AUSTIN, Texas — Playing indoors in the super regionals for the second-straight year, the #9 Pepperdine Waves went toe-to-toe with the two-time defending national champion #8 Texas Longhorns, yet the Waves' season ended with a tough 4-3 defeat.
This year was the Waves' (20-4, 7-0 WCC) fifth-straight super regional appearance and the eighth-straight season with 20 or more wins, excluding the coronavirus pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season. Pepperdine was the last mid-major school standing in the tournament; the #8 Texas Longhorns (24-4, 8-1 Big 12) will face top-seeded North Carolina in Orlando next week.
After falling behind on all two courts early Waves fought valiantly in the doubles point. The Longhorns took court three with a quick 6-2 win, but the nation's #1 team of Savannah Broadus (Carrollton, Texas) and Janice Tjen (Jakarta, Indonesia) evened the score with a 6-3 win of their own on the first line.
The crowd's attention turned to court two, where #59 Lisa Zaar (Stockholm, Sweden) and Bunyawi Thamchaiwat (Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand) battled back from trailing by as many as two sets to tie the match at 5-all. Yet the Longhorns won a decisive break point in the fifth set that turned the tide back to the home team. Texas would win the doubles point 7-5.
The margin between Pepperdine and Texas in singles play was razor-thin, as four of the six matches required a third set.
The Waves fell behind 2-0 after Texas won in straight sets on the fourth line, however, the Waves got on the board with Tjen's 7-5, 6-4 win on court three. The Longhorns gutted out a three-set match on the first line to take a 3-1 lead, yet a 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 win from Broadus and Nikki Redelijk's (Windermere, Fla.) 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 win on fives evened the score. The attention turned to court six, where Anna Campana (Hillsborough, Calif.) made it a 2-6, 7-6, 5-3 game before the Longhorns finished the match in the subsequent set.
Saturday's meeting was the 29th meeting between the two teams and the fifth time in the postseason. Texas now owns a 13-16 advantage in the all-time series. This year also marked the second-straight year the Waves have had to play in the super regionals indoors due to inclement weather.
RESULTS
DOUBLES
#1 Broadus/Tjen def. #26 Chavatipon/Zeynalova 6-3
Pachkaleva/Rivkin def. #59 Zaar/Thamchaiwat 7-5
Khirin/Rapolu def. Campana/Redelijk 6-2
Order of finish: 3,1,2
SINGLES
#74 Khirin def. #34 Zaar 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
#16 Broadus def. #95 Chavatipon 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 6-3
#19 Tjen def. #116 Zeynalova 7-5, 6-4
Pachkaleva def. Thamchaiwat 6-1, 6-2
#117 Redelijk def. Rivkin 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
Rapolu def. Campana 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4
Order of finish: 4,3,1,2,5,6*
NEXT UP: Broadus, Tjen and Zaar will compete in the NCAA singles and doubles tournament, which takes place from May 22-27 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. Matchups and start times have yet to be determined.
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