#4 Women's Tennis Earns Season Sweep of #21 USC

Sunday, March 14

Los Angeles, Calif.

12:00 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

USC

Photo by: Kyle Cajero

3/14/2021 3:35:00 PM | Women's Tennis

By: by Athletic Communications

LOS ANGELES – The fourth-ranked Pepperdine women's tennis squad earned their eighth win of the season and the third-straight win over the #21 Trojans on Sunday afternoon in Troy.

Sophomore Lisa Zaar clinched the match for the Waves at 4-1 in a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 defeat of USC's Clare McKee.

RESULTS
#4 Pepperdine 4, #21 USC 1
Doubles
1. Failla/ Fukuda (PEPP) def. Cayetano/Cheong (USC) – 6-2
2. Ewing/McKee (USC) vs. Lahey/ Redelijk (PEPP) – 3-5, unfinished
3. Zaar / Pachkaleva (PEPP) def. Dvorak/Willson (USC) – 6-4
Order of Finish: 3, 1

Singles
1. #33 Jessica Failla (PEPP) def. #103 Naomi Cheong (USC) – 6-3, 7-5
2. #48 Eryn Cayetano (USC) vs. #1 Ashley Lahey (PEPP) – 7-6 (10), 3-6, 2-2, unfinished
3. Salma Ewing (USC) def. #12 Shiori Fukuda (PEPP) – 6-2, 7-5
4. #88 Taisiya Pachkaleva (PEPP) def. Danielle Willson (USC) – 6-1, 6-2
5. Summer Dvorak (USC) vs. Nikki Redelijk (PEPP) – 7-5, 4-6, 0-1, unfinished
6. Lisa Zaar (PEPP) def. Clare McKee (USC) – 3-6, 6-1, 6-1*
Order of finish: 4,1,3,6

RECAP
Just 48 hours after grinding out a tough 4-3 win over #5 UCLA, the Waves set off to Troy to battle #21 USC. Starting in doubles, courts two and three were down early, but Lisa Zaar and Taisiya Pachkaleva earned a 6-4 win over Dvorak and Willson on three. Jessica Failla and Shiori Fukuda clinched the doubles point for Pepperdine with a 6-2 win on court one.

In singles, Pachkaleva broke the tape at the finish line for the first completed singles match and Pepperdine singles point of the day, defeating Willson easily 6-1, 6-2 on court four to put the Waves up 2-0.

Next to finish was #33 Failla who fought off #103 Cheong 6-3, 7-5 on court one, giving the good guys a 3-0 lead on the afternoon. After a stumble on court three, Zaar took matters into her own hands and delivered the clinching blow to McKee on court six, going 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 to win the match for Pepperdine at 4-1.

UP NEXT
The #4 Waves have scheduled three-straight home matches, beginning with another top-20 match-up against #17 Cal at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 23. Then, Pepperdine kicks off West Coast Conference play against Santa Clara and San Francisco on Friday, March 26 at 1:30 pm. and Saturday, March 27 at 12 p.m.