Pepperdine University
#11 Virginia
Waves to Face Virginia in the First Round of the ITA Indoor National Championships
2/6/2024 12:04:00 PM | Women's Tennis
MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's tennis team earned a 5-seed at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I National Women's Team Indoor Championships and will face Virginia on Friday in Seattle, as announced by the organization on Tuesday.
The Waves' match against the #11 Cavaliers is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 9 at the Lloyd Nordstrom Tennis Center at noon local time. A live stream will be provided by Cracked Racquets' YouTube Channel; all pertinent links can be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page at pepperdinewaves.com.
Pepperdine has a 4-0 record against the #11 Cavaliers, who punched their ticket to Seattle by beating Texas Tech 4-1 and sweeping Georgia Tech in the Charlottesville Regional during ITA Kickoff Weekend. Playing on their home court two weekends ago, the Waves swept San Diego State and LSU to earn their eighth-straight berth to ITA Indoor Nationals.
Virginia is no stranger to the Waves at the ITA Indoor National Championships. Last season, Pepperdine beat Virginia 4-1 in the Waves' first consolation match of the tournament.
Should the Waves win on Friday, they will play the winner between 4-seed Michigan and California on Saturday at 9 a.m.
MATCH 3: #6 Pepperdine (2-0) vs. #11 Virginia (6-1) | Noon | Seattle, Wash. | Lloyd Nordstrom Tennis Center
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Coming off a narrow 4-2 loss at #3 Oklahoma State this weekend, the Waves will look to rebound indoors in their eighth-straight ITA Indoor National Championship appearance. The furthest the Waves have advanced in this tournament under head coach Per Nilsson was in 2018, when the Waves were the ITA National Team Indoor Championship runners-up to #5 North Carolina.
The nation's fourth-ranked doubles team of Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen continues to have a perfect record in dual singles play. Against Oklahoma State's No. 6 team of Ange Oby Kajuru and Anastasiya Komar, the duo was locked in a 5-6 match before the Cowgirls clinched the doubles point on another court.
In singles, the top of the lineup has seen little change with Lisa Zaar playing on the first line, #21 Savannah Broadus on the second line and #96 Janice Tjen and #77 Nikki Redelijk rounding out the top four. Zaar has gotten off to a stellar start to spring with a 4-1 record and a perfect 2-0 mark in dual singles play with all four wins coming over nationally ranked opponents. As for Broadus, she is coming off the biggest singles win of her career, as she upset #2 Oby Kajuru in a come-from-behind, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 win that featured a dominant third set from the star junior.
The back of Pepperdine's lineup has a good balance of experience with #79 Anna Campana, plus two blue-chip freshmen in Vivian Yang and Jasmine Conway.
SCOUTING THE CAVALIERS
Like Pepperdine, the #11 Virginia Cavaliers have rolled through their non-conference schedule so far, albeit with only one loss to a top-5 team. Earlier this January, Virginia swept Richmond, James Madison, Marshall and Longwood, faced little resistance from Texas Tech during ITA Kickoff Weekend and swept Georgia Tech to punch its ticket to Seattle.
The Cavaliers are coming off a 5-2 loss at #5 Michigan last Saturday, in which they lost the doubles point for just the second time this season and saw three singles matches go to three sets.
In doubles, Annabelle Xu and Melodie Collard are the No. 13 doubles team in the nation, however, the duo has not played together this spring. They had an 8-8 record this fall with a consolation finals appearance at the ITA Fall National Championships. Elsewhere, Hibah Shaikh and Natasha Subhash are ranked No. 48 in doubles; they have a 4-1 record in dual match play while primarily playing on the second line.
Virginia has lost the doubles point twice this season. Before their loss against #5 Michigan, the Cavaliers conceded the doubles point to Texas Tech during ITA Kickoff Weekend.
In singles, Virginia returns five of its top six singles players from last year's 20-7 campaign, in which they reached the Round of 16 at the NCAA Tournament. Currently, they have four ranked players: #46 Hibah Shaikh, #86 Melodie Collard, #86 Annabelle Xu and #88 Sara Ziodato. Ziodato leads UVA with a 6-0 record in shingles playing primarily at the fourth position, while Elaine Chervinsky has a perfect 5-0 record while mostly appearing at the fifth position.
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Players Mentioned
