MALIBU, California – The #6 Pepperdine women's tennis program prepares for the second and third matches of the current homestand, hosting Princeton on Thursday afternoon before beginning West Coast Conference action by hosting BYU on Saturday.
MATCH 12: #6 Pepperdine (7-3) vs. Princeton (3-7, at SDSU on Tues., at USD on Wed.) | Thursday, March 10 | 12:00 p.m. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.
MATCH 13: #6 Pepperdine (7-3) vs. BYU (5-7, at GCU on Fri.) | Saturday, March 12 | 2:00 p.m. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.
SERIES HISTORY: This is the ninth all-time meeting with Princeton, and Pepperdine holds a 7-1 series lead. The Tigers earned their first and only series win in 2020. The Waves lead the series with BYU 15-8 and have not lost to the Cougars since 1998, winning the last 10 meetings. BYU has not defeated Pepperdine in Malibu since 1982.
COVERAGE: All matches will be live-streamed via Playsight and can be found on PepperdineWaves.com. Scores will be updated periodically on the web and on Twitter at @WavesTennis.
ATTENDANCE: Due to relaxed L.A. County COVID guidelines, tickets are no longer required for home tennis events.
WAVES IN THE RANKINGS
As a team, Pepperdine is ranked sixth in the ITA computer ratings and 10th in the Tennis Channel/USTA college poll.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Pepperdine comes into this week's matches with a 7-3 record, having defeated #25 Stanford 4-1 on Sunday afternoon. The Waves claimed the doubles point while #12 Lisa Zaar (Stockholm, Sweden), #88 Janice Tjen (Jakarta, Indonesia) and Anastasia Iamachkine (Lima, Peru) all won singles matches. A host of other Waves are ranked by the ITA in both singles and doubles: #21 Shiori Fukuda (Tokyo, Japan), #23 Taisiya Pachkaleva (Moscow, Russia), #45 Victoria Flores (Fort Dodge, Iowa), #97 Nikki Redelijk (Windermere, Fla.), #117 Savannah Broadus (Carrollton, Texas), #11 Flores/Zaar, #15 Broadus/Tjen and #34 Flores/Tjen.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Princeton's record can be deceiving, as the Tigers are 3-7 but have played six ranked opponents and have yet to play a home match this season. As a team, the Tigers are ranked 61st by the ITA. Princeton has three singles players and a doubles pair ranked by the ITA: #2 Daria Frayman, #26 Victoria Hu, #64 Brianna Shvets and #9 Frayman/Grace Joyce. BYU comes into this weekend's match with a record of 5-7, having won two of its last three including a 5-2 win at Utah State on March 4. The Cougars competed at the ITA Kick-Off event in January, falling to both California and San Diego. No Cougars are ranked by the ITA.
FOLLOW: Follow @WavesTennis on Facebook and Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to pepperdinewaves.com for all information, releases and schedules.
