MALIBU, Calif. – With the help of a little senior magic, the #5 Pepperdine women's tennis team took down the defending national champions #27 Stanford at 4-2 to advance to the Round of 16 in Lake Nona, Florida.
The Waves, now at 22-3 on the season, knocked out the Cardinal on a triple-set thriller for senior #77
Ashley Lahey, who defeated #46 Michaela Gordon 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 for the clinch point. The Pepperdine women's tennis program has now sent teams to the Sweet 16 for the fifth season in a row as well as the 19
th time overall.
RESULTS
#5 Pepperdine 4, #27 Stanford 2
Singles
1.
#77 Lahey, Ashley (PEPP) def. #46 Gordon, Michaela (STAN) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
2.
#21 Failla, Jessica (PEPP) def. #111 Blake, Angelica (STAN) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
3.
#89 Pachkaleva, Taisiya (PEPP) def. Arbuthnott, Emily (STAN) 6-4, 6-1
4.
#118 Fukuda, Shiori (PEPP) def. Geller, Ana (STAN) 6-1, 7-5
5.
Zaar, Lisa (PEPP) vs. Choy, Sara (STAN) 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, unfinished
6. Higuchi, Emma (STAN) def. Ryngler, Lexi (PEPP) 6-2, 6-2
Order of finish: 4,3,6,2,1
Doubles
1.
Lahey, Ashley/Zaar, Lisa (PEPP) def. Gordon, Michaela/Madurawe, Niluka (STAN) 6-3
2. Blake, Angelica/Arbuthnott, Emily (STAN) def.
Fukuda, Shiori/Pachkaleva, Taisiya (PEPP) 6-2
3. Choy, Sara/Higuchi, Emma (STAN) def.
Iamachkine,Anastasia/Failla, Jessica (PEPP) 6-4
Order of finish: 1,2,3
RECAP
In doubles, the Waves split early, mounting a fight for the first team point on court three.
Jessica Failla and- in her first appearance all season-
Anastasia Iamachkine were down 5-2 before the Pepperdine pair fought back, earning two more games before the Cardinal tandem took the court on a break point.
On courts three and four in singles,
#89 Taisiya Pachkaleva and
#118 Shiori Fukuda finished almost simultaneously with Fukuda going unbothered at 6-1, 7-5 on four and the freshman Pachkaleva defeating Stanford's No. 3 easily at 6-4, 6-1 to extend her winning streak to 21-straight singles matches.
#21 Jessica Failla was next up to finish for Pepperdine, stifling a slight comeback from #111 Angelica Blake on court two. The Wave took a strong lead in the third set, however, and didn't look back, putting Blake to rest at 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 for the 3-2 Waves lead.
It was none other than
#77 Ashley Lahey who ended the afternoon in a high-octane competition on court one, where the senior fell in the first set but simply used the loss as fuel, going for an emotional 6-4, 6-4 last two sets to clinch the match for Pepperdine at 4-2.
UP NEXT
The #5 Waves will head to Lake Nona, Florida to take on #20 Michigan in the Sweet 16. The match is set to begin Sunday, May 16 at 1 p.m. PT.
