MALIBU, Calif. — Coming off back-to-back tournament wins at the West Coast Conference Championships and NCAA San Antonio Regional, the Pepperdine women's golf team will continue the hunt for a national title at the NCAA Championships this week.

EVENT INFO — The NCAA Championships will be held at the par-72, 6,384-yard Raptor Course at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, between May 19-24.  Live scoring will be available by Golfstat and Golf Channel will provide live TV coverage on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 

All 30 teams will compete in the first three rounds (Friday through Sunday).  The field will be cut to 15 teams for the fourth and final round of stroke play (Monday).  The top eight teams will move on to match play, with the quarterfinals and semifinals on Tuesday and the national championship match on Wednesday.

Pepperdine, the #13 seed, will be paired with Vanderbilt and Ole Miss for the first two rounds.  On Friday, they'll start on the 10th tee beginning at 1:20 p.m.  On Saturday, they'll begin on the first tee starting at 8:00 a.m.

FIELD — In order of seeding, the 30 teams that have advanced the NCAA finals are Stanford, Wake Forest, LSU, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Texas A&M, San Jose State, Florida State, Southern California, Texas, Baylor, Northwestern, Pepperdine, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Clemson, SMU, Duke, Arizona, Oklahoma State, Virginia, Georgia, Texas Tech, Michigan State, TCU, Tulsa, New Mexico, NC State, Oregon State and Augusta.

PEPPERDINE LINEUP — The Waves' lineup consists of juniors Lion Higo (Gold Coast, Australia) and Kaleiya Romero (San Jose, Calif.), freshman Jeneath Wong (Melbourne, Australia), senior Reese Guzman (Kahului, Hawai'i) and sophomore Lauren Gomez (Murrieta, Calif.).  Additionally, freshman Yingzhi Zhu (Nanjing, China) will travel as a potential substitute. 

This is the first time any Wave in the potential lineup will have competed at the NCAA finals.

RANKINGS — Golfstat has the Waves ranked #16 and Golfweek has the squad ranked #21 this week.

Jeneath Wong ranks #49 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Lion Higo, Wong, Kaleiya Romero currently rank #20, #44 and #125 respectively on the individual Golfstat rankings.  In the Golfweek individual rankings, Higo, Wong and Romero rank #31, #38 and #133 respectively

NCAA HISTORY — Pepperdine has made it to the NCAA finals for the 13th time, all of which have happened under head coach Laurie Gibbs.  The Waves best finishes have been 2nd (2003), third (2006), fourth (2005) and fifth (1999) and the team has had eight finishes in the top-10 all-time.  The last time the Waves advanced to the NCAA Championships was 2017 and the team finished 23rd. 

NCAA REGIONAL — Last week, the Waves tied the program's best-ever finish at an NCAA Regional, tying for first alongside SMU.  It was the Waves 24th-consecutive appearance in an NCAA Regional.  The only other time Pepperdine has achieved the feat was during the 2001-02 campaign.  The following year, the squad finished fourth in the regional and as runner-up at the NCAA Championship. 

WCC CHAMPS — Pepperdine won the West Coast Conference Championships for a league-best 20th time (out 26 possible tournaments) in the end of April.  The Waves took home the top three spots, led by the WCC Championship individual title win by Kaleiya Romero who shot 7-under.  The Waves finished 12-under after three rounds, beating second-place BYU by 17-strokes - marking the all-time best team score at a WCC Championship.  Romero's title was the fourth-consecutive WCC Tournament win by the Waves.  Lion Higo and Reese Guzman finished in second and third.

RECORD BOOK WATCH — The Waves have been putting a dent on the record book this season.  At the Anuenue Spring Break Classic, Pepperdine had the second-best 36-hole score in Pepperdine women's golf history with a 15-under, tied the third-best 54-hole score for the second time this season with an 18-under, and posted the fourth-best single round with an 11-under in the second round.  In the Fall, the Waves had also tied for third for the 54-hole score, tied for 6th with a 9-under second round and put in the third-best 36-hole score with 12-under - all at the Golfweek Red Sky Classic.

Individually, Lion Higo tied for fourth with a 10-under 54-hole score at the Golfweek Red Sky Classic, while Reese Guzman tied for fifth with a 7-under 18-hole score in the second round at the Anuenue Spring Break Classic.  Higo also tied for third with an 8-under 18-hole score in the second round of the WCC Championships.

Higo sits atop the record books with an impressive 71.30 scoring average so far this season, in front of Grace Na who tabbed a 71.73 throughout the 2013-14 season.  Higo and Lauren Gomez currently rank sixth and seventh in the program's career scoring average lists with a 73.71 and 73.81 scoring average respectively.  Higo is tied for first with 16 below-par rounds and 11 top-20 finishes in a single season, and is tied for seventh with seven top-10 finishes.   

SPRING HIGHLIGHTS — Pepperdine has won or finished as co-champions in six tournaments this season, the first time the Waves have accomplished the feat in program history.  The squad came close in the 2002-03 season with five tournament wins and in that season, the program went on to finish as NCAA Championship Runner-Up.  Additionally, the last time the Waves won four tournaments in a single-season was the 2013-14 campaign. 

The squad won two tournaments in the fall, Golfweek Red Sky Classic and Golf Iconic Classic.  Pepperdine has finished top-five in six of the seven tournaments played, taking home the Anuenue Spring Break Classic title and finishing as co-champion of the Silicon Valley Showcase alongside top-ranked Stanford, snapping the Cardinal's winning streak, and closing things up with the league title. 

Lion Higo has had an impressive junior season, winning two tournaments, including the Silicon Valley Showcase last month.  She had finished in the top-10 in six of the 10 events played this season, and in the top-20 in all 10.  Jeneath Wong has had a breakout freshman season as well and has finished in the top-20 in all five events played, and top-10 in four, since joining the Waves in January. 

In the final tournament of the regular season, the Waves had five players finish in the top-10, led by medalist Higo.  Romero finished in fourth, Wong sixth, Lauren Gomez 10th and Reese Guzman, who competed as an individual, finished ninth.   Romero had finished in the top-10 in four tournaments this season, while Gomez has achieved the feat three times and Guzman has twice.