ORLANDO, Fla. — Despite enduring a lightning delay, another venue change indoors and tough competition, the Pepperdine women's tennis team went 1-for-3 in the first round of the NCAA Singles Tournament as Savannah Broadus advanced to the second round on Monday.
Broadus (Carrollton, Texas) was the only Wave to win her match, as Lisa Zaar (Stockholm, Sweden) fought valiantly against the 5-seed Alexa Noel of Miami (FL), and Janice Tjen (Jakarta, Indonesia) battled in a 2-hour, 35-minute long marathon, yet fell short to #24 Celia-Belle Mohr of Vanderbilt.
Playing in her first NCAA Singles Tournament, Broadus cruised to a 6-0 first-set win thanks to strong serving. Although Kentucky's Florencia Urrutia managed to get on the board in the second set, Broadus cruised to an easy 6-1 win. Broadus will play Stanford's Angelica Blake in tomorrow's second round. The two played in the Freeman Memorial Championship during Broadus' freshman year; Blake won in three sets, 6-2, 0-6, 6-0.
Meanwhile, Zaar's match was the first of the day for the Waves, yet took the longest due to a lightning delay that sent her match indoors. Leading 2-0 over the #5 Noel, Zaar's match was called inside due to inclement weather in the Orlando area. Since the USTA National Campus had only six indoor courts, Zaar had to wait 2 hours and 33 minutes to resume play inside.
Once she did, Noel took the first set 6-4 and jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second, yet Noel left the door open for Zaar, who proceeded to win the next two sets. But the comeback attempt would fall short as #5 Noel won the second set 6-4.
In the final match of the day, the 9-16 seeded Tjen duked it out with #24 Mohr of Vanderbilt in three close sets. Tjen rallied back to take the first set 7-5, yet Mohr evened the score with a 6-3 second-set win. In the third set, Tjen found success with savvy play at the net, winning three straight to make it a 4-2 in favor of the junior. However, Mohr would take a 6-5 lead and threaten to close the book on the match, but Tjen rallied once more to force a tiebreak.
Tjen got out to a 3-0 lead in the third-set tiebreak and appeared to be in control until Mohr rattled off three-straight points of her own. Both players would combine for three aces down the stretch and Mohr would win the tiebreaker 7-5 minutes before midnight.
However, Tjen's season isn't finished, as she and Broadus will play in the opening round of the doubles tournament tomorrow at a time that has yet to be determined. Coincidentally, the duo will face off with the aforementioned Noel and Isabella Pfenning of Miami (FL).
RESULTS
#5 Alexa Noel (Miami (FL)) def. #34 Lisa Zaar 6-4, 6-4
#19 Savannah Broadus def. #40 Florencia Urrutia (Kentucky) 6-0, 6-1
#24 Celia Belle-Mohr (Vanderbilt) def. #16 Janice Tjen 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 (7-5)
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