MALIBU, California – The Pepperdine women's tennis team had a host of Waves receive preseason recognition today as the ITA preseason rankings were announced.
Janice Tjen enters the reason ranked third in the country.
Victoria Flores is ranked 13th, while
Taisiya Pachkaleva,
Lisa Zaar, and
Shiori Fukuda also start the campaign ranked 44, 53, and 59, respectively. Fukuda and Pachkaleva earned the #11 preseason national ranking in doubles, while Tjen and
Anastasia Iamachkine come in ranked #56 in doubles.
Janice Tjen (Jakarta, Indonesia), an Oregon transfer in her first season with the Waves, became just the third player in program history to earn ITA All-American status following her freshman season. As a freshman, in addition to being named an ITA All-American, Tjen was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, First Team All-Pac 12, and was the ITA Northwest Region Rookie of the Year. She was the first Pac-12 player since 2015 to reach the national semifinals while finishing the year with the highest winning percentage in school history in singles play (.880).
Taisiya Pachkaleva (Moscow, Russia), a sophomore, begins her second year in Malibu after an historic freshman campaign. She was named the ITA Regional Rookie of the Year in 2021 while earning the WCC Freshman of the Year honor. Pachkaleva was All-WCC first team in singles and All-WCC honorable mention in doubles. Pachkaleva won the clinch point against previously unbeaten North Carolina to send the Waves to the national championship match for the first time.
Victoria Flores (Fort Dodge, Iowa), a Georgia Tech graduate student transfer, burst onto the scene as a junior in 2019-20, earning ITA doubles All-American honors and leading the Jackets with a 20-7 overall singles record, including a 12-5 record in dual singles play, before the COVID-19 pandemic ended her season. During that season, she was ranked as high as number six nationally in ITA doubles rankings while coming in at number 41 in singles. In her last season in Atlanta, Flores earned at-large berths to both the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships after being named All-ACC second team.
Lisa Zaar (Stockholm, Sweden), a junior, looks to carry momentum over from her strong sophomore season, where she earned All-WCC honorable mention honors in both singles and doubles while earning WCC All-Academic first team. From February 13 to May 19, Zaar won 19 straight singles matches and had the clinch point in the road win over #25 Stanford on April 2.
Shiori Fukuda (Tokyo, Japan), a graduate student, returns for her final season in Malibu after earning All-WCC first team honors in both singles and doubles with the Waves in 2021. The Ohio State transfer was an ITA All-American with the Buckeyes in 2020 while being named the 2020 Ohio State Big Ten Athlete of the Year. Fukuda was first team All-B1G in 2018. 2019, and 2020 while earning the Big Ten Freshman of the Year honor in 2018. She was also the ITA Midwest Region Rookie of the Year in 2018.
Anastasia Iamachkine (Lima, Peru), a junior, is set for her third season as a Wave after her 2021 campaign was hampered due to injury. She did return for the NCAA Tournament in dual doubles, going 3-3. Iamachkine was an All-WCC honorable mention honoree in singles in 2019, while also earning All-WCC doubles second team honors the same season.
The ITA All-American selections were released yesterday for the ITA All-American Championships held October 4-10 in Charleston, South Carolina. Flores and Tjen earned trips to the singles main draw, while Zaar and Fukuda will participate in the singles qualifying round. Fukuda and Pachkaleva earned a spot in the main draw for doubles.
The Waves ended the 2021 season as the NCAA runner-up, falling to Texas 4-3 in the national championship. They finished with a 25-4 record. Pepperdine opens up the fall campaign with a trip to San Francisco for the Battle of the Bay from September 16-19.
