MALIBU, Calif. — After six West Coast Conference matches, untold hours spent on the court and innumerable rallies, break points, volleys and wins, the #8 Pepperdine Waves capped off their perfect conference season with a 7-0 sweep of Saint Mary's to clinch the WCC regular-season title on Saturday.
The Waves moved to 15-6 on the year and a perfect 6-0 record in conference play — their eighth-consecutive unbeaten WCC season. It is Pepperdine's 41st WCC title and 12th regular-season crown. Furthermore, Pepperdine didn't surrender a single doubles point or singles match in WCC play, marking the second time in the last decade the Waves have achieved this feat (the other was in 2017).
Highlighting the day, Pepperdine honored its seniors Anna Campana, Nikki Redelijk, Janice Tjen and Lisa Zaar prior to the match. Yet the match itself provided no dramatics. All six Pepperdine players won in straight sets after seniors Campana and Zaar, fittingly, clinched the doubles point with their 6-1 win at the third doubles position.
Once singles play began, Pepperdine wasted no time putting the match out of reach.
A Saint Mary's player retired due to an injury less than half an hour into the first set, putting Pepperdine up 2-0. For the second time in as many days, Vivian Yang kicked off her match by winning the first five games of her first set — although she outdid herself this time by winning the first ten games before her opponent got on the board. She sped through her 6-0, 6-1 win at the sixth position before most of her teammates got through their first sets. On court two, #13 Savannah Broadus dealt the clinching blow for Pepperdine, zipping first serves past her opponent en route to a 6-0, 6-0 rout.
In an unexpected turn of events, the rest of the matches were played out. The results were the same.
At the fourth position, #82 Campana traded breaks with Olivia Rook midway through her first set to win 6-3, then put the match to rest with a 6-0 victory to cap off her senior day with a win. This left fellow senior #74 Redelijk and freshman Jasmine Conway as the only two Waves in action. Taking a 3-0 lead to start her match, Redelijk shook off Juliette Daries late in the first set to go up 6-2. In the second set, Redelijk faced little resistance — save for one frenetic, minute-long rally in the final game — as she finished her 6-2, 6-0 win.
This result left Conway at the next court over to finish the job. The freshman from England was broken on deuce point by Sofia Daryaie in the seventh game, yet Conway broke back and reclaimed the lead to win her first set 6-4. A similar script unfolded in the second set, as Conway held on deuce point to make the score 4-3 in favor of Daryaie before Conway broke Daryaie, consolidated the break and held serve in the final game in her 6-4, 6-4 win.
From here, the Waves will travel to the Aztec Tennis Center in San Diego, Calif. for the WCC Tournament. As the 1-seed, Pepperdine has a first-round bye and will play either the 3-seed or the 6-seed on Friday, April 26 at 1:30 p.m.
RESULTS
Doubles
1. #2 Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen (PEPP) def. Iman Khan/Olivia Rook (SMC) 6-0
2. Nikki Redelijk/Vivian Yang (PEPP) vs. MiaAngelina Ruja/Juliette Daries (SMC) 3-2, unfinished
3. Anna Campana/Lisa Zaar (PEPP) def. Madison Weekley/Sofia Daryaie (SMC) 6-1
Order of finish: 1,3
Singles
1. #42 Janice Tjen (PEPP) def. Iman Khan (SMC) 5-1, retired
2. #13 Savannah Broadus (PEPP) def. MiaAngelina Ruja (SMC) 6-0, 6-0
3. #74 Nikki Redelijk (PEPP) def. Juliette Daries (SMC) 6-2, 6-0
4. #82 Anna Campana (PEPP) def. Olivia Rook (SMC) 6-3, 6-0
5. Jasmine Conway (PEPP) def. Sofia Daryaie (SMC) 6-4, 6-4
6. Vivian Yang (PEPP) def. Madison Weekley (SMC) 6-0, 6-1
Order of finish: 1,6,2*,4,3,5
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