Pepperdine University
UCLA
#7 Pepperdine Faces #15 UCLA in Home Non-Conference Finale
4/9/2024 3:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis
MALIBU, Calif. — Playing its home non-conference finale, the #7 Pepperdine women's tennis team will host the #15 UCLA Bruins at the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Thursday at 1 p.m.Â
Pepperdine belt bags will be given to the first 25 students with valid student IDs. Admission to Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center is free to the public. All live stream and live scoring links for the match will be on the women's tennis team's schedule page at pepperdinewaves.com.
Although UCLA has a 59-22 advantage in the all-time series, the Waves have won four out of the last five meetings between the two teams — including a 4-3 win in the NCAA Super Regionals during the Waves' run to the 2021 national championship.
MATCH 17: #7 Pepperdine (11-5, 2-0 WCC) vs. #15 UCLA (14-4, 7-1 Pac-12) | 1 p.m. | Malibu, Calif. | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Looking to bounce back after two difficult, top-10 road losses to Pac-12 schools last weekend, the #7 Pepperdine Waves will need to beat #15 UCLA to help their postseason resume. As it stands, UCLA is the penultimate ranked team the Waves will face this season; aside from #22 San Diego in WCC play and a match against #53 UCSB that has yet to be rescheduled, Thursday is the team's last, best shot at a quality win.
Despite last weekend's losses to #3 Stanford and #9 California, the Waves did have a few individual bright spots.
The nation's No. 2 doubles team of Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen remain unbeaten in dual match play with a 12-0 record, which now includes six wins over top-25 doubles teams after the pair's wins last weekend. But against UCLA's two ranked doubles teams, Broadus and Tjen will need some help from either Nikki Redelijk and Vivian Yang at the second doubles position or Jasmine Conway and Lisa Zaar at the third position. Conway and Zaar helped Pepperdine win the doubles point against California with their 6-2 win last Sunday; they are second on the team with nine wins in dual match play.
In singles, the Waves still have five players ranked in the top 100 of the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls. At the top of the lineup, #13 Broadus and #14 Zaar are Pepperdine's two top-20 players, while #52 Tjen has won four of her last five matches heading into this week. Last weekend against Cal, Tjen played at the second position for the second time this year and picked up a straight-set win over then-No. 74 Jessica Alsola. Further down the lineup, #74 Redelijk rose up 21 spots in the singles rankings — the highest jump of any Wave — after her straight-set win over Berta Passola Folch of California. At the fourth position, #94 Anna Campana rounds out the ranked singles players for the Waves.
SCOUTING THE BRUINS
Boasting the reigning NCAA Singles Champion Fangran Tian and riding a four-match win streak, the #15 UCLA Bruins are tied atop the Pac-12 standings heading into Thursday. The match in Malibu is the Bruins' penultimate road match before heading into the Pac-12 Championships later this month.
UCLA has been on a roll lately. Stella Sampras Webster's squad has given up just one singles match in the last three wins, thanks in part to its trio of ranked players. Aside from #37 Tian, the Bruins have been aided by #32 Kimmie Hance at the second position and #68 Bianca Jolie Fernandez at the third position. Hance is on a seven-match win streak heading into this weekend, while Fernandez has won her last three matches,
The Bruins have ridden their two ranked doubles teams to clinch the doubles point a whopping 15 times this season. At the first position, #36 Tian and Elise Wagle have a 6-3 record at the first position, but #65 Hance and Anne Christine Lutkemeyer have done most of the heavy lifting this season. That duo has an 8-1 record in dual-match play and has won the last three matches while playing mostly at the second position. Rounding out the doubles lineup, the Bruins have used four different teams to amass a .714 win percentage at the third position.Â
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Players Mentioned
