Pepperdine University
Michigan
Pepperdine Set for NCAA Quarterfinal Rematch with Michigan
5/13/2024 1:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis
MALIBU, Calif. — Making its third quarterfinal appearance in the last four years, the 6-seed Pepperdine women's tennis team will face the 3-seed Michigan Wolverines on Friday at the Greenwood Tennis Center, located in Stillwater, Okla. First serve is at 2:30 p.m. CT/12:30 p.m. PT.
Tickets are $20 per person for a single session, while all-session passes are $125 per person. All matches in Stillwater will be livestreamed on ESPN+. Relevant links can be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
Pepperdine is the only non-Power-5 women's tennis team to reach the final site. Additionally, the matchup between the 3-seed Wolverines and the 6-seed Waves will pit two of the top four seeds against each other. Both teams met earlier this season in Ann Arbor, where the then-No. 2 Wolverines outlasted the Waves 4-2 in a match played indoors on March 10.
Should the Waves win, they will face the winner of 2-seed Stanford — the highest seed in the field — and 7-seed Georgia on Saturday, May 18.
The 2024 championship match will be on Sunday, May 19 at 6:30 p.m. CT/4:30 p.m. PT. Teams on the other side of the bracket are 5-seed Virginia, 8-seed UCLA, 13-seed Texas A&M and 16-seed Tennessee.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
First, some history.
This is Pepperdine's sixth quarterfinal appearance in the NCAA Tournament and the team's third in the last four years. All six quarterfinal berths have come under the direction of head coach Per Nilsson. With a win over Michigan, the Waves will make the semifinals for just the second time in school history — the other time came courtesy of the 2021 NCAA runner-up team, whose chronicles are well-documented. The last time Pepperdine was a 6-seed in the quarterfinals was in 2019 when it lost to 3-seed — and eventual national champion — Stanford, 4-1.
As for the Waves-Wolverines matchup: Pepperdine's only postseason match against Michigan was a 4-0 sweep in the round of 16 during that 2021 run. The Waves have a 7-3 advantage in the all-time series. But earlier this season, Michigan outlasted the Waves indoors in a 4-2 win on March 10 that was closer than the score suggests — the Waves were eight games away from an upset before the Wolverines clinched.
Now throw all of that out the window.
At some point in the tournament, Pepperdine will have to win as the underdog. At some point, the matches won't be lopsided, tiebreakers will become more common, those straight-set matches will become three-set marathons and players on both teams will be put under serious pressure to perform. It's no coincidence Pepperdine's last four matches at the final NCAA Tournament site have been 4-3 decisions. Postseason tennis is supposed to be like this.
Thankfully for Pepperdine, the Waves are well-versed in postseason tennis.
This week is the last ride for Lisa Zaar and Nikki Redelijk, the two members of the 2021 runner-up team left on the roster. Making the final site isn't anything new for Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen either; both players helped the Waves reach the quarterfinals in 2022.
Fresh off of sweeping the 11-seed USC Trojans to make it to Stillwater, all six players in Pepperdine's singles lineup are on considerable win streaks heading into the quarterfinals. Pepperdine's All-American trio of #12 Broadus, #15 Zaar and #39 Tjen have mowed down opponents in dual match play: Collectively, the trio has a .836 (51-10) win percentage in dual matches, making them one of the most reliable trios in women's college tennis.
A fifth-year senior and team captain, Zaar has won 110 matches heading into this weekend, which is the fourth-most in program history. She is seven wins away from surpassing former teammate Ashley Lahey — the top singles player on that 2021 team — for third on Pepperdine's all-time wins list. While she can't top Lahey in the team tournament, Zaar could surpass Lahey in the NCAA Singles Championships next week.
Joining her atop the lineup, Tjen has played her best college tennis as of late. Thanks to a 10-match win streak midway through the season, Tjen's 18-2 record in dual-match play is the best on the team. And, Tjen is on another torrid win streak, having won her last eight singles matches — including her three-set win at the first position that clinched Pepperdine's tenth consecutive West Coast Conference tournament title at the end of April. In Pepperdine's first meeting with Michigan, Tjen was responsible for the team's only singles win: a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jaedan Brown at the third position.
Broadus, who clinched the match against USC with her straight-set win over Eryn Cayetano last Friday, is on a nine-match win streak that is tied with #80 Redelijk for the longest active win streak on the team. All nine of those matches have been in straight sets, and all but one of them have been at the third position. The 2024 West Coast Conference Player of the Year has been ranked as high as sixth in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings, plus she has 10 wins over ranked foes this year.
Further down the lineup, the aforementioned Redelijk and #86 Anna Campana have been interchangeable at the fourth and fifth positions this season. Redelijk has quietly put together a stellar season at the fourth line, where she has won her last nine matches — all in straight sets — including one ranked win over #92 Mao Mushika of California. Redelijk has been a nationally ranked singles player all season for the first time in her collegiate career.
As for Campana, the fifth-year graduate senior from Wake Forest will make her first appearance at the NCAA Tournament's final site this Friday, yet she was instrumental in helping the Waves make it to Stillwater. Last Friday against USC, Campana and Zaar came back from a 5-1 deficit in the tiebreak to clinch the doubles point and turn the match for the Waves. In singles, Campana rounds out Pepperdine's nationally ranked players at #86 in the rankings; she has a 20-10 overall record in her final year of college tennis.
Of all the players on Pepperdine's singles lineup, freshman Vivian Yang is one of two Waves to go 3-0 on this postseason run. The Auckland, New Zealand native has a seven-match win streak heading into this Friday and, along with Broadus, has helped the Waves with three straight-set postseason wins while playing at the sixth position.
Last time against Michigan, the Waves took an early lead by winning the doubles point but fell eight games short of upsetting the No. 2 team in the nation in a 4-2 loss. This rematch is rare for Pepperdine: The last four teams Pepperdine lost to in the NCAA Tournament were squads the Waves saw for the first time during the postseason.
SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES
Winners of its last 21 matches, the 3-seed Michigan women's tennis team not only boasts the nation's longest active win streak, but also the distinction of being the second-highest seed remaining in the tournament. Head coach Ronni Bernstein's squad boasts a 29-3 record with losses to Oklahoma State (twice) and USC, both of which are no longer in the NCAA Tournament. This is Michigan's second consecutive NCAA quarterfinal appearance and the program's third since 2016.
With four upperclassmen and six nationally ranked singles players, Michigan's lineup has no distinct weak links. Interestingly enough, in an era defined by the transfer portal, all nine Michigan players started their careers in Ann Arbor. Four Michigan natives are on the roster and everyone but senior Gala Mesochoritou, who is from Greece, hails from the United States.
Ann Arbor native Kari Miller, who is the fifth-ranked singles player in the nation, leads the way with a 30-7 overall record at the first position; the All-American is one of three Wolverines who will play in the NCAA Singles Championship next week. Michigan's other two at-large selections to the singles championship are #28 Julia Fliegner and #57 Mesochoritou, who play at the second and third positions, respectively. After beginning the season towards the back half of Michigan's singles lineup, Mesochoritou moved up to the top half of the lineup and has delivered for the Wolverines as of late; last weekend, she clinched the match over Miami (FL) with her three-set win over Leonie Schuknecht.
Michigan's lineup doesn't really drop off lower on the ladder. Senior Jaedan Brown is the only unranked player, yet she was ranked for part of the season and has a 16-10 overall record while holding down the fourth position. Rounding out the lineup, Michigan has the luxury of playing two nationally ranked singles players at the fifth and sixth positions with #78 Lily Jones and true freshman #113 Piper Charney — younger sister of USC's Emma Charney — who has won 19 singles matches in a row at the sixth position. Michigan's final ranked player is sophomore #118 Bayley Sheinin, who was out of the lineup for most of the season but returned to play in Michigan's first-round win over Chicago State.
In doubles, Miller and Brown are the ninth-ranked team in the nation and lead the Wolverines with a 21-11 overall record and a 13-11 mark in dual match play this season. Yet Michigan's doubles teams have fared better further down the lineup: The Wolverines have win percentages of .592 and .724 at the second and third positions, respectively.
Although the doubles point has come down to the final court in four of its last five matches for Michigan, the Wolverines have bounced back from losing the opening point. When losing the doubles point, Michigan is 6-3, which includes wins over No. 5 NC State, No. 15 California, the team's second-round win over Notre Dame… and Pepperdine.
THE LAST TIME…
Pepperdine reached the NCAA Semifinals: 2021
Pepperdine won a 4-3 match in the NCAA Tournament: 5/21/21 vs. #1 North Carolina
Pepperdine lost a 4-3 match in the NCAA Tournament: 5/13/23 vs. #8 Texas
Pepperdine lost the doubles point, but won an NCAA Tournament match: 5/4/24 (4-1 over ASU)
Pepperdine won the doubles point, but lost an NCAA Tournament match: 5/17/19 (4-1 loss to #3 Stanford)
Janice Tjen clinched a postseason match: 5/6/23 vs. USC
Lisa Zaar clinched a postseason match: 5/4/24 vs. ASU
Savannah Broadus clinched a postseason match: 5/10/24 vs. USC
Nikki Redelijk clinched a postseason match: Never
Anna Campana clinched a postseason match: Never
Vivian Yang clinched a postseason match: 5/3/24 vs. SIUE
Players Mentioned
