NOTESMALIBU, Calif. - The 16th-ranked Pepperdine women's tennis team has two matches scheduled this week, first hosting Long Beach State at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Friday before taking on PCH Cup rivals Loyola Marymount at the LMU Tennis Center on Saturday.

DUAL 14: Friday (March 31), No. 16 Pepperdine (9-4, 1-0 WCC) vs. Long Beach State (12-3, 4-1 Big West), at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu, Calif., 1:30 p.m.

DUAL 15: Saturday (April 1), No. 16 Pepperdine at Loyola Marymount (8-4, 1-1 WCC), at the LMU Tennis Center in Los Angeles, Calif., 11 a.m.

COVERAGE: Live scoring will be available for both matches and the dual at LMU will have live stream as well. Live scoring, streams, recaps and results will be posted on www.PepperdineWaves.com daily. Any available score updates will be posted on Twitter at @WavesTennis.

PCH CUP BATTLE — An annual all-sport competition between two local rivals that are separated by just 19.1 miles of scenic coastline, the Wells Fargo PCH Cup is in its seventh season of existence. Pepperdine won the first five cups. A home win is worth one point, a road victory is worth 1.5 points. In the seven years since the cup first began, the Waves have won six-out-of-seven years, including last season's win 11.5 to 7.5.

LOOKING AHEAD: After this weekend, the Waves will have a home-stint on April 7 and 8, hosting Santa Clara and San Francisco respectively for West Coast Conference competitions. On April 12, Pepperdine will welcome No. 8 Stanford to campus for a dual at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.

STEFANI GARNERS 8TH-CAREER WCC SINGLES ACCOLADE: Luisa Stefani, ranked 6th in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings, garnered her fourth seasonal and eight career West Coast Conference Singles Player of the Week accolade this week. Stefani went 2-0 at the No. 1 singles position for the Waves last weekend, leading Pepperdine towards two road-sweeps to open West Coast Conference action. She first bested Sela Maayan with a pair of 6-1 sets to lead the Waves to down Pacific 4-0. She then put down Jana McCord of Saint Mary's with a 6-3, 6-4 final mark en route to the Waves second straight-WCC sweep.

She has gone 17-7 overall this season, including 8-2 at the No. 1 slot for singles action. She possesses a 12-3 record against nationally ranked opponents and is on a four-match winning streak.

THE NO. 16 WAVES: Pepperdine has gone 9-4 overall and 2-0 in West Coast Conference play this season, earning the No. 16 ranking in the Oracle/ITA team rankings. The team has gone 4-4 against nationally ranked opposition, and possesses a 5-1 home record and an untarnished 3-0 record on the road. In singles action, the Waves have gone 88-52 overall, including a 35-25 dual record. Pepperdine has four ranked singles this week, including 6th-ranked Luisa Stefani, 13th-ranked Ashley Lahey, 28th-ranked Mayar Sherif and 79th-ranked Laura Gulbe. Stefani is a mainstay in the No. 1-slot for the Waves with an 8-2 dual record this season, while going 17-7 overall and 12-3 against nationally ranked opposition. She is on a four-match winning streak. Lahey is solid in the No. 2 position with a 22-4 overall record and a 9-1 record in dual action and is currently on a six-match winning streak. She has marked a perfect 9-0 record from the No. 2-spot and has gone 7-3 against ranked competition throughout the entire season. Sherif has posted a 15-12 overall record and has tabbed four wins from the No. 3 position for the Waves. She has gone 8-7 against nationally ranked opposition this season. Gulbe has put up an even 9-9 overall record, including four wins in dual action and a 3-3 record against nationally ranked opponents.

In doubles action, Pepperdine has gone 41-23 overall and 21-13 in dual play. The Waves have two ranked pairs, No. 3 Christine Maddox and Sherif and No. 30 Stefani and Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai. Maddox and Ahmed have gone 16-6 overall this season, with a 5-3 record in dual play from the No. 1 position and an even 6-6 output against nationally ranked opponents. Stefani and Lahey have taken up playing together for a 4-2 overall dual record this season, including a 2-0 record in the No. 1 spot and a 2-2 mark in the No. 2 spot.

WAVES ROLL OVER FIRST WCC OPPONENTS: Pepperdine opened West Coast Conference play this past week, sweeping both Pacific and Saint Mary's on the road. Against Pacific, the Waves first won the doubles point as Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai and Mayar Sherif downed their opposition with a staggering 6-0 result on court two. Then Luisa Stefani and Ashley Lahey put down their opponents 6-1 on court one to clinch the victory. Then in singles, Christine Maddox and Stefani won with a pair of 6-0 and 6-1 sets respectively from the No. 6 and No. 1 positions. Then, Lahey completed the clinch with a 6-0, 6-2 victory on court two.

At SMC, the Waves once again started the day with a doubles point after Stefani and Lahey downed their opponent 6-3 in the No. 1 position and Runglerdkriangkrai and Sherif put down their opposition with a 6-4 result. Sherif started singles action with a 6-2, 6-4 win on court three, before Stefani put the Waves in clinching territory with a 6-3, 6-4 win on court one. Laura Gulbe finished the day with a 6-4, 6-3 victory on court four to make it another clean sweep for the Waves.

OPPONENT NOTES: Pepperdine holds a 28-1 overall record against Long Beach State, since the team's first met in the 1977 campaign. From 1977-2011, the Waves went on a 25-match winning streak before LBSU won the team's first-ever win against the Waves in 2012 with a 5-2 victory. Since 2014, Pepperdine has won three-consecutive matches all by 6-1 final results. This season, the 49ers have gone 12-3 overall and 4-1 in the Big West. Last week, LBSU dropped a 4-3 decision to Dartmouth and defeated Denver 5-2.

The Waves have a 37-2 overall record against Loyola Marymount, dating back to the 1976 campaign when the Waves won with an 8-1 result. From 1976 to 2002, Pepperdine won 22-straight matches, including 11-matches by sweeps. The Waves are currently on a 15-match winning streak against the Lions, which began in 2004 and has included eight sweeps. Last season, Pepperdine downed LMU with a 6-1 result. This season, the Lions have gone 8-4 overall and 1-1 in the West Coast Conference, defeating Pacific 4-0 and falling to Saint Mary's 4-3.

THE NO. 16 WAVES AND OTHER ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS: The Waves rank No. 16 in the Oracle/ITA team rankings this week. In singles, a rankings list compiled of 125 athletes throughout the nation, sophomore Luisa Stefani, junior Mayar Sherif and freshman Ashley Lahey also earned top-30 spots and junior Laura Gulbe also earned a spot in the rankings. Stefani is ranked in the top-10 with a No. 6 singles ranking this week, while Lahey is currently at No. 13 and Sherif is ranked 28th. Gulbe is ranked No. 79 in singles this week. In doubles, of 60 duos ranked, senior Christine Maddox and Sherif are ranked in the top-five at the No. 3-slot, while Stefani and senior Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai are currently listed No. 30 this week.

NILSSON: Per Nilsson returned to Pepperdine in June 2014 to succeed Gualberto Escudero as head coach of the women's tennis team. In his two years with the Waves, he has been named West Coast Conference Coach of the Year on back-to-back occasions, and in 2016 he led the Waves to a NCAA Championship quarterfinal appearance and a #9 final ranking in the ITA/Oracle rankings. 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.