MALIBU, Calif. — In a battle of the West Coast Conference's last two unbeaten teams, the #8 Pepperdine women's tennis team swept the #21 San Diego Toreros 4-0 at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Friday afternoon.
After outlasting the Toreros in a close doubles competition, Pepperdine dominated singles play with straight-set wins from #13 Savannah Broadus, #42 Janice Tjen and freshman Vivian Yang's 6-3, 6-3 victory on court six to clinch the match. With the Waves' (14-6, 5-0 WCC) win over the Toreros (15-6, 5-1 WCC), Pepperdine has swept every WCC opponent so far this season. The Waves also clinched a share of the WCC regular-season title with the win; a win tomorrow against Saint Mary's will give Pepperdine the outright conference title.
Doubles play was close between the two teams, as Pepperdine needed to fend off spirited San Diego squads on all three courts. Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen struck first for Pepperdine. The nation's second-ranked doubles team won an early break point in the fourth game to put the match back on serve, then the Waves broke the Toreros again in the eighth game for a 5-3 lead. Pepperdine's combination of Broadus' groundstrokes and Tjen's work at the net was too much for the Toreros to handle. In the final game, Broadus held serve for the Waves and Tjen finished the Toreros off with her return at the net for the 6-3 win.
Although San Diego evened the score with a 6-3 win at the third position, Nikki Redelijk and Yang outlasted Mia Mack and Kristina Nordikyan to clinch the doubles point on court two. Redelijk and Yang won an early breakpoint and consolidated the break on deuce point for a 4-1 lead, yet the Toreros played their way back into the match by winning the next three games. USD held on deuce point to tie the score at 4-4, then the match was played on serve for the next three games. The Waves held serve on a pivotal deuce point in the 11th game, and then Redelijk's series of forehands on the deuce side broke the Toreros on match point for the 7-5 win.
Pepperdine rolled in singles play. Five Waves won their first sets en route to the sweep, and when Yang clinched on court six, #74 Redelijk was tied 6-6 in her first-set tiebreaker.
The Waves quickly extended their lead to 3-0 thanks to #13 Broadus and #42 Tjen's straight-set wins on courts three and one, respectively. Broadus won her first set 6-2 over Jordyn McBride, then immediately broke McBride to start the second set and get out to a 3-1 lead. The match was played on serve for the next four games until Broadus broke McBride in the ninth game to win her match 6-2, 6-3.
Seconds after Broadus won her match, Tjen finished her match to give Pepperdine a 3-0 lead. In the first set, Tjen quickly went up a break over Elizabeth Goldsmith and eventually extended her lead to 4-1 in the first set before breaking Goldsmith in the final game to win 6-2. The second set was a similar story: Tjen took a big lead by winning the first three games, but she needed to hold off Goldsmith as USD's fifth-year senior tried pushing the match to a third set. Goldsmith won three games in a row and broke Tjen to tie the match at three games all, but Tjen broke back on deuce point in the next game and wrapped up her 6-2, 6-3 win.
Moments later, Yang put the match to rest by capping off her straight-set win over Kristina Nordikyan. The Pepperdine freshman made quick work of Nordikyan in the first set by winning the first five games before Nordikyan held serve in the sixth game. Finishing her first set before any of her teammates, Yang fended off Nordikyan and held serve for a 6-3 win. In the second set , Yang broke Nordikyan in the third game, consolidated the break and broke Nordikyan again for a commanding 4-1 lead. The match was played on serve until Nordikyan broke Yang on deuce point in the eighth game to stay alive. However, Yang broke back, clinching the match on deuce point in the final game of her 6-3, 6-3 win.
RESULTS
Doubles
1. #2 Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen (PEPP) def. Elizabeth Goldsmith/Abigail Desiatnikov (USD) 6-3
2. Nikki Redelijk/Vivian Yang (PEPP) def. Mia Mack/Kristina Nordikyan (USD) 7-5
3. Filippa Bruu-Syversen/Jordyn McBride (USD) def. Jasmine Conway/Lisa Zaar (PEPP) 6-3
Order of finish: 1,3,2
Singles
1. #42 Janice Tjen (PEPP) def. Elizabeth Goldsmith (USD) 6-2, 6-3
2. #14 Lisa Zaar (PEPP) vs. #66 Mia Mack (USD) 6-2, 4-0, unfinished
3. #13 Savannah Broadus (PEPP) def. Jordyn McBride (USD) 6-2, 6-3
4. #74 Nikki Redelijk (PEPP) vs. Abigail Desiatnikov (USD) 6-6 (6-6), unfinished
5. #82 Anna Campana (PEPP) vs. Filippa Bruu-Syversen (USD) 6-4, 4-2, unfinished
6. Vivian Yang (PEPP) def. Kristina Nordikyan (USD) 6-3, 6-3
Order of finish: 3,1,6*
UP NEXT: Pepperdine hosts Saint Mary's for Senior Day tomorrow at noon.
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