Waves Tennis Players to Play in Oracle/ITA Masters

Four Pepperdine Waves will pick up racquets and compete as the university hosts the second annual Oracle/ITA Masters. 

Men’s tennis players Guilherme Hadlich and Lautaro Pane earned spots in the event, along with women’s tennis players Luisa Stefani and Laura Gulbe. As of Aug. 26, 60 other tennis players from a bevy of universities across the nation will participate in the Oct. 13-16 tournament that Pepperdine is co-hosting with the Malibu Racquet Club. 

Thirty-two players each will compete in men’s singles and women’s singles, including the quartet of Waves. Pepperdine’s players will also compete in a mixed doubles tournament. 

Hadlich, the men’s senior, and Stefani, women’s sophomore, played in the Oracle/ITA Masters last season — Hadlich in doubles and Stefani in singles. 

Stefani earned a number of awards. She was named an ITA All-American in singles, the ITA Southwest Region Player to Watch and Rookie of the Year, the WCC Player and Freshman of the Year, and a member of the All-WCC singles and doubles first teams. The second-year Wave had a 22-2 dual campaign, including a 22-1 record against nationally ranked opponents. Stefani also reached the NCAA Singles Championships’ semifinals. 

In doubles, Hadlich and his partner Gabriel Sidney knocked off number one-ranked Georgia duo Ben Wagland and Austin Smith in the opening round of the tournament and 28th-ranked Alex Lawson and Quentin Monaghan of Notre Dame in the second round. The pair was defeated by Virginia’s Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shave, ranked second, in the championship. 

Hadlich was named to the All-West Coast Conference first team last year as he won two matches against nationally ranked opponents and had a 9-7 record in Pepperdine’s top singles slot. 

Stefani, the ITA National Rookie of the Year last season, advanced to the singles quarterfinals in the first Oracle/ITA Masters. She beat Vanderbilt’s 14th-ranked Astra Sharma in the round of 16 before being beat by fourth-ranked Maegan Manasse of California. 

The juniors Pane and Gulbe earned wild card selections to the tournament. 

Pane was named to the All-WCC second team in singles and honorable mention in doubles. The men’s player was named to the WCC All-Tournament team in doubles and was the WCC Doubles Team of the Week three times, along with his partner Pedro Iamachkine. Pane posted a combined 6-0 record in the singles third and fourth positons. He had a 9-4 record in the second spot for Pepperdine. 

Gulbe was an All-WCC first team member in singles and second teamer in doubles with partner Dzina Milovanovic. She was a WCC All-Tournament singles selectin and the WCC Singles Player of the Week and Doubles Team of the Week once last season. Guble finished with an 18-4 overall record, including an 18-2 record from the number two singles position. She won four matches against nationally ranked opponents and finished the season on a 12-match winning streak.