The Pepperdine women’s tennis team closed out its most successful season in recent years at the NCAA Singles and Doubles tournaments on May 25 through 30 in Tulsa, Okla.
Luisa Stefani led the Waves, becoming only the second woman in program history to advance to the NCAA singles semifinal and the first to do so since 1989. The sixth-ranked freshman fought hard through five rounds before falling to No. 2 Danielle Collins of Virginia 7-6 (7), 6-4 to finish the tournament within the top four.
“She was definitely nervous,” Head Coach Per Nilsson said. “She didn’t play her best, but she knew she just needed to get through each round and she did.”
“It was easy to tell that it’s the end of the season, that everybody has gone through a lot during the year and that everybody wants to do well and finish strong,” Stefani said.
Stefani ended her freshman campaign with a 40-6 overall record and a 26-5 record against nationally ranked opponents. Her accomplishments both on and off the court earned her the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Rookie of the Year title — an award that she was presented with at a team banquet during the NCAA tournament.
“She’s so well deserving of it,” Nilsson said. “She’s so well liked by all the coaches. What stands out is how well liked she is and how she exemplifies sportsmanship.”
Stefani, junior Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai, junior Christine Maddox and senior Matea Cutura also advanced to the Doubles Tournament for the Waves, and both Pepperdine pairs made it to the second round.
The No. 19 pair, Cutura and Maddox, defeated No. 14 Sydney Campbell and Courtney Colton of Vanderbilt 7-6 (4), 7-5 in the first round before falling to third-ranked Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan of Florida in the round of 16. The No. 26 pair, Stefani and Runglerdkriangkrai, took down No. 13 Paige Hourigan and Kendal Woodard of Georgia Tech 6-2, 2-6, 10-5 before bowing out of the tournament with a 2-6, 6-4, 10-6 loss to fourth-ranked Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr of California.
“I think we were the only team on the women’s side to have two teams qualify on the doubles side,” Nilsson said. “We lost to two teams that ended up making the finals. I thought they played great and represented Pepperdine really well.”
This was Cutura and Maddox’s second year competing in the individual Doubles Tournament, and Nilsson said they helped prepare Stefani and Runglerdkriangkrai for the 13-day trip to Tulsa that encompassed both the team and Singles and Doubles tournaments.
The NCAA Singles and Doubles tournaments came on the heels of the team NCAA Championships, where the Waves reached the Elite 8 for the first time since 1994.
“Once you get to the sweet 16, everything changes,” Nilsson said. “For a lot of teams, that’s where you want to get to and see what you can do.”
Nilsson said that, despite the intensity of the NCAA tournament, the team still kept the trip fun.
“We goof off a lot and play a lot of music,” he said with a laugh. “There’s a lot of dancing in the team van. It was sad to send half the team home after the team event.”
This year was only Nilsson’s second season coaching the women’s team, and he said the biggest difference from last year is that the Waves have three underclassmen — Stefani, sophomore Laura Gulbe and Dzina Milovanovic — at the top of the lineup.
“It was nice to have some experience down below at [numbers] four, five and six,” he added. “We had new talent at the top and leadership at the bottom to carry us. They won a lot down there.”
Stefani said the team atmosphere throughout the season helped her to stay positive.
“We were always together through the good and through the tough moments, and I owe to them all the experience and everything I learned about life and tennis, she said.
Now that the season is over, nearly all of the Waves are returning home over the summer months, but most of the younger players have a full tournament schedule lined up over the break. With the departure of three seniors, Nilsson said he hopes to add a few more incoming players to the lineup this fall.
“We’re trying to bring in similar women who want to be good,” Nilsson said. “Like Luisa said, we set the bar pretty high this year and we’re going to try to do even better.”
