MALIBU, Calif. — The #3 Pepperdine women's tennis team takes its first of two consecutive trips north this week, as it takes on San Francisco and UC Santa Barbara on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
Thursday's West Coast Conference match against San Francisco — which was originally scheduled for Friday before this weekend's weather forecast moved up the start date — is scheduled to start at noon, while Saturday's match at UCSB is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. If available, all live stream and live scoring links for both matches will be on the women's tennis team's schedule page at pepperdinewaves.com.
The Waves are coming off a dominant, 4-0 home sweep over the #9 USC Trojans last Saturday, which gave head coach Per Nilsson his 200th dual match win at the helm of the women's tennis team. Heading into the match against USF, Pepperdine has won its last 73 dual matches against WCC opponents and has not lost a conference match since April 18, 2015 — 3,267 days ago.
From here, the Waves will head to the San Francisco Bay Area for two significant non-conference matches at #5 Stanford and #11 California on April 5-6 before returning to WCC play.
MATCH 14: #3 Pepperdine (10-3, 1-0 WCC) at San Francisco (3-8) | Noon | San Francisco, Calif. | California Tennis Center
MATCH 15: #3 Pepperdine (10-3, 1-0 WCC) at UC Santa Barbara (6-7, 1-0 Big West) | 12:30 p.m. | Santa Barbara, Calif. | Arnhold Tennis Center
SCOUTING THE WAVES
With a #3 ranking in the latest Intercollegiate Association polls and two-match win streak after sweeping USC, everything has gone Pepperdine's way lately.
Led by the nation's #2 doubles team of Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen, the Waves have won the doubles point in their last six matches. While the top of Pepperdine's doubles lineup has been a known commodity for several seasons, the Waves' recent hot streak in doubles can be attributed to Jasmine Conway and Lisa Zaar's emergence at the third position. Winners of their last six matches at the third position, Conway and Zaar have clinched the doubles point on several occasions during Pepperdine's successful streak in doubles play.
Pepperdine's singles lineup boasts five nationally ranked players — including two top-10 Waves in #6 Zaar and #8 Broadus — making them one of three programs with two top-10 singles players (the other are Oklahoma State and South Carolina). Six different players have clinched for Pepperdine, with reigning WCC Singles Player of the Week #99 Nikki Redelijk and #86 Anna Campana being the latest Waves to cap off wins over #9 USC and #12 California, respectively.
Despite the team's success, the Waves could be getting even better. Holding down the third position, #58 Tjen is on a meteoric rise in the ITA rankings: The senior has won nine consecutive matches in straight sets and has jumped 24 spots in the singles rankings since entering the polls on Feb. 20. Elsewhere in the lineup, the aforementioned Redelijk rebounded from early-season struggles to win her last two matches at the fifth position, while Campana has a 4-2 record while playing at the fourth position.
SCOUTING THE DONS
Picked fifth in the West Coast Conference preseason polls, the Dons' WCC opener has been postponed and rescheduled several times due to weather. Now, nearly one month removed from the initial WCC opener against Pacific, the Dons begin conference play against the toughest team in the league.
San Francisco has won one of its last five matches: a 5-2 home win over Fresno State on March 7. That was the Dons' first win over a Division I team this season and the team's third win at home.
Individually, the Dons have two singles players on win streaks heading into this weekend: Graduate seniors Katerina Filip and Erin Richardson, who both won their last two matches. Richardson — the former California Golden Bear — and fellow graduate senior Azaria Hayes lead the team with four singles wins apiece in dual match play. In doubles, Richardson and Hana Gamracy are a perfect 5-0 this season while playing at the fifth position. The Dons have won the doubles point four times this season.
SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS
Despite their 6-7 record, the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos have put together a challenging non-conference schedule with eight matches against Power 5 opponents and five against nationally ranked teams. Winners of three of its last five matches, UCSB hosts Pepperdine midway through a six-match homestand.
Like the Waves, the Gauchos have a seven-woman roster that isn't lacking in talent. UCSB has a formidable top two in Amelia Honer and Camille Kiss, plus one solid doubles team in #29 Amelia Honer and Kira Reuter. Holding down the top of UCSB's singles lineup all season, Honer has a 10-2 record — including a 4-2 mark against nationally ranked opponents — and is the Gauchos' lone ranked player at No. 40 in the latest ITA rankings. Elsewhere in the lineup, Camille Kiss has an 8-5 record while playing primarily at the second position.
However, the Gauchos have been top-heavy this season, as they have losing records at the third-through-fifth singles positions and at the third doubles position. UCSB has won three of its last five doubles points.
Pepperdine is familiar with their regional foes: The Waves went 2-1 in doubles and 0-1 in singles during the fall season. During the ITA Southwest Regional doubles final, Broadus and Tjen beat Honer and Reuter 6-4, 7-5 to punch their ticket to the ITA National Fall Championship. Historically, Pepperdine has a 37-4 record against UCSB and has swept the Gauchos in the last three meetings.
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