MALIBU, Calif. — Making its return outdoors after competing at the ITA Indoor National Championships, the #13 Pepperdine women's tennis team heads to the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. for matches against #11 Auburn and #15 Florida this weekend.
Friday's match against Auburn begins at 10 a.m. PT, while Sunday's match against Florida is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. PT. Both matches will be livestreamed via PlaySight; all relevant links can be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
The Waves are no strangers to the USTA National Campus. Pepperdine made the 2021 NCAA Championship match at the USTA National Campus, while the site also hosted the 2023 NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournament.
MATCH 7: #13 Pepperdine (4-2) vs. #11 Auburn (5-4) | 10 a.m. PT | Orlando, Fla. | USTA National Campus
MATCH 8: #13 Pepperdine (4-2) vs. #15 Florida (4-4) | 9 a.m. PT | Orlando, Fla. | USTA National Campus
SCOUTING THE WAVES
After taking over a week off after the ITA Indoor National Championships, the #13 Waves resume their aggressive non-conference slate with two more matches against top-15 opponents.
Five Pepperdine singles players made the latest edition of the ITA rankings, making the Waves the only non-Power 5 school to achieve that feat. Pepperdine's top five singles players are ranked: #8 Savannah Broadus, #13 Lisa Zaar, #96 Nikki Redelijk, #102 Janice Tjen and #120 Anna Campana.
Of those five, few players are coming into Orlando on a hot streak quite like #102 Tjen, who went 3-0 at ITA Indoor Nationals at the third position. Her last three wins have been in straight sets, and only one of her last six sets has been decided by two games or fewer. Elsewhere in the lineup, #13 Zaar has been on a roll atop Pepperdine's lineup, as the fifth-year senior has amassed a perfect 5-0 record — all against ranked opponents in straight-set victories.
In doubles, the nation's No. 3 team of Broadus and Tjen has been unstoppable in dual match play. The duo has a perfect 4-0 record at the first position, yet the Waves have only won the doubles point three times this season.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Looking to bounce back from a 4-1 loss at #6 Texas last Sunday, the #11 Auburn Tigers come into Friday's match with a 5-4 record with all four losses coming against top-10 opponents. The Tigers are no stranger to playing matches on the road, as this will be their eighth match away from home this spring.
Auburn has four ranked singles players — #16 Carolyn Ansari, #74 Ariana Arseneault, #77 DJ Bennett, and #105 Angella Okutoyi — plus two ranked doubles teams in #26 Selin Ovunc and Bennett, plus #58 Arseneault and Ansari. Doubles play has not been an issue for the Tigers, who have won the doubles point five times this season and thrice in the last five matches. Against the Longhorns last Saturday, the Tigers rolled out two new doubles teams (Arseneault and Bennett, plus Adeline Flach and Ava Esposito Cogan) to clinch the doubles point.
In singles, #77 Bennett leads the team with five wins this season between the third and fourth positions. Going into this week's match, #105 Okutoyi has the longest win streak in singles, having won her last two matches while playing in the middle of the Tigers' lineup. Atop the lineup is #16 Carolyn Ansari, who has 4-2 record with wins over three ranked opponents this year. Should she and Zaar play each other on court one on Friday, it will be a top-20 showdown between two fifth-year seniors.
SCOUTING THE GATORS
Playing for the first time since the ITA National Indoor Championships, the 4-4 #15 Gators are looking to snap out of a four-match losing skid dating back to Feb. 6.
Florida had a difficult time in Seattle, going 0-3 against Stanford, Georgia and Auburn while only winning one match — Qavia Lopez's 6-4, 6-1 singles win against Georgia's Mai Nirundorn. However, the Gators have scheduled aggressively, as all of their opponents currently rank in the top 40 of the latest ITA team rankings.
So far, Florida has three ranked singles players: #40 Rachel Gailis, #57 Carly Briggs and #61 Emily de Oliviera. Pepperdine and Florida are familiar with each other, as the teams met in Las Vegas for the Freeman Memorial Tournament in early January. There, Pepperdine went 3-1 against Florida in singles and 1-2 in doubles.
In dual singles play, Pepperdine and Florida last met in Gainesville on Feb. 24, 2023, when the Waves swept the Gators 4-0.
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