Pepperdine University
UNLV
Women’s Tennis Hosts ITA Kick-Off Weekend
1/23/2019 5:23:00 PM | Women's Tennis
MALIBU, Calif. - The 7th-ranked Pepperdine women's tennis team returns to Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center this weekend to host the ITA Kick-Off Weekend, welcoming Oregon, Denver and UNLV for the single-elimination team regional.
DUAL MATCH 1: #7 Pepperdine vs. UNLV | 10 a.m. | Saturday, January 26 at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu, Calif. | ITA Kick-Off first round.
DUAL MATCH 2: #7 Pepperdine vs. Denver/Oregon | 10 a.m./1 p.m. | Sunday, January 27 at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center in Malibu, Calif. | Consolation or Championship match.
LIVE STREAM/COVERAGE: Live scoring will still be available with links to be found on PepperdineWaves.com. Updates will be provided after each full day of competition. Recaps and results will be posted on www.PepperdineWaves.com daily. Any and all available score updates will be posted on Twitter at @WavesTennis.
LOOKING AHEAD: Next, Pepperdine will host Cal at home on Friday, February 1.
ITA KICK-OFF WEEKEND: The 11th annual Intercollegiate Tennis Association Kick-Off Weekend takes place January 25-28, 2019, at 24 different Division I tennis facilities across the country. In all, there are 60 teams competing per gender in ITA Kick-Off Weekend events. There are 15 "regionals" played on both the men's and women's side, with four teams competing in each regional. The winners of the single-elimination event advance to next month's ITA Division I National Team Indoor Championships. Washington (women's) and Illinois (men's) will serve as hosts for the National Team Indoors and received automatic invitations to the event, and are exempt from competing in the Kick-Off Weekend.
Host sites for the ITA Kick-Off Weekend were determined using the final 2017-18 Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis Rankings. A draft was held to fill the No.'s 2-4 seeds at all locations, again using the final national team rankings as a guide to determine draft order. Opening round contests at each location pits the #1 (host) seed versus the # 4 seed, and the #2 seed against the #3 seed. The two winners advance to the following day's championship match, while the two losing teams will square off in a consolation match. To view Kick-Off Weekend matchups for both men and women, visit the official event page. Results for each regional site will be updated throughout the weekend. You can also follow the conversation on social media by using the #ITAKickOff hashtag.
THE WAVES: This 2018-19 season, Pepperdine has gone 59-30 overall in singles for a .663 winning percentage. #17 Evgeniya Levashova has collected the most wins with a 13-3 overall record, including an 8-3 output against nationally ranked competition. #28 Jessica Failla has posted an 8-3 overall record, including a 2-1 record against nationally ranked opponents and #106 Ashley Lahey currently holds a 6-4 overall season record. Lahey made history for Pepperdine last season, becoming the first ever Wave to reach the NCAA Singles Championships final.
Adrijana Lekaj has posted 13 wins this season and Anastasia Iamachkine has reported 10 respectively. Dzina Milovanovic currently holds an 8-5 record on the season. The Waves has also added newcomers, Daria Kuczer and Satsuki Takamura to the spring campaign. Both Kuczer and Takamura have posted wins against nationally ranked competitors this season.
In doubles, the Waves have collected a 23-13 record for a .639 success rate. Lahey and Levashova paired up for the tournament season, collecting a 9-2 overall record with a 4-1 record against ranked competitors. Failla and Iamachkine paired up boasting an 8-3 record in the fall and also achieving a 4-1 record against ranked opponents.
Last dual season, Pepperdine posted a 24-3 overall record and went undefeated in West Coast Conference action. The team also made a third-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championship quarterfinals.
OPPONENT NOTES: The Waves welcome Oregon, Denver and UNLV to Pepperdine this weekend, first challenging UNLV on Saturday. Pepperdine has a 17-1 overall winning record against the Rebels. This season, UNLV has posted a 16-6 overall record this this season.
Denver and Pepperdine have faced off on only two occasions, with the Waves holding a 2-0 record over the Pioneers all-time. The teams first met in 2010 when the Waves won 6-0 on neutral ground. The second meeting was in 2017 at home, where the Waves won 6-1. This season, the Pioneers held a 19-5 overall record during the 2017-2018 season. The Pioneers have two ranked singles players, # 85 Arisha Ladhani and # 89 Bianca Mok.
Pepperdine has challenged Oregon four times from 2003-09, each team took two wins apiece. The Waves and the Ducks met again last year to break the dual tie with Pepperdine's 4-0 win at home. Last season, the Ducks went 16-10 overall. Last week, the Ducks put down LMU with a 5-2 mark to hold a 1-0 this spring. Oregon has two singles ranked players, # 50 Daniela Nasser and # 81 Shweta Sangwan.
LAST WEEK AT UNLV: Last week, the Waves competed at the Freeman Memorial Championships in Las Vegas, Nev. The Waves had two players advance to separate singles finals. In the first flight Adrijana Lekaj advanced to the final where she was defeated by a ranked opponent. Anastasia Iamachkine also reached the finals in the second flight.
In doubles, the pair of Jessica Failla and Iamachkine ascended to the quarterfinals, falling with a 6-4 loss respectively. En route to the quarterfinal, the #43 ranked pair bested Stanford's #7 ranked Kimberly Yee and Caroline Lampl and UCLA's #6 ranked Gabby Andrews and Ayan Bloomfield.
ORACLE/ITA RANKINGS: The first round of Oracle/ITA national team rankings was released on Jan. 23. The Waves moved up six spots to open the 2019 campaign ranked # 7 nationally. After the completion of the fall season, the final singles and doubles rankings were released on Nov. 14. Three Waves were ranked in singles, as # 17 Evgeniya Levashova, # 28 Jessica Failla, and # 106 Ashley Lahey each finished the fall nationally ranked. The Waves also posted two ranked doubles pairs with Lahey and Levashova holding the #1 position and Failla and Iamachkine holding the #43 spot.
FOLLOW: Follow the Waves all season @WavesTennis on Facebook and Twitter and @PepperdineWTN on Instagram. For all results, recaps and more, go to www.PepperdineWaves.com.
Players Mentioned
