ORLANDO, Fla. — The #13 Pepperdine women's tennis team dominated the #11 Auburn Tigers in a 6-1, neutral-site win at the USTA National Campus on Friday afternoon.
After Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen's comeback win to clinch the doubles point, the Waves (5-2) faced little resistance from the Tigers (5-5) in singles as all six Pepperdine players won their first sets. Five Waves beat their opponents in straight sets, while only one match needed a third set. For the second straight match, Jasmine Conway helped Pepperdine with a win at the sixth position, while Nikki Redelijk and Tjen helped Pepperdine clinch the match.
Auburn got off to early leads on two of the three doubles courts, while Redelijk and Vivian Yang cruised to a 6-1 win at the doubles position to give Pepperdine an advantage. However, the Tigers evened the score with a win at the third position and looked poised to take the doubles point with Ariana Arseneault and DJ Bennett's 4-1 lead on court one.
But Broadus and Tjen had other ideas. The nation's third-ranked doubles team stormed back by winning the next three games, then holding serve in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead. The Tigers retaliated by rattling off the next four points to win the tenth game, yet Tjen countered from behind the service line to put Pepperdine up 6-5.
Auburn held serve and forced a tiebreak set, then won the first point of the tiebreak off a five-hit rally that ended with a Pepperdine return in the net. That point was all Broadus and Tjen gave the Tigers, as the duo won the next seven points to clinch the doubles point with a come-from-behind 7-6 (1) victory.
Singles play was a Pepperdine rout. All six Waves won their first sets convincingly — most notably with Conway breezing through her first set 6-1, then winning the first two breakpoint attempts in the second set to take a 4-0 lead over Ava Esposito Cogan. Conway was never broken in her 6-1, 6-1 win, marking her second consecutive singles win this spring.
One court over, #96 Redelijk fared similarly in her match against Auburn graduate student Selin Ovunc. Redelijk won her first set 6-2, then won the first two breakpoint opportunities to take a 4-0 lead in the second set. The match was played on serve from the fifth game onward as Redelijk gave Pepperdine a 3-0 lead with her 6-2, 6-2 win.
From there, the Waves won two more singles matches in short succession. On court three, #102 Tjen held off #77 Bennett in a 6-4, 6-3 straight-set win that extended Tjen's win streak to four.
The rest of the matches were played out. Moments after the Waves clinched the match with successive wins on courts five and three, #8 Broadus beat #74 Arseneault in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. Over on court four, #120 Anna Campana completed a first-set comeback to beat #105 Angella Okutoyi. Campana trailed 3-0 in the first set before rattling off six consecutive games to take the first set 6-3. She then carried that momentum in the second set by going up a break early en route to winning 6-3, 6-4 for her first ranked win this spring.
With Pepperdine leading 6-0, Auburn won its lone singles match of the afternoon with #16 Carolyn Ansari outlasting #13 Lisa Zaar 3-6, 7-5 (10-6).
RESULTS
Singles
1. #16 Carolyn Ansari (AUB) def. #13 Lisa Zaar (PEPP), 3-6, 7-5 (10-6)
2. #8 Savannah Broadus (PEPP) def. #74 Ariana Arseneault (AUB), 6-4, 6-1
3. #102 Janice Tjen (PEPP) def. #77 DJ Bennett (AUB), 6-4, 6-3
4. #120 Anna Campana (PEPP) def. #105 Angella Okutoyi (AUB), 6-3. 6-4
5. #96 Nikki Redelijk (PEPP) def. Selin Ovunc (AUB), 6-2, 6-2
6. Jasmine Conway (PEPP) def. Ava Esposito Cogan (AUB), 6-1, 6-1
Order of finish: 6,5,3*,2,4,1
Doubles
1. #3 Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen (PEPP) def. Ariana Arseneault/DJ Bennett (AUB), 7-6 (1)
2. Nikki Redelijk/Vivian Yang (PEPP) def. Adeline Flach/Angella Okutoyi (AUB), 6-1
3. Selin Ovunc/Carolyn Ansari (AUB) def. Lisa Zaar/Jasmine Conway (PEPP), 6-2
Order of finish: 2,3,1
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