SEATTLE, Washington – The #8 Pepperdine women's tennis program won a pair of top-15 singles matches, but a 2-0 deficit was too much to overcome as the Waves fell to #2 North Carolina 4-2 in the first round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at the Seattle Tennis Club on Friday night.
North Carolina (13-0) drew first blood in the loaded doubles slate with a ranked win on the top court. Pepperdine (2-1) kept battling, however, forcing a pair of tiebreakers on courts two and three. Going back-and-forth, point-for-point,
Bunyawi Thamchaiwat (Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand) and
Lisa Zaar (Stockholm, Sweden) outlasted the #1 doubles team in the country 7-6 (6) to make court three the decider for the doubles point. UNC took the third court in a tiebreak, putting the Waves in an early hole heading into singles.
Pepperdine took three first sets in singles, but it was UNC who won the first singles match after a straight-set win on court six. #16
Savannah Broadus (Carrollton, Texas) answered with a straight-set win of her own, taking down #12 Abby Forbes 7-5, 6-3 on court three to cut the deficit in half. #44 Zaar knotted the match up at two with an impressive 7-6 (3), 6-3 win on court two over #9 Carson Tanguilig.
With the match at 2-2 and having turned into a best-of-three, the Tar Heels claimed wins on both courts one and four to close out the match.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
#32 Brantmeier/Scotty def. #4
Broadus/Tjen 6-2
Thamchaiwat/Zaar def. #1 Crawley/Tanguilig 7-6 (6)
Forbes/Tran def.
A. Campana/Redelijk 7-6 (3)
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
SINGLES
#122 Brantmeier def. #20
Tjen 6-4, 1-6, 6-1
#44
Zaar def. #9 Tanguilig 7-6 (3), 6-3
#16
Broadus def. #12 Forbes 7-5, 6-3
#62 Scotty def.
Thamchaiwat 7-5, 6-4
Redelijk vs. #63 Tran 6-4, 1-6, 0-1 unfinished
#18 Yarlagadda def.
A. Campana 6-2, 6-0
Order of finish: 6, 3, 2, 4, 1*
NEXT UP: Pepperdine will face #7 Virginia in a consolation match on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Links to live video and stats are available on PepperdineWaves.com.
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