STILLWATER, Okla. — After a memorable run through the NCAA doubles championship, Pepperdine's top-ranked team of Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen saw their season come to a heartbreaking end with a 6-7 (4), 6-2, 1-0 (9) loss to Georgia's Aysegul Mert and Dasha Vidmanova in the championship match on Saturday.
It was the third time in a week the Waves saw their season end at the hands of the Bulldogs. Georgia dispatched Pepperdine in the team semifinals last Saturday before losing 4-1 to Texas A&M in the national championships. Additionally, Vidmanova ended Tjen's singles season in the second round of the NCAA singles tournament on Tuesday.
The match caps off one of the best doubles team careers in program history for Broadus and Tjen are the first Pepperdine women's doubles team to make two NCAA semifinals (2022, 2024) and the program's first doubles team to earn All-American honors three times. This season they posted an overall record of 35-5 and they never dipped below fourth in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. Additionally, Broadus and Tjen are the first Pepperdine women's players to play in an individual NCAA title match since Ashley Lahey made the 2018 singles final.
Playing in a rematch of the court one doubles match in last week's semifinals, the Bulldogs got out to an early lead in the first set. As the Waves struggled to find their footing, Mert and Vidmanova went up a break and consolidated for a 3-0 lead before the Waves held serve in the fourth game. However, Broadus and Tjen broke the Bulldogs in the fifth game to put the match back on serve, then both teams held serve en route to a first-set tiebreaker. Georgia went up 4-0 in the breaker and didn't look back in its 7-6 (4) first-set win.
Needing to go the distance for just the second time in their tournament run, Broadus and Tjen answered the call in a dominant second set. The Waves went up a break by weathering Vidmanova's serve in the second game, then excellent serving from Tjen led to a love hold to consolidate the break. Rounding into their top-seeded form, Pepperdine took a double-break lead in the fourth game, but the Bulldogs broke back and consolidated the break to make the score 4-2. However, the Waves held serve once more and broke the Bulldogs on a Mert double-fault to send the championship match to a super-breaker.
Four days ago, Broadus and Tjen's memorable run began with an improbable super-breaker comeback. Another super-breaker in the final was a fitting end for the Waves.
As Georgia took a 5-2 lead out of the second changeover, Pepperdine was in dire straits. Yet the Waves rallied once more with a pair of lobs from Broadus to help Pepperdine take a 7-6 lead. Although the Waves had a match point at 9-8, Georgia saved a match point and eventually won 11-9.
RESULTS
Doubles Championship
#14 Aysegul Mert/Dasha Vidmanova (UGA) def. #2 Savannah Broadus/Janice Tjen (PEPP), 6-7 (4), 6-2, 1-0 (9)
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