, the Waves' 19th-ranked duo senior Matea Cutura and junior Christine Maddox have also garnered the opportunity to compete in the doubles championship. Cutura and Maddox competed in the tournament last season, first defeating Alyssa Hibberd and Anki Wind of Memphis in the first round before falling to Vanderbilt's Ashleigh Antal and Astra Sharma in the round of 16. This season, the partners went 20-6 overall since September, including a 6-5 record against nationally ranked opponents and a 13-3 outing in the dual campaign this spring. The duo has accumulated a perfect 11-0 record from the number two doubles position in the dual season and have won their last 11 matches.

ITA AWARDS: Freshman Luisa Stefani earned the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) ITA National Rookie of the Year, as announced Tuesday morning in Tulsa at the ITA awards celebration. She previously earned the southwest regional honors this season, garnering the ITA Rookie of the Year and ITA Player to Watch accolades.

THE NO. 8 PEPPERDINE WAVES: The Waves reached the NCAA Championships quarterfinal for the fifth time in program history this season, eventually dropping out of the team competition after a 4-2 loss to top-seeded California-Berkeley. The team finished the 2016 campaign with a 24-3 overall record, as well as a 9-0 record among West Coast Conference competition, earning both the WCC tournament and regular-season championship title. The team posted an untarnished 10-0 record at home, while amassing an 8-1 record on the road and 6-2 record in neutral settings.

ALL-WCC TEAMS: Pepperdine was well-represented in the All-WCC awards with five singles and three doubles team honors. Head Coach Per Nilsson picked up WCC Coach of the Year, while freshman Luisa Stefani garnered both the Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year accolades. It is the second consecutive year the Waves have swept all three top awards. Stefani, along with sophomore Laura Gulbe, earned All-WCC first team singles honors. Junior Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai and freshman Dzina Milovanovic earned second team and senior Matea Cutura was award honorable mention status in singles. Pepperdine also picked up doubles acclaim as Cutura and junior partner Christine Maddox, along with Stefani and Runglerdkriangkrai, earned first team bragging rights and Gulbe and Milovanovic received a second team nod.

WCC ALL-ACADEMIC TEAMS: The Waves earned three WCC All-Academic honors this season, including junior Christine Maddox and sophomore Laura Gulbe to first team and junior Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai to honorable mention team. Maddox accumulated a 3.531 grade point average while studying Sports Medicine, Gulbe tabbed a 3.426 grade point average while obtaining a degree in International Studies and Management and Runglerdkriangkrai tabbed a 3.219 grade point average while studying Advertising.

WCC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: Pepperdine has earned six doubles team of the week accolades this season, with five honors coming alongside singles player of the week nods as well. Waves' pair Stefani and junior Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai have earned four West Coast Conference doubles team of the week honors this season. As a single, Stefani has also garnered four West Coast Conference singles player of the week honors. In the four same weeks, she and her doubles partners have garnered doubles team of the week accolades. Then in the two weeks prior to the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic, Stefani and usual partner, Runglerdkriangkrai, earned doubles team of the week accolades. On the fifth occasion the Waves swept the awards, sophomore Laura Gulbe earned WCC Singles Player of the Week and Gulbe and freshman partner Dzina Milovanovic earned Doubles Team of the Week.

The Waves senior Matea Cutura and freshman Luisa Stefani earned the bragging rights for the second time this season in the last week the conference accepted nominations. The first time the duo earned the honor was in the first week the conference accepted nominations. This duo has played together on three separate occasions this season, once in the first week of competition and twice this week, and now holds a 3-0 record against opponents, all in the number one doubles position.

FALL 2015: The Waves played tough in the fall, competing in six tournaments to start the 2015-16 campaign. Pepperdine amassed a .564 win-loss percentage in doubles play with a 22-17 overall record against opponents. Matea Cutura and Christine Maddox led the Waves with seven wins, while adding only three losses throughout the fall. The pair competed in doubles of the Oracle/ITA Masters, falling early on in the main draw, but all coming back through the back draw to finish with back draw champion status. At the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, Calif. this fall, Maddox and Cutura reached the semifinals match against No. 3 California duo Manasse and partner Denise Starr, falling after two sets. Luisa Stefani and Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai went 6-1 for the Waves in tournament play and Laura Gulbe and Dzina Milovanovic also tabbed seven wins on top of a 7-7 overall record. Gulbe and Milovanovic advanced to the doubles championship of the Battle at the Bay tournament with a match-up against San Francisco's Andrea Ka and Thyra Taume, eventually dropping the match with an 8-7 (6) final decision.

In singles competition, the team posted a .610 win-loss percentage with a 50-32 overall record in tournament play. Stefani led the Waves with a 14-3 singles output, including a solid performance in the first-ever Oracle/ITA Masters. She advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating No. 14 Vanderbilt single Astra Sharma. The freshman eventually fell in the quarterfinals to No. 4 Maegan Manasse of California. She also advanced through pre-qualifying and qualifying rounds to play in the main draw of the Riviera/ITA All-American Championship, dropping her second match of the tournament and finishing out in the back draw. Dzina Milovanovic also picked up some solid wins in the, posting a 9-2 overall record throughout tournament play. Gulbe closed up the fall season with eight wins and Cutura ended with six singles wins as well for the Waves.

FALL USTA/ITA SOUTHWEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: In the fall, the Pepperdine women's tennis team more than excelled at the USTA/ITA Southwest Regional Championships as the Waves took home both the doubles championships and runners-up trophies, as well as the singles championship trophy. Luisa Stefani put up excellent performances in both categories, earning the singles title along with the doubles title alongside partner Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai. Matea Cutura and Christine Maddox were not far behind in the doubles bracket, however, as the pair earned runners-up status after withdrawing in the championship match against Runglerdkriangkrai and Stefani due to injury.

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.

#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 25 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 No. 52 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.