CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The #8 Pepperdine women's tennis program went toe-to-toe with the #1 program in the country for the entire match but fell just short in its NCAA Tournament quarterfinal as North Carolina claimed a 4-3 win over the Waves on Friday morning at the Atkins Tennis Center.
Pepperdine (23-7) ends its dual season as a national quarterfinalist for the fifth time in the last six tournaments and third tournament in a row. The Waves won the West Coast Conference regular-season title for the 10th consecutive time and postseason title for the eighth straight time while boasting both the WCC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
Due to high winds and rain, the entirety of the match was played indoors.
Doubles were close on all three courts to start but UNC (28-2) pulled away on court one and struck first, taking the ranked matchup 6-1. On court three, the Waves had to unfortunately retire due to injury trailing 4-1, which clinched the doubles point for the Tar Heels.
Despite a shuffling of the lineup as a result of an injury, Pepperdine battled back in a big way in singles, taking the necessary four first sets. #91 Janice Tjen (Jakarta, Indonesia) earned an impressive top-five victory, taking down #5 Cam Morra on the main court and only losing four games in the process at 6-1, 6-3. In a similarly impressive fashion, #27 Lisa Zaar (Stockholm, Sweden) blew out #35 Reilly Tran 6-1, 6-2 to give Pepperdine a 2-1 lead.
The lead would not last long, however, as UNC responded with a critical straight-set win on court two between a pair of top-30 players. This brought the match to a best-of-three with courts four, five and six up for grabs, all of which went to a third set.
The Tar Heels grabbed the lead again with a three-set win on court five, but #85 Savannah Broadus (Carrollton, Texas) kept Pepperdine alive on court four with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over #55 Fiona Crawley, who was previously 25-1 this dual season.
The match came down to court six, where UNC rallied after dropping the first set to win in three and advance to the national semifinals on Saturday.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
#2 Crawley/Scotty def. #45 Flores/Zaar 6-1
#42 Broadus/Tjen vs. Sanford/Tanguilig 3-4 unfinished
Morra/Tran def. Fukuda/Pachkaleva 4-1 (ret.)
Order of finish: 1, 3
SINGLES
#91 Tjen def. #5 Morra 6-1, 6-3
#30 Scotty def. #15 Fukuda 6-3, 6-4
#27 Zaar def. #35 Tran 6-1, 6-2
#85 Broadus def. #55 Crawley 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
#51 Tanguilig def. #59 Flores 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
Yarlagadda def. #121 Redelijk 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2, 5, 4, 6*
NEXT UP: Five Waves (Fukuda, Zaar, Flores, Broadus, Tjen) will compete at the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships beginning Monday in Champaign. The singles competition begins on Monday, while doubles opens up on Tuesday.
FOLLOW: Follow @WavesTennis on Facebook and Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to pepperdinewaves.com for all information, releases and schedules.
