Pepperdine University
UCLA
#5 Waves Head To UCLA, Pacific Northwest This Week
4/4/2022 11:49:00 AM | Women's Tennis
MALIBU, California – The #5 Pepperdine women's tennis program embarks on another road trip, this time heading to #15 UCLA for a ranked midweek match before visiting Gonzaga and Portland to continue West Coast Conference play.
MATCH 19: #5 Pepperdine (14-4) vs. #15 UCLA (10-3) | Wednesday, April 6 | 1:30 p.m. | Los Angeles Tennis Center | Westwood, Calif.
MATCH 20: #5 Pepperdine (14-4, 4-0 WCC) vs. Gonzaga (7-10, 1-3 WCC) | Friday, April 8 | 2:00 p.m. | Stevens Center | Spokane, Wash.
MATCH 21: #5 Pepperdine (14-4, 4-0 WCC) vs. Portland (6-9, 1-3 WCC, vs LMU on Fri.) | Saturday, April 9 | 10:00 a.m. | Louisiana Pacific Tennis Center | Portland, Ore.
SERIES HISTORY: Pepperdine has won eight of the last 12 matches against UCLA, including defeating the Bruins 5-2 in February in Malibu and winning 4-3 in the NCAA quarterfinals last season.
The Waves have never lost to Gonzaga, holding a 21-0 advantage all time. The teams have not met in Spokane since 2018, where Pepperdine is a perfect 4-0.
Pepperdine also is undefeated against Portland, going 15-0 against the Pilots. The last trip to Portland for the Waves similarly came in 2018, and Pepperdine is 4-0 on the road against Portland, too.
COVERAGE: Links to live video and stats are available at PepperdineWaves.com. Scores will be updated periodically on Twitter at @WavesTennis.
WAVES IN THE RANKINGS: As a team, Pepperdine is ranked fifth in the ITA computer ratings and fifth in the Tennis Channel/USTA college poll. Updated team rankings are released on Wednesday.
SCOUTING THE WAVES: Pepperdine rebounded from a loss at #14 Cal last Tuesday in a big way, defeating Saint Mary's 6-1 in Malibu on Saturday. The Waves took the doubles point while #17 Lisa Zaar, #79 Janice Tjen, #36 Taisiya Pachkaleva, #82 Savannah Broadus and #98 Nikki Redelijk all claimed singles victories. The Waves are also represented in the ITA rankings by #9 Shiori Fukuda, #51 Victoria Flores, #16 Broadus/Tjen, #17 Flores/Zaar and #43 Flores/Tjen.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS: Since falling to Pepperdine on February 5, UCLA has not lost and is in the midst of an eight-match winning streak, highlighted by a 6-0 mark in Pac-12 play. The Bruins dealt with a COVID pause of about a week in March but rebounded to handily defeat Washington and Washington State this past weekend. UCLA has three singles players and three doubles pairs ranked by the ITA: #47 Abigail Forbes, #67 Elysia Bolton, #125 Kimmi Hance, #33 Ava Catanzarite/Forbes, #41 Bolton/Elise Wagle and #57 Vanessa Ong/Wagle.
Gonzaga snapped a seven-match losing streak with a 4-3 win over Santa Clara on Saturday. The Bulldogs have dropped WCC matches thus far to BYU, San Diego and San Francisco. No Zags are ranked by the ITA, but Tiegan Aitken leads the team with a 10-4 record playing from the fifth and sixth spots, while Cate Broerman is 10-5 solely from the top position.
Portland dropped a pair of WCC matches last weekend, falling to Santa Clara 4-3 and San Francisco 4-1. The Pilots opened WCC action with a loss to San Diego on March 25 before defeating BYU the next day. No Pilots are represented in the ITA rankings. Iva Zelic leads the Pilots with a 13-1 dual record playing from the first spot and has won her last 10 outings.
FOLLOW: Follow @WavesTennis on Facebook and Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to pepperdinewaves.com for all information, releases and schedules.
Players Mentioned
