STILLWATER, Okla. — Pepperdine's Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen make it look easy.
The top-seeded Waves doubles team made quick work of North Carolina's defending national championship team of Fiona Crawley and Carson Tanguilig with a 6-2, 6-2 win in the NCAA doubles quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon.
With the win over the 5-8-seeded Tar Heels, Broadus and Tjen are the first Pepperdine doubles team to make two NCAA semifinals. Aside from Broadus and Tjen's first appearance in 2022, the Waves have had two other teams make the semifinals: Janna Kovacevich and Noelle Porter (1991) and Paola Palencia and Ipek Senoglu (2000).
For the second consecutive NCAA Tournament match, Broadus and Tjen were never broken. The Waves looked sharp from the start with a love hold to open the first set, then the match was played on serve until the sixth game. With UNC senior Fiona Crawley, arguably one of the best American college tennis players, back to serve, the Waves climbed out of a 30-0 deficit to break the Tar Heels for a 4-2 lead with a series of Tjen forehands at the net.
From there, the Waves didn't look back. Pepperdine consolidated the break with their second love hold of the second set, then the Waves wrapped up a brisk set by breaking the Tar Heels for a 6-2, first-set win.
Although the second set was also a 6-2 victory for the Waves, the set was closer than the final score would indicate.
Pepperdine went up a break in the second game when Crawley double-faulted in the windy conditions, then with Tjen back to serve, the Waves consolidated the break to extend their lead. More excellent serving from Broadus helped the Waves cap off another love hold for a 4-1 lead in the fifth game, then the Tar Heels went up 40-0 in the next game only for the Waves to force a deciding point. UNC held serve for 4-2, then threatened to break the Waves by forcing another deuce point in the seventh game. But Tjen delivered with a forehand that set up a volley at the net that Crawley netted to hold serve.
The highly anticipated doubles match ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. Facing match point with the wind picking up, Tanguilig double-faulted to seal Pepperdine's 6-2, 6-2 quarterfinal win.
Tomorrow the Waves will play Tennessee's 5-8-seed team of Sofia Cabezas and Elza Tomase, who upset 4-seed Mary Stoiana and Mia Kupres of Texas A&M with a 6-3, 6-2 win. A match time has yet to be determined. Broadus and Tjen will be chasing history; Pepperdine has never had a women's doubles team make the national championship match.
RESULTS
Doubles Quarterfinals
#2 Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen def. #6 Fiona Crawley/Carson Tanguilig, 6-2, 6-2
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