Women's Tennis Meets Up with UCLA in NCAA Quarterfinals

LAKE NONA, Florida – The fifth-ranked Pepperdine women's tennis team and the fourth-ranked UCLA Bruins traveled 2,512 miles away from Los Angeles only to find yet another SoCal matchup between the two programs- this time to stay alive in the Waves' eighth NCAA quarterfinal appearance in program history.

NCAA QUARTERFINALS: #5 Pepperdine (23-3) vs #4 UCLA (22-4) | Wednesday, May 19 | 2:30 p.m. PT/5:30 p.m. PT | USTA National Campus | Tennis Channel | Live Scoring

GOT A LOT OF HISTORY
The Waves and Bruins met three times during the regular season, with UCLA pulling two wins and Pepperdine bringing in one. The first matchup came back in February in the back draw of the ITA Indoors where UCLA took a 4-2 win, but Pepperdine gained the upper hand with a 4-3 win against the Bruins in Malibu the next month. The Waves gained three straight team points after being down 3-1 early in the match. Lisa Zaar, Taisiya Pachkaleva and Shiori Fukuda all won on their respective courts to put the score at an overall 3-3, and it was Jessica Failla who clinched the win for Pepperdine on court two against Jada Hart.

The most recent meeting, however, did not fare well for the good guys, as the neighbors from down the freeway grabbed a 5-2 win on their home turf in Westwood. In that match, freshman Taisiya Pachkaleva earned a 4-6, 7-6(6), 10-3 win over UCLA's Vivian Wolff, as Lisa Zaar bested Sasha Vagramov at 6-2, 6-2.

Since 2016, Pepperdine has gone 6-2 against the Bruins.

LAST TIME OUT
The #5 Waves earned a 4-0 blanking of #20 Michigan on Sunday afternoon in the round of 16. Failla and doubles partner Anastasia Iamachkine snatched arguably the biggest win of the afternoon after being down 1-4 early. The Waves duo won five-straight games to come back and defeat the Wolverines on court three, earning the doubles point for Pepperdine.

It was a race to the finish in singles, where the Waves won every first set but one, seeing wins from #118 Shiori Fukuda, #89 Pachkaleva and #21 Failla, who clinched yet again for Pepperdine.

NCAA TOURNAMENT FACTS
The NCAA Championship has made its home at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida on the outskirts of Orlando. The Waves earned the trip back in 2019 as well, making it to the tournament quarterfinals before eventual champion Stanford defeated Pepperdine 4-1.

With a win on Wednesday, the Waves will meet the winner of #1 North Carolina and #18 Duke on Friday, May 21 for Pepperdine's first-ever semifinal appearance in program history.

STREAKING WAVES
Freshman phenom Pachkaleva has infamously gone 22-straight singles matches without a loss as she currently sits at 24-1 on the dual season. Zaar has just about matched that streak with 19-straight of her own wins, going 20-1 on the year.

Women's Tennis Meets Up with UCLA in NCAA Quarterfinals

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Players Mentioned

Jessica Failla

Shiori Fukuda

Anastasia Iamachkine

Taisiya Pachkaleva

Lisa Zaar

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