Pepperdine University
NCAA Singles & Doubles Championship
Waves Trio Begins NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournament This Week
5/19/2024 9:38:00 AM | Women's Tennis
STILLWATER, Okla. — Extending their stays in Stillwater, Okla., Pepperdine women's tennis players Savannah Broadus, Janice Tjen and Lisa Zaar begin play at the NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournament at the Greenwood Family Tennis Center this week.
Singles play begins for all three players on Monday, May 20, whereas Broadus and Tjen start doubles play on Tuesday. Full draws and pertinent links have not been announced by the NCAA; when they are released, they will be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
The West Coast Conference Player of the Year, Broadus earned a 9-16 seed and All-American honors and begins her second NCAA Singles Tournament against Miyuka Kimoto of Syracuse at 9 a.m. CT. A junior from Oita, Japan, Kimota earned an at-large bid after going 10-8 at the first position for the Orange in dual-match play. This season, she upset then-No. 3 Amelia Rajecki of NC State in straight sets and eventually recorded two more top-30 wins in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Kimota is ranked #53 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association Singles Rankings.
Becoming the third player under head coach Per Nilsson to make the NCAA Singles Championship at least three times, Lisa Zaar embarks on her final week of college tennis against San Diego State's Andjela Skrobonja at 1 p.m. CT. Like Broadus, Zaar is a 9-16 seed; this is Zaar's second All-American singles honor of her career.
Across the net from Zaar is San Diego State senior Skrobonja, who earned the Mountain West Conference's at-large bid after leading the Aztecs with a 21-8 overall record and a 17-3 mark in dual-match play. The senior from Sombor, Serbia went on a 10-match win streak early in the season — kickstarted, coincidentally, after losing in straight sets to Broadus in the season-opener — and has been consistently ranked in the ITA Singles Rankings all season. Skrobonja is #98 in the latest ITA polls but was ranked as high as #71.
Earning an at-large bid after putting together a 19-3 record in dual-match play, Tjen begins her third NCAA Singles Tournament appearance (and second at Pepperdine) against Auburn's DJ Bennett at 4 p.m. CT. Earlier this season, Tjen beat Bennett 6-4, 6-3 in Pepperdine's 6-1 win over Auburn on Feb. 23. Following that loss, Bennett went on a nine-match win streak at the third position and eventually compiled a 19-6 mark in dual match play — including an 8-5 record against ranked opponents. Bennett is slotted #64 in the latest rendition of the ITA Singles Rankings but was ranked as high as 34th this season.
Although Broadus and Tjen originally earned the 2-seed, the Pepperdine duo moved up to the 1-seed because North Carolina sophomore Reese Brantmeier's season-ending injury took out UNC's top-ranked doubles team. Broadus and Tjen will square off with a familiar opponent in the first round: Mao Mushika and Hannah Viller Moeller of California, whom they have beaten three times this season. The fourth meeting between the two doubles teams will be on Tuesday, May 21 at a time that is yet to be determined. Unlike the regular season, doubles matches at NCAAs will have a best-of-three format with no-ad scoring and a seven-point tiebreaker. A 10-point tiebreaker will be played instead of a third full set.
Broadus and Tjen's nationally ranked seed in the doubles tournament makes them the first doubles team in Pepperdine women's tennis history to be three-time All-Americans. The duo has already put together one of the best doubles careers in Pepperdine history with a 2022 ITA Fall National Championship doubles title, multiple top-5 rankings and a slew of wins over ranked opponents. This season, Broadus and Tjen have a 31-4 overall record and have remained in the top four of the ITA's doubles rankings throughout the year. They have 11 wins over other teams in the NCAA doubles field, including a win over 2-seed Ange Oby Kajuru and Anastasiya Komar of Oklahoma State.
