Pepperdine University
Stanford
#3 Pepperdine Takes on Two Top-10 Pac-12 Teams
4/3/2024 12:39:00 PM | Women's Tennis
MALIBU, Calif. — Embarking on yet another competitive road trip for the #3 Pepperdine women's tennis team, the Waves head north to face two top-10 teams from the Pac-12 this week. Their road trip starts Friday at #5 Stanford at 1 p.m. before wrapping up at #10 California at noon on Saturday.
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 haven't faced Stanford since 2022, but have squared off with the California Golden Bears twice: first with a 4-2 win at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Team Indoor Championship, and then with a 6-1 home win on March 17. Pepperdine is 7-3 against ranked opponents, including 4-2 against top 10 teams.
MATCH 15: #3 Pepperdine (11-3, 2-0 WCC) at #5 Stanford (14-2, 4-1 Pac-12) | 1 p.m. | Stanford, Calif. | Taube Family Tennis Center
MATCH 16: #3 Pepperdine (11-3, 2-0 WCC) at #10 California (12-4, 5-1 Pac-12) | 12 p.m. | Berkeley, Calif. | Hellman Tennis Center
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Checking in at No. 3 in the ITA team rankings for the third-straight week, the Pepperdine Waves have a formidable test ahead of them on this road trip. Save for at least one more match against #21 San Diego and forthcoming match against #66 UC Santa Barbara — the latter of which was postponed after getting rained out last Saturday — these road matches against Stanford and California will be the Waves' last, best shot at solidifying their resume entering the last month of the regular season.
Winners of their last three matches, the Waves head to Stanford having conceded just one singles match during their win streak. Last week at San Francisco, the Waves won their 74th consecutive West Coast Conference match in a 7-0 sweep — and that was less than a week after sweeping #9 USC at home. Coincidentally, Pepperdine's current win streak began against #10 California; on March 17, the Waves rolled 6-1 at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center, which would have been a sweep if both teams didn't play out the remaining matches.
Every player on the Pepperdine roster is carrying win streaks into this weekend, but none have been on a streak like reigning WCC Singles Player of the Week award winner Janice Tjen, who has won 10 straight singles matches while playing primarily at the third position. She checked in at #52 in the latest singles rankings, joining teammates #8 Savannah Broadus, #10 Lisa Zaar, #90 Anna Campana and #95 Nikki Redelijk.
In doubles, Broadus and Tjen are still the nation's second-ranked doubles team; they have a 10-0 record in dual match play and are 21-1 this season. However, the Waves have also gotten a lift from Zaar and Jasmine Conway, who carry a seven-match win streak in doubles heading into this weekend.
SCOUTING THE CARDINAL
Ranked fifth in the nation, Stanford was on a seven-match win streak before falling 4-3 to then-No. 17 UCLA on Sunday. Now in a three-way tie atop a highly competitive Pac-12, the Cardinal look to bounce back against Pepperdine before hosting Oregon on Sunday.
Stanford has four nationally ranked singles players: #9 Connie Ma, #33 Alexandra Yepifanova, #37 Angela Blake and #122 Valencia Xu. Ma has made a star turn this season, going 15-4 against nationally ranked opponents and an impressive 30-5 overall during her junior campaign. She has mostly held down the second position in Stanford's lineup, while also splitting time at the first position with #37 Blake. Yepifanova primarily plays at the third position, while Xu has played everywhere from the second through sixth positions.
In doubles, the Cardinal have one nationally ranked team in Ma and Yepifanova, who are ranked 32nd in the latest ITA polls. Whenever Stanford wins the doubles point, it usually goes on to win the match: The last time the Cardinal won the doubles point in a loss was against Virginia in the ITA National Team Championship — two years ago. Stanford lost the doubles point in both of its losses this year.
Predictably, the Cardinal and Waves have an extensive history. Although Stanford has a commanding 33-5 lead in the all-time series, Pepperdine has won five of the last six meetings between the two teams. Most notably, Pepperdine upset the defending national champions 4-2 in Malibu during the Waves' 2021 NCAA runner-up season.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS
In what has turned into a three-match series between the #10 California Golden Bears and the #3 Pepperdine Waves, the Golden Bears will host Pepperdine for the third and final installment of the series on Saturday at noon. Before facing Pepperdine, Cal will host Oregon on Friday; the match against Pepperdine is the last regular-season non-conference match for the Golden Bears.
Cal is one of three teams tied atop the Pac-12 Conference standings — all thanks to a close 4-3 win over UCLA before falling back into a tie with the 4-3 loss to USC. That result handed the Golden Bears their first loss in Pac-12 play and at home at the Hellman Tennis Center, where the squad has a 5-1 record heading into this week.
Like their rivals, California has one ranked doubles team (#22 Hannah Viller Moeller and Mao Mushika) and four ranked singles players: #44 Viller Moeller, #47 Valentina Ivanov, #65 Katja Wiersholm and #74 Jessica Alsola. Junior Lan Mi and Wiersholm are the only Golden Bears to win singles matches against the Waves this year: Mi has gone 2-0 at the sixth position against Pepperdine, while Wiersholm has gone 1-1 against Campana at the fourth position.
Ever since Cal and Pepperdine last met, the Golden Bears have gone 4-1. In those matches, California has won the doubles point four times, mostly thanks to the back half of the doubles lineup. Alsola and Ivanov are on a six-match win streak at the second doubles position; they have helped the Golden Bears win the doubles point in all four of the last five matches.
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