EVANSTON, Ill. — Making its ninth-consecutive Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Team Indoor Championship appearance, the #16 Pepperdine women's tennis team takes on #8 North Carolina in the first round on Friday at 10 a.m. PT.
Friday will be the fourth meeting between Pepperdine and North Carolina at the ITA Indoor National Championships. The Waves will play three guaranteed matches in Evanston and will face either #13 Tennessee or #5 Virginia on Saturday. The third consolation match will take place on Sunday, but if Pepperdine makes the semifinals, the team will play on Monday. The ITA National Team Indoor Championship match is next Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. PT.
All main-draw matches will be broadcasted via the Cracked Racquets' YouTube channel. Live stream and live stat links can be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
MATCH 5: #15 Pepperdine (1-3) vs. #8 North Carolina (6-1) | Friday, Feb. 7 | 10 a.m. PT | Combe Tennis Center | Evanston, Ill.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Pepperdine comes into the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in need of quality wins. While the Waves took care of business at the ITA Kickoff Weekend, they only needed to win one match to punch their tickets to Illinois; their match count of four is the second-lowest among teams in the Northwestern region.
After taking a six-day break from a 4-2 loss at Arizona State, the Waves come to Evanston with Duru Soke back in the lineup and a roster that runs seven players deep. While five-time All-American #16 Savannah Broadus and the top-10 doubles team of #7 Broadus and Vivian Yang highlight the roster, the team is still finding its identity further down the lineup.
A bright spot so far has been spring addition Anastasiia Grechkina, who has played at the second position and has a 3-0 record with one ranked win so far. Grechkina and #80 Yang lead the team with three-match win streaks heading into this week, while #108 Soke and Alexia Harmon have won their last two matches.
Pepperdine trails the all-time series with North Carolina 1-5, yet the one win was a memorable one. The Waves beat the Tar Heels 4-3 during their 2021 NCAA Championships run. However, Pepperdine has never beaten the Tar Heels indoors.
ACROSS THE NET
With plenty of tournament history between the two programs, Pepperdine and North Carolina will face each other at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the third time in the last five years.
The Waves and Tar Heels have crossed paths several times in the last half-decade; every match has been high-stakes. While the most notable matchup between the two teams was the Waves' 4-3 win during Pepperdine's run to the 2021 NCAA Championships, the Tar Heels avenged that defeat with wins at the 2022 NCAA Quarterfinals and the 2023 ITA Indoor Championships.
Over the last half-decade, the Tar Heels have made a case for being the nation's best indoor tennis team: They are a seven-time ITA National Team Indoor Champions and won four in a row prior to 2024 when they were upset by NC State in the second round.
However, this year's Tar Heels team looks starkly different to those championship-winning squads. Highlighted by former NCAA No. 1 singles player Fiona Crawley, UNC's winningest class in program history graduated this past spring, leaving All-Americans Reese Brantmeier, Carson Tanguilig and five freshmen to carry on the winning tradition.
So far, the team has delivered. The Tar Heels boast four nationally ranked players with #10 Thea Rabman, #20 Tanguilig, #24 Brantmeier and #31 Tatum Evans. Brantmeier, who missed most of last season due to injuries, appears to have returned to form with a 5-1 record — including an upset win over #1 Dasha Vidmanova to beat Georgia on the road. They also have three top-30 doubles teams: #5 Susanna Maltby and Tanguilig; #26 Evans and Rabman; plus #29 #29 Alanis Hamilton and Brantmeier.
In short: They're pretty good.
Regardless of Friday's result, the Waves' next match will not be a walkover. East Coast powers #13 Tennessee and #5 Virginia loom in the next round — both of whom made the final site of the 2024 NCAA Championships. Virginia boasts a reigning national championship doubles team in #1 Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, plus four ranked players in a stacked lineup. Tennessee, meanwhile, aims to prove last year's Cinderella run to the NCAA Quarterfinals wasn't a fluke; led by #7 Elza Tomase, the Volunteers have a 4-0 record.
WHAT'S NEXT
Next weekend, Pepperdine goes to Texas for matches at Rice and #2 Texas A&M, starting with a match against the Owls on Saturday, Feb. 15 at 9 a.m. PT. All pertinent information can be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
