MALIBU, Calif. — The venue was different for the #4 Pepperdine women's tennis team's second match against #12 California, yet the result was another win for the Waves, who beat the Golden Bears 6-1 at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon.
Aside from a close doubles point that needed a heroic comeback from Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen in a tiebreak, the Waves (9-3, 1-0 WCC) controlled the match. Broadus, Nikki Redelijk and Tjen helped clinch the match over the Golden Bears (8-3, 2-0 Pac-12), then Pepperdine tacked on two more three-set singles wins after the remaining matches were played out. With the win, Pepperdine is 6-3 versus nationally ranked teams.
All three doubles matches were close affairs. Although Katja Wiersholm and Tiziana-Marie Schomburg broke the Waves first on court three, Lisa Zaar and Jasmine Conway broke back, then consolidated the break for a 3-2 lead. The Pepperdine duo broke California again to go up a break and held in the seventh game for a 5-2 lead, yet the Golden Bears held on deuce point in the next game and fended off match point several times to tie the match at five sets all. Conway and Zaar held in the next game, then broke the Bears for a 7-5 victory — the duo's fifth-straight win.
California evened the score at the second position, turning the spotlight to court one as Broadus and Tjen battled #14 Hannah Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika for the doubles point. The match was played on serve until the seventh game, when Broadus and Tjen broke for a 4-3 lead. Like the match on court three, the match at the first position saw the Waves pull one game away from clinching before the Golden Bears made a rally. This time, the California duo broke Broadus and Tjen in the tenth game to tie the match at five games all, then the nation's No. 2 doubles team held for a 6-5 lead.
However, the Golden Bears got a second chance as Pepperdine was broken on a double fault on deuce point, bringing the match to a tiebreak.
Viller Moeller and Mushika bolted out to a 3-0 lead in the tiebreak, which put Broadus and Tjen's undefeated record in jeopardy. But the Pepperdine duo rallied by winning the next three points to tie the score at 3-3 heading into the changeover. From that point forward, the match was all Pepperdine's. Broadus and Tjen won the next four points and capped off their come-from-behind, 7-6 (3) win off an ace from Broadus to help Pepperdine clinch the doubles point.
Everything came up Pepperdine in singles play. The Waves won five of the six first sets en route to beating their opponents in three straight-set matches. Had the remaining matches been abandoned, the Waves would have swept the Golden Bears 4-0.
At the second position, #6 Broadus maintained momentum from her doubles match to beat #46 Valentina Ivanov in straight sets. After the Pepperdine junior won the first set 6-4, she broke Ivanov to open the first set, then broke the California senior for a 4-3 lead in the second set. Despite Ivanov breaking back late in the second set, Broadus held in the tenth game, winning a long rally with multiple overheads to seal her 6-4, 6-4 win.
Over on the fifth position, #99 Redelijk blazed through her first set against #92 Mao Mushika with a 6-1 win. But Mushika opened the second set by breaking Redelijk in the first game, then going up a break before Redelijk held serve in the third game. The Pepperdine senior broke back in the fourth game and didn't look back in her 6-1, 6-3 victory, which put the Waves up 3-0 moments after Broadus' win on court two.
Shortly after Redelijk's win at the fifth position, #100 Tjen extended her singles win streak to eight by upsetting #35 Jessica Alsola in a 6-4, 6-4 win. Tjen trailed 3-2 in the first set, yet won the next three games before Alsola held in the ninth game. Tjen held in the next game for a 6-4, first-set win, but Alsola held on deuce point to open the second set and broke Tjen in the next game. Undeterred, Tjen rattled off the next four games to flip the script on the match. From there, the match was played on serve in Tjen's match-clinching, 6-4, 6-4 win.
The remaining three singles matches were played out. California got on the board with a win at the sixth position before #13 Zaar and #117 Anna Campana won both of their matches in a third-set, ten-point tiebreak. Zaar won the first set over #23 Viller Moeller 6-4 before the Golden Bears star countered with a 6-2 win in the second set. But Zaar took control of the tiebreak, winning 10-3 for her eighth win over a nationally ranked opponent this spring.
On the fourth position, Campana capped off the Waves' 6-1 win with her three-set victory over Wiersholm. Campana never trailed in the first set en route to winning 6-4, but Wiersholm put up a 6-4 win of her own in the second set to force a tiebreak, which was just as close as the first two sets. Campana and Wiersholm were tied 3-3 at the changeover, then Campana took a 4-3 lead and extended it on the next point with an ace. Yet Wiersholm rallied to tie the score at six heading into another changeover before winning a long rally to take a 7-6 lead.
Campana, however, wouldn't let the match slip away. The fifth-year senior won a long rally with her backhand, then took an 8-7 lead off a Wiersholm double-fault. Then on the longest rally of the tiebreak, a slew of Campana backhand set up another winner for the Wave, who went on to win the match 6-4, 4-6 (10-8) when Wiersholm's serve went out of bounds.
RESULTS
Singles
1. #13 Lisa Zaar (PEPP) def. #23 Hannah Viller Moeller (CAL) 6-4, 2-6 (10-3)
2. #6 Savannah Broadus (PEPP) def. #46 Valentina Ivanov (CAL) 6-4, 6-4
3. #100 Janice Tjen (PEPP) def. #35 Jessica Alsola (CAL) 6-4, 6-4
4. #117 Anna Campana (PEPP) def. Katja Wiersholm (CAL) 6-4, 4-6 (10-8)
5. #99 Nikki Redelijk (PEPP) def. #92 Mao Mushika (CAL) 6-1, 6-3
6. #109 Lan Mi (CAL) def. Vivian Yang (PEPP) 7-5, 7-6 (5)
Order of finish: 2,5,3*,6,1,4
Doubles
1. #2 Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen (PEPP) def. #14 Hannah Viller Moeller/Mao Mushika (CAL) 7-6 (3)
2. Jessica Alsola/Valentina Ivanov (CAL) def. Nikki Redelijk/Vivian Yang (PEPP) 6-4
3. Jasmine Conway/Lisa Zaar (PEPP) def. Katja Wiersholm/Tiziana-Marie Schomburg (CAL) 7-5
Order of finish: 3,2,1
UP NEXT: Pepperdine welcomes #9 USC to Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center next Saturday, March 23 at noon.
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