#7 Pepperdine Felled 4-3 by Cal in Malibu

Saturday, February 16

Malibu, Calif.

12 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

California

Photo by: Sarah Otteman

2/16/2019 3:49:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score

By: by Athletic Communications

MALIBU, Calif. – The #7 Pepperdine women's tennis was felled 4-3 to California, a team receiving votes in the Oracle/ITA rankings, at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon, despite strong performances across the board. The loss was only the Waves fourth loss at home in the last four seasons.

Pepperdine drops to 3-2 overall, with one of the losses being to a top-three ranked opponent. Jessica Failla and Anastasia Iamachkine won both of their matches today, highlighting doubles with a quick win over #22 Anna Bright and Jasie Dunk. Failla also defeated her ranked opponent in singles, while both Iamachkine and Adrijana Lekaj also took singles wins during the match.

RESULTS
#7 Pepperdine 3, Cal 4
Singles
1: #41 Julia Rosenqvist (CAL) def. Ashley Lahey (PEPP) – 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-4
2: #28 Olivia Hauger (CAL) def. #13 Evgeniya Levashova (PEPP) – 6-1, 7-6 (5)
3: #52 Jessica Failla (PEPP) def. #92 Anna Bright (CAL) – 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4)
4: Adrijana Lekaj (PEPP) def. Katerina Stloukalova (CAL) – 6-3, 6-3
5: #112 Maria Smith def. Daria Kuczer (PEPP) – 7-5, 6-3
6: Anastasia Iamachkine (PEPP) def. Hana Mraz (CAL) – 6-3, 6-2
Order of Finish: 4, 6, 5, 2, 1*, 3

Doubles
1: Hana Mraz/Julia Rosenqvist (CAL) def. #1 Ashley Lahey/Evgeniya Levashova (PEPP) – 6-3
2: #12 Jessica Failla/Anastasia Iamachkine (PEPP) def. #22 Anna Bright/Jasie Dunk (CAL) – 6-3
3: Olivia Hauger/Katerina Stloukalova (CAL) def. Dzina Milovanovic/Daria Kuczer (PEPP) – 6-4
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3*

PLAY-BY-PLAY
In doubles, both sides came to play, but the Golden Bears took the first advantage, upsetting Pepperdine's #1 ranked Ashley Lahey and Evgeniya Levashova with a 6-3 win on court one. #12 Jessica Failla and Anastasia Iamachkine countered with a 6-3 win of their own on court two, defeating #22 Anna Bright and Jasie Dunk. Despite the momentum, Cal's Olivia Hauger and Katerina Stloukalova downed Dzina Milovanovic and Daria Kuczer 6-4 to take the doubles advantage heading into singles.

In singles, the Waves rallied back, collecting victories on courts four and five to pull ahead. Adrijana Lekaj first put down Stloukalova with a pair of 6-3 set wins on four, while Iamachkine followed quickly with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Hana Mraz on court six.

The Bears answered, though, taking a two set win on court five to tie things up and picking up the advantage with another two-set win on court two as #28 Hauger took the win over #13 Levashova 6-1, 7-6 (5).

With the match on the line and all eyes on courts one and three, the Waves put up a valiant fight. On court one, #41 Rosenqvist had won the first set 6-3, but Lahey countered with a 7-6 (2) win to force a third. After each competitor reached a 4-4 tie, the opposition got the first break and used it to take a 6-4 win and clinch the overall dual victory for Cal.

As it was agreed prior to the match to finish all courts out, #52 Failla was able to complete her match with #92 Anna Bright on court three. She was downed in the first set 6-3, but took a 6-3 win of her own in the second to force a third. In the final set, Failla and her opponent each hit a 6-6 tied score. After Failla took the lead in the tiebreak, she used her energy to win the set with a 7-4 tiebreak and make the overall score 4-3 with Cal the victor.

NOTABLES

This loss was the Waves first home loss of the recent campaign. It is only Pepperdine's 4^th loss at home in the past four seasons.
Pepperdine has posted a 37-3 record at home the past four seasons, including the current campaign.
Ashley Lahey and Evgeniya Levashova are currently ranked #1 in the Oracle/ITA doubles rankings. The duo has posted three dual wins this season and have gone 12-3 overall.
The Waves are now 13-9 in dual singles action and 7-3 in doubles play collectively.
Lekaj leads the Waves with 17 dual wins this season, while Levashova is second on the team with 16.
Anastasia Iamachkine has also reached the double-digit singles win mark with 11 this season, all from tournament play.

NEXT UP
Next, the Waves travel to Ann Arbor, Mich. to take on Michigan on February 22.

FOLLOW
Follow the Waves all season @WavesTennis on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Check for schedules, results and recaps on www.PepperdineWaves.com