STILLWATER, Okla. — Continuing their historic run through the NCAA Doubles Championship, Pepperdine's top-seeded team of Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen beat Tennessee's Sofia Cabezas and Elza Tomase 6-2, 6-1 to become the first Waves women's tennis doubles team to reach the national championship match.
The win sets up a rematch with Georgia's top doubles team of Aysegul Mert and Dasha Vidmanova — the team Broadus and Tjen faced in the Waves' season-ending loss in the NCAA team semifinals. Tomorrow's match is scheduled to follow the women's singles championship, which starts at 11 a.m. CT/9 a.m. PT, but not before 12:30 p.m. CT/10:30 a.m. PT. The match will be live-streamed on ESPN+; all appropriate links will be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
In their third consecutive straight-set win, Broadus and Tjen proved why they were a worthy 1-seed in the tournament by showing off their excellent serving, communication and versatility at the net. The Waves were broken just once, yet they broke the Volunteers five times en route to the straight-set win that was never in real peril. Remarkably, the Waves have not dropped a set ever since their three-set opening-round win to California's Mao Mushika and Hannah Viller Moeller on Tuesday night.
As expected with a national championship berth on the line, the early goings of the first set saw both teams work through nerves. With the Waves serving first, Pepperdine shook off early miscommunication and a double fault to hold serve before finding their footing in the second game. Pepperdine broke Tennessee on deuce point with a Broadus return, then the Waves consolidated the break with a game dominated by Tjen's serving: The senior from Jakarta, Indonesia dealt a pair of aces en route to consolidating the break with a love hold.
The fourth game got interesting. Tennessee senior Sofia Cabezas — who, most notably, was the heroine in Tennessee's shocking upset of the previously undefeated Oklahoma State Cowgirls in the Super Regional — was back to serve and helped the Lady Vols go up 30-0. However, the Waves would climb back into the game thanks to a double fault, then they broke the Lady Vols on deuce point when Tomase shanked a return wide.
All told, Pepperdine won the first five games of the first set and threatened to break Tennessee for the match before Tomase held serve on another deciding point for 5-1. Then, for the first time since their first-round match, the Waves were broken in the next game, yet Broadus and Tjen broke back for the 6-2, first-set win.
In the second set, both teams held serve in their first service games. With Tjen serving in the third game, the senior helped the Waves win the first three points before Broadus and Tjen put together a stellar point with athleticism and quick lobs at the net to complete the love hold. Although Tennessee saved a breakpoint in the next game, Tjen's return on deuce point broke the Lady Vols for a 3-1 lead.
From there, the Waves didn't look back. Trailing 4-1 with Tomase back to serve, the Lady Vols fought off another break point, but Pepperdine broke Tennessee for the final time of the afternoon. Serving out the match, Tjen set up a lob from Broadus on match point to send the Waves to the national championship match.
As a team, Broadus and Tjen are the first Pepperdine women's doubles team to make two NCAA semifinals (2022, 2024), and are the first Pepperdine women's players to play in an individual national championship match since Ashley Lahey made the 2018 singles final.
RESULTS
Doubles Semifinals
#2 Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen def. #11 Sofia Cabezas/Elza Tomase (TENN), 6-2, 6-1
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