MALIBU, Calif. – The fourth-ranked Pepperdine women's tennis team is set to square off with the #16 Trojans in Malibu on Saturday for the second time in three weeks.
MATCH #6: #4 Pepperdine vs #16 USC | Saturday, February 13 | 1 p.m. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center
COVERAGE: Watch/Live Scoring |
Twitter
ATTENDANCE: Due to current county and state COVID-19 policies, fans will not be permitted.
SCOUTING THE TROJANS
The highest-ranking Trojan is currently Angela Kulikov, sitting at #22 in the ITA singles rankings. Eryn Cayetano checks in at #48, followed by #103 Naomi Cheong. As for doubles, the pair of Kulikov and Cayetano are tabbed at #12 in the country.
The Waves and Trojans last met three weeks ago in the championship match of the 2021 ITA Kickoff Weekend hosted by Pepperdine. After dropping the doubles point, four out of five completed singles matches went to the Waves for the 4-2 win.
In that match, the first two courts went to three sets, seeing #33
Jessica Failla and #1
Ashley Lahey defeat Cayetano and Cheong respectively with Lahey delivering the clinch blow for Pepperdine. #12
Shiori Fukuda and #88
Taisiya Pachkaleva earned wins as well on courts three and five.
ON THE WAVES
#4 Pepperdine comes back from Oklahoma after a trip to the 2021 ITA Indoors, where they went 1-2 on the weekend against the top teams in the country. In the opening match against then-#6 Gerogia Tech, the Waves earned a 4-2 win after stealing three-straight wins on courts four, five and six.
Failla had a remarkable weekend as she defeated two top-15 opponents in #13 Kenya Jones of Georgia Tech and #7 Abbey Forbes of UCLA. She was on her way to beating #3 Alexa Graham of North Carolina but was halted by a clinch point.
PEPPERDINE IN THE RANKS
Ashley Lahey - #1
Shiori Fukuda - #12
Jessica Failla - #33
Lexi Ryngler - #45
Taisiya Pachkaleva - #88
