STANFORD, Calif. — The #3 Pepperdine women's tennis team was upset by #5 Stanford 4-0 in a road match on Friday afternoon.

Playing against a top-5 team for the third time this year, the Waves (11-4, 2-0 West Coast Conference) were denied a statement win after the Cardinal (15-2, 4-1 Pac-12) parlayed a close doubles point win into a 4-0 sweep. This was Stanford's first win over Pepperdine since 2019.

In doubles, the Cardinal put the pressure on the Waves early by completing a quick 6-1 win at the third position while the other two courts were knotted in close matches. At the first position, #2 Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen traded early breaks with #32 Connie Ma and Alexandra Yepifanova to keep the match on serve. At the same time, Nikki Redelijk and Vivian Yang's match on court two was on serve — albeit with several key holds on deuce point from both teams.

Eventually, Broadus and Tjen broke through. The Pepperdine duo held on deuce point in the eleventh game, then broke the Cardinal duo for the 7-5 win in the next game, which not only helped even the score in doubles, but also kept the Waves' undefeated record in dual match play intact. But Stanford retaliated with a late break point of its own. On deuce point in the eleventh game, Stanford broke Pepperdine for a 7-5 win at the second position to clinch the doubles point.

Stanford maintained its lead in singles play by taking big leads on the first three courts, plus court six. While Cardinal players won their first sets at the first three positions, #90 Anna Campana and #95 Redelijk won their first sets to help Pepperdine keep pace. Campana bolted out to a 4-1 lead in the first set, then fended off Katherine Hui on several deuce points late in the first set to win her first set 7-5. Redelijk, meanwhile, blazed through her first set against #122 Valencia Xu, winning 6-1.

Unfortunately for the Waves, Stanford increased its lead to 3-0 with straight-set wins at the second and sixth positions. 

Needing to win all four matches, Pepperdine nearly turned the tide thanks to #10 Lisa Zaar at the first position, who made a late push in her first set, then flipped a switch in the second set. In Zaar's second set against #37 Angela Blake, Zaar won the first four games before Blake got on the board in the fifth. Although Blake won the next two games to make the score 4-3, Zaar shut out Blake in the next two games to win the second set 6-3.

However, #9 Connie Ma of Stanford clinched the match with her 6-2, 7-5 win at the third position to complete the shutout.


RESULTS

Doubles
1) #2 Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen (PEPP) def. #32 Connie Ma/Alexandra Yepifanova (STAN) 7-5
2) Angelica Blake/India Houghton (STAN) def. Nikki Redelijk/Vivian Yang (PEPP) 7-5
3) Katherine Hui/Valencia Xu (STAN) def. Lisa Zaar/Jasmine Conway (PEPP) 6-1

Order of finish: 3,1,2

Singles
1) #37 Angelica Blake (STAN) vs.  #10 Lisa Zaar (PEPP) 6-4, 3-6, 1-0, unfinished
2) #33 Alexandra Yepifanova (STAN) def. #8 Savannah Broadus (PEPP) 6-3, 6-3
3) #9 Connie Ma (STAN) def. #52 Janice Tjen (PEPP) 6-2, 7-5
4) #90 Anna Campana (PEPP) vs. Katherine Hui (STAN) 7-5, 4-3, unfinished
5) #95 Nikki Redelijk (PEPP) vs. #122 Valencia Xu (STAN) 6-1, 3-5, unfinished
6) Eleana Yu (STAN) def. Vivian Yang (PEPP) 6-3, 6-2

Order of finish: 2,6,3*

UP NEXT: Pepperdine heads to #10 California to complete the road trip on Saturday. First serve is scheduled for noon.

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