Lahey Makes History with NCAA Singles Semifinal Victory
5/27/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. â€" Ashley Lahey of the Pepperdine women's tennis team made program-history on Saturday morning at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex, becoming the first ever Pepperdine women's tennis player to win an NCAA Singles Championship semifinal match and reach the final.
The sophomore defeated #10 Fernanda Contreras of Vanderbilt to accomplish the feat. Senior Mayar Sherif also made history as the fourth person in Pepperdine women's tennis program history to reach the semifinal match in the tournament. After a tough three set battle, Sherif fell to bow out of the tournament.
Lahey will face #7 Arianne Hartono of Ole Miss in the final tomorrow with the time still to be determined.
 | RESULTS |
#17 Ashley Lahey (Pepperdine) def. #10 Fernanda Contreras (Vanderbilt) â€" 6-3, 6-3
#7 Arianne Hartono (Mississippi) def. #22 Mayar Sherif (Pepperdine) â€" 2-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2)
| TOMORROW |
#17 Ashley Lahey (Pepperdine) vs. #7 Arianne Hartono (Mississippi) â€" TBD
| MATCH RECAPS |
Sherif opened her match by commanding a 6-2 victory in the first set. After she pulled ahead 4-1 in the second set, Arianne Hartono started to inch back in, tying the set and forcing a tiebreak. She won the second set after a 7-6 (5) tiebreak option. Sherif once again went ahead 3-0 in the third set, but the opposition was resilient and tied things up at 3's. The two then went point-for-point towards another 6-6 tiebreak option. This time, Hartono gained the early edge and ended the match with a 7-6 (2) set win.
| NOTABLES |
- Ashley Lahey is the first Pepperdine women's tennis player to ever reach the NCAA Singles Championship final.
- This is the first time in Pepperdine women's tennis history that the Waves have sent two to the NCAA Singles Championship semifinals. Ashley Lahey and Mayar Sherif are the third and fourth Waves to have ever accomplished this feat on the women's side.
- This is the first time since the 2012 season that one team has sent two competitors into the semifinal round. The last was Stanford which resulted in an all-Cardinal final that year.
- The highest seed entering the semifinals is #7 Arianne Hartono of Mississippi, Sherif's opponent.
- Three Waves, Mayar Sherif, Ashley Lahey and Luisa Stefani, will finish the 2018 season as ITA All-Americans in singles. This is Stefani's third-straight season as an All-American in singles and it is the second honor for both Sherif and Lahey.
- • Mayar Sherif closed her 18-match winning streak. She finished the season with a 34-6 overall record this season, with an 11-4 output against ranked opponents.
- Ashley Lahey has gone 27-4 overall this season with a 13-3 record against ranked competition and eight wins in her last eight matches.
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