MALIBU, Calif. – The #8 Pepperdine women's tennis program started its NCAA Tournament run with a shutout on Friday afternoon, as the Waves had little resistance from Denver in defeating the Pioneers 4-0 in the first round at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
The doubles portion of the afternoon took under 30 minutes, with Pepperdine (21-6) posting two shutouts and only surrendering three games on three courts as #45 Victoria Flores (Fort Dodge, Iowa) and Lisa Zaar (Stockholm, Sweden) were 6-0 winners on court one. Court three was much of the same, as Shiori Fukuda (Tokyo, Japan) and Taisiya Pachkaleva (Moscow, Russia) were also 6-0 victors as Pepperdine grabbed an early lead heading into singles.
Pepperdine jumped all over Denver (14-9) in singles as well, winning all six first sets and losing just nine games in the process. #85 Savannah Broadus (Carrollton, Texas) handled Andrea Burguete Beltran 6-0, 6-0 on court five to give Pepperdine a 2-0 lead. Shortly after, #40 Pachkaleva claimed a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Camille Verden-Anderson on court four.
With the Waves one win away from a clinch, #91 Janice Tjen (Jakarta, Indonesia) -- playing from the top line for the first time this season -- registered her 14th consecutive win, a 6-3, 6-1 decision on court one over Anna Riedmiller to send Pepperdine into Saturday's clash with USC in the second round.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
#45 Flores/Zaar def. Pursell/Verden-Anderson 6-0
#42 Broadus/Tjen vs. Melville/Nelson 2-3 unfinished
Fukuda/Pachkaleva def. Burger/Riedmiller 6-0
Order of finish: 1, 3
SINGLES
#91 Tjen def. Riedmiller 6-3, 6-1
#15 Fukuda vs. Melville 6-1, 3-4 unfinished
#27 Zaar vs. Pursell 6-2, 3-2 unfinished
#40 Pachkaleva def. Verden-Anderson 6-1, 6-3
#85 Broadus def. Burguete Beltran 6-0, 6-0
#59 Flores vs. Nelson 6-2, 2-1 unfinished
Order of finish: 5, 4, 1*
NEXT UP: Pepperdine will host the second round matchup Saturday at 1:00 p.m. against USC. Visit PepperdineWaves.com for the Tournament Central page, which includes links to live video, live stats, and ticket/fan info.
FOLLOW: Follow @WavesTennis on Facebook and Twitter for immediate updates, results and more. Go to pepperdinewaves.com for all information, releases and schedules.
