Friday, March 12
Malibu, Calif.
1:00 p.m. PT
Pepperdine University
vs
UCLA
Photo by: Kyle Cajero
#4 Waves Host #5 Bruins, Travel to #21 Trojans This Weekend
3/10/2021 3:29:00 PM | Women's Tennis
MALIBU, Calif. – The fourth-ranked Pepperdine women's tennis team invites fifth-ranked UCLA to Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Friday for a top five SoCal showdown. Then, the Waves will head into town to face #21 USC on the Trojans' turf for the third matchup between the two teams this season.
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MATCH #9: #4 Pepperdine (6-2) vs #5 UCLA (8-2) | Friday, March 12 | 1 p.m. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Live Stream & Scoring
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MATCH #10: #4 Pepperdine (6-2) vs #21 USC (7-4) | Sunday, March 14 | 12 p.m. | Marks Tennis Stadium | Live Stream & Scoring
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SCOUTING THE BRUINS
Powerhouse UCLA has only two losses this season: a 4-2 dip to #2 Texas and a 4-3 heartbreaker to #17 Cal. Most notably, UCLA defeated Pepperdine 4-2 in February during the ITA National Indoors. Since then, the Bruins have accrued wins over San Diego, #21 USC, Washington and Washington State.
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The highest-ranked Bruin is currently Abbey Forbes at #7, followed by #9 Elysia Bolton, #19 Jada Hart, #113 Sasha Vagramov and #119 Vanessa Ong. On the doubles side, the pair of Hart and Bolton sits atop the rankings at #1 as the only ranked tandem.
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Friday's match will mark two of three matchups between the Waves and UCLA this season. Since 2018, Pepperdine has won two and lost two against the Bruins.
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SCOUTING THE TROJANS
Familiar foe USC stands 7-4 on the season with two of those losses coming by the hands of the Waves. During the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Malibu, Pepperdine defeated  the Trojans 4-2 in the championship round.
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Most recently, the Waves beat the then-#16 Trojans in a 4-3 sprint that saw #88 Taisiya Pachkaleva clinch the match on court four, going 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 over Danielle Willson.
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Ranked for USC is #22 Angela Kulikov, #48 Eryn Cayetano and #103 Naomi Cheong. Kulikov and Cayetano are the lone ranked doubles tandem at #12.
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SURF REPORT
Since their last meeting with USC, the Waves have not dropped a court in a 4-0 win over #13 Oklahoma State and a 7-0 blanking of UCSB both in Malibu.
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#33 Jessica Failla has not dropped a match this season, including multiple "upsets" over the likes of USC's #48 Cayetano and #22 Kulikov, Georgia Tech's #13 Jones and UCLA's #7 Abbey Forbes. Failla was en route to defeating North Carolina's #3 Alexa Graham in straight sets when the match was clinched.
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PEPP IN THE RANKS
#1 Ashley Lahey
#12 Shiori Fukuda
#33 Jessica Failla
#45 Lexi Ryngler
#88 Taisiya Pachkaleva
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MATCH #9: #4 Pepperdine (6-2) vs #5 UCLA (8-2) | Friday, March 12 | 1 p.m. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Live Stream & Scoring
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MATCH #10: #4 Pepperdine (6-2) vs #21 USC (7-4) | Sunday, March 14 | 12 p.m. | Marks Tennis Stadium | Live Stream & Scoring
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SCOUTING THE BRUINS
Powerhouse UCLA has only two losses this season: a 4-2 dip to #2 Texas and a 4-3 heartbreaker to #17 Cal. Most notably, UCLA defeated Pepperdine 4-2 in February during the ITA National Indoors. Since then, the Bruins have accrued wins over San Diego, #21 USC, Washington and Washington State.
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The highest-ranked Bruin is currently Abbey Forbes at #7, followed by #9 Elysia Bolton, #19 Jada Hart, #113 Sasha Vagramov and #119 Vanessa Ong. On the doubles side, the pair of Hart and Bolton sits atop the rankings at #1 as the only ranked tandem.
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Friday's match will mark two of three matchups between the Waves and UCLA this season. Since 2018, Pepperdine has won two and lost two against the Bruins.
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SCOUTING THE TROJANS
Familiar foe USC stands 7-4 on the season with two of those losses coming by the hands of the Waves. During the ITA Kickoff Weekend in Malibu, Pepperdine defeated  the Trojans 4-2 in the championship round.
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Most recently, the Waves beat the then-#16 Trojans in a 4-3 sprint that saw #88 Taisiya Pachkaleva clinch the match on court four, going 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 over Danielle Willson.
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Ranked for USC is #22 Angela Kulikov, #48 Eryn Cayetano and #103 Naomi Cheong. Kulikov and Cayetano are the lone ranked doubles tandem at #12.
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SURF REPORT
Since their last meeting with USC, the Waves have not dropped a court in a 4-0 win over #13 Oklahoma State and a 7-0 blanking of UCSB both in Malibu.
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#33 Jessica Failla has not dropped a match this season, including multiple "upsets" over the likes of USC's #48 Cayetano and #22 Kulikov, Georgia Tech's #13 Jones and UCLA's #7 Abbey Forbes. Failla was en route to defeating North Carolina's #3 Alexa Graham in straight sets when the match was clinched.
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PEPP IN THE RANKS
#1 Ashley Lahey
#12 Shiori Fukuda
#33 Jessica Failla
#45 Lexi Ryngler
#88 Taisiya Pachkaleva
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Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
