MALIBU, Calif. – The #8 Pepperdine women's tennis program used a fast start and dominant performances in singles to eliminate #9 Miami (Fla.) 4-0 and move on to the NCAA quarterfinals for the third consecutive full season.
The Waves (23-6) improved to 2-0 all-time when hosting Super Regional matches and the win makes it the eighth all-time appearance in the Elite Eight, including five of the last six tournaments.
Doubles started out fairly even, as courts two and three were in good shape for Pepperdine while Miami (19-6) took an early 3-0 lead on court one. #42 Savannah Broadus (Carrollton, Texas) and Janice Tjen (Jakarta, Indonesia) pulled away on court two to win 6-2 after the teams split the first four games. Court one roared back to take a 5-4 lead, and both courts one and three had match points. Court three's tandem of Shiori Fukuda (Tokyo, Japan) and Taisiya Pachkaleva (Moscow, Russia) got to the finish line first in a 6-3 decision, giving the Waves an early lead.
Against a potent Hurricane lineup, the Waves took all six first sets in singles to set the tone for the rest of the afternoon. However, two matches were complete before all first sets were in the books as #85 Broadus won her third consecutive tournament match, blowing out Audrey Boch-Collins 6-1, 6-0 on court five. In her first three NCAA Tournament matches, the freshman has been purely dominant, only dropping three games total. Moments later, #15 Fukuda got back on track with a ranked win, taking down #33 Daevenia Achong 6-1, 6-1 on court two to open up a 3-0 Pepperdine lead.
With the Waves in front on all three remaining courts, #40 Pachkaleva posted a 7-6 (2), 6-0 victory on court four over Maya Tahan to send Pepperdine to Illinois in search of its first national title.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
#45 Flores/Zaar vs. #13 Achong/Richardson 5-4 unfinished
#42 Broadus/Tjen def. Nikolenko/Tahan 6-2
Fukuda/Pachkaleva def. Boch-Collins/Pfennig 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 3
SINGLES
#91 Tjen vs. #37 Richardson 7-5, 4-2 unfinished
#15 Fukuda def. #33 Achong 6-1, 6-1
#27 Zaar vs. #92 Pfennig 7-6 (2) unfinished
#40 Pachkaleva def. Tahan 7-6 (2), 6-0
#85 Broadus def. Boch-Collins 6-1, 6-0
#59 Flores vs. Nikolenko 6-4, 2-4 unfinished
Order of finish: 5, 2, 4*
NEXT UP: Pepperdine will head to Champaign, Illinois, for the NCAA quarterfinal next Friday, May 20. The Waves will take on #1 North Carolina in a rematch of last season's NCAA semifinal won by Pepperdine, 4-3. The match will begin at either 1:00 p.m. PT or 5:00 p.m. PT.
FOLLOW: Follow @WavesTennis on Facebook and Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to pepperdinewaves.com for all information, releases and schedules.
