#6 Waves to Battle #3 Cardinal in NCAA Quarterfinals

MALIBU, Calif. – The sixth-ranked Pepperdine women's tennis team treks to Orlando, Florida this week to take on third-ranked Stanford in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Championship.

It is the Waves' seventh trip to the quarterfinal round of the tournament, with the most recent appearances coming in 2016 and 2017.

NCAA QUARTERFINALS: Friday, May 17 | #6 Waves (24-3, 9-0 WCC) vs #3 Stanford (25-1, 10-0 Pac-12) | USTA National Campus | Orlando, Flo. | 11 a.m. (PDT) / 2 p.m. (EDT)

TOURNAMENT INFO: The NCAA will be providing a live stat link in the coming days. The Tennis Channel will broadcast most of the events, with the NCAA streaming the matches not covered by the channel (available here). For tickets, click here.

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SERIES WITH STANFORD: Pepperdine currently stands 2-32 with the Cardinal in a series dating back to 1978. The last two meetings between the teams has gone in favor of the Waves, however, having won 4-3 in 2016 and 5-2 in 2017.

Stanford did not lose in regular-season conference play, where they routed #34 Washington State, #15 USC and #9 UCLA en route to a fourth-straight Pac-12 title. The historically tough conference also features ranked opponents like #46 Utah, #15 Washington and #14 California, whom the Waves dominated a week ago in the second round of the tournament, 4-0.

The Cardinal's route to the quarterfinals has not been a simple one, as they had to go through New Mexico State, #35 Syracuse and most recently a fighting 14^th-ranked Kansas team who was ready to upset the host team but eventually fell 4-3.

Stanford's lone loss this season came at the helm of a then-ranked #5 Georgia team back in February, where the Bulldogs pulled a 4-3 win from under the Cardinal. Georgia now stands at #1 in the country and the #1 overall seed in the championship.

The Cardinal also won their 19^th NCAA Championship last year after being ranked 15^th and upsetting #2 Vanderbilt 4-3.

Filling out the rankings for the Cardinal are Michaela Gordon at #24, Melissa Lord at #29, Emily Arbuthnott at #44, Caroline Lampl at #66, Emma Higuchi at #107 and Sara Choy at #119 all in singles. Lampl and Kimberly Yee sit at 14^th in doubes, where Lord and Miluka Madurawe follow at #57.

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ITA RANKINGS: The Waves currently stand 6th in the nation, playing home to three singles players and two doubles pairs. In singles, junior Ashley Lahey comes in at No. 37, followed by seniors Jessica Failla at No. 53 and Adrijana Lekaj at No. 102. Failla and freshman Anastasia Iamachkine sit at 41st in doubles, as Lahey and freshman Daria Kuczer previously went unranked but have entered the countdown at No. 86.

LAST TIME OUT: The #6 Waves advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating a tough #23 team in UCF, 4-2. Pepperdine split in doubles play on courts one and three, where the 41^st-ranked pair of Jessica Failla and Anastasia Iamachkine took down the 26^th-ranked Knights pair of Valeryia Zeleva and Ksenia Kuznetsova 6-2. Court two eventually faltered, though, giving way to a UCF lead over the Waves heading into singles play.

Despite the hiccup, Pepperdine never lost focus as Dzina Milovanovic struck first, winning 7-5, 6-2 over UCF's Marie Mattel on court four, evening the overall score to 1-1. After a loss on court five, #53 Jessica Failla grabbed a 6-4, 6-4 win on court three to put the score even once more at 2s.

The 102^nd-ranked Adrijana Lekaj then stifled an effort form the 82^nd-ranked Kuznetsova, winning 7-5, 6-1 to get the Waves to 3-2 overall in search of one last point.

It was the 37^th-ranked Ashley Lahey who found the clinch point on court one, defeating the 40^th-ranked Zeleva 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to win the match for Pepperdine, 4-2.

NEXT UP: With a Waves win on Friday, Pepperdine will move on to the likes of the winner of #1 Georgia or #8 Vanderbilt on Saturday, May 18 at either 3 p.m. (PDT) or 11 a.m. (PDT).

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NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY: Since 1982, the Waves have advanced to the NCAA postseason 36 times, with the best finishes coming in six quarterfinals in 1989, 1990, 1991, 1994, 2016 and 2017 while keeping a 17-year streak in championship appearances dating back to 2002. Pepperdine currently stands 37-35 in championship play. Last season, the Waves finished their season in the round of 16.

WCC HISTORY: The Waves hold a dominant reign over the West Coast Conference, boasting a 28-3 record in WCC tournament play and currently sit on a win streak of seven tournament championships. Since the inception of the WCC Regular Season title, Pepperdine has taken the crown every single year, including going undefeated against all conference teams this season.

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AWARDS:
2019 WCC SINGLES PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Ashley Lahey (x3)
Jessica Failla
Adrijana Lekaj

2019 WCC DOUBLES PAIRS OF THE WEEK
Jessica Failla/Anastasia Iamachkine
Ashley Lahey/Anastasia Iamachkine
Ashley Lahey/Daria Kuczer (x2)
2019 ALL-WCC 1ST TEAM SINGLES
Ashley Lahey
Adrijana Lekaj

2019 ALL-WCC 2nd TEAM SINGLES
Dzina Milovanovic
Jessica Failla

2019 ALL-WCC HM SINGLES
Anastasia Iamachkine
Daria Kuczer

2019 ALL-WCC 2ND TEAM DOUBLES
Jessica Failla & Anastasia Iamachkine
Ashley Lahey & Daria Kuczer

2019 ALL-ACADEMIC WCC
Ashley Lahey
Jessica Failla

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FOLLOW: Keep up with all things Waves tennis on Twitter (@WavesTennis) and Facebook (/WavesTennis) as well as updates on PepperdineWaves.com.

#6 Waves to Battle #3 Cardinal in NCAA Quarterfinals

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Players Mentioned

Jessica Failla

Anastasia Iamachkine

Daria Kuczer

Ashley Lahey

Adrijana Lekaj

Dzina Milovanovic

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#6 Waves to Battle #3 Cardinal in NCAA Quarterfinals

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Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jessica Failla

Anastasia Iamachkine

Daria Kuczer

Ashley Lahey

Adrijana Lekaj

Dzina Milovanovic

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