MALIBU, California – The #8 Pepperdine women's tennis program heads to Ojai in search of its 30th West Coast Conference Tournament title, and eighth in a row.
MATCH 25: #1 Pepperdine (18-6, 7-0 WCC) vs. #4 BYU (11-14, 5-4 WCC)/#5 San Francisco (11-10, 4-5 WCC) | Friday, April 29 | 10:00 a.m. | Weil Tennis Academy | Ojai, Calif.
If Pepperdine wins … MATCH 26: #1 Pepperdine (18-6, 7-0 WCC) vs. #2 LMU (18-2, 8-1 WCC)/#3 San Diego (14-5, 5-2 WCC)/#6 Saint Mary's (10-9, 5-4 WCC) | Saturday, April 30 | 1:30 p.m. | Weil Tennis Academy | Ojai, Calif.
SERIES HISTORY: Pepperdine is 16-8 all-time against BYU, having won the last 11 meetings. In March, the Waves defeated the Cougars 7-0 in Malibu. Pepperdine is just 2-3 against BYU in neutral-site contests, though that hasn't occurred since the 2004 NCAA Tournament.
Pepperdine stayed perfect against USF at 18-0 with a 4-0 shutout win in the Bay Area in March. The last neutral-site meeting between the clubs came in 2009. The teams have met five times in the WCC Tournament, as Pepperdine has defeated USF in 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2009.
WCC TOURNAMENT HISTORY: Pepperdine has won the last seven postseason tournament titles. The Waves have won the tournament 29 times out of a total of 34 tournaments, including 14 straight titles from 1988-2001. Since the current team dual-match format was put into place in 1995, the Waves are a ridiculous 65-3 in the WCC Tournament.
COVERAGE: Links to possible live video and stats will be available at PepperdineWaves.com at a later time. Scores will be updated periodically on Twitter at @WavesTennis.
LOOKING AHEAD: The NCAA team selection show is Monday, May 2 at 3:30 p.m. PT. It will be streamed live on NCAA.com. The selections for the individual championships will be announced in a press release on Tuesday, May 3.
WAVES IN THE RANKINGS: As a team, Pepperdine is ranked eighth in the ITA computer ratings and 10th in the Tennis Channel/USTA college poll.
SCOUTING THE WAVES: Pepperdine clinched its 10th straight, and 10th overall, WCC regular-season title with a 6-1 victory over #44 San Diego on Saturday. Additionally, #44 Victoria Flores and Lisa Zaar were named the WCC Doubles Team of the Week for the second time this season. Pepperdine is also represented in the ITA rankings by #16 Shiori Fukuda, #27 Zaar, #39 Taisiya Pachkaleva, #57 Flores, #91 Janice Tjen, #97 Savannah Broadus, #120 Nikki Redelijk, #34 Broadus/Tjen, #56 Broadus/Fukuda and #60 Flores/Tjen.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: After starting 1-3 in conference play, BYU has rallied to win four of its last five conference contests to earn the #4 seed in the tournament. Last weekend, the Cougars defeated Saint Mary's and Pacific at home. BYU previously defeated San Francisco, 4-3, on April 7 in Provo.
San Francisco has lost its last two conference matches, dropping contests at LMU and San Diego last weekend. Simran Chhabra is 9-6 in the dual season from the third, fourth and fifth spots, while Mya Bui is 10-8 playing from the second through sixth positions.
FOLLOW: Follow @WavesTennis on Facebook and Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to pepperdinewaves.com for all information, releases and schedules.
