Men’s and women’s squads both entered the tournament as No. 1 seeds
The Pepperdine tennis teams both finished as West Coast Conference champions on April 29 at the Aztec Tennis Complex in San Diego.
The Waves women’s tennis team won the tournament for the seventh consecutive season and the men’s tennis squad captured its first tournament title since 2013.
The women’s squad, ranked seventh nationally, swept 51st-ranked Loyola Marymount 4-0 to claim the tournament championship for the 31st time. Additionally, it’s the seventh conference tournament crown for Pepperdine head coach Per Nilsson, who is undefeated in the WCC postseason.
The men’s tennis squad, ranked 37th, clinched the title by downing 30th-ranked San Diego 4-0. It is the team’s 44th tournament championship and first under head coach Adam Schaechterle. The Waves snapped San Diego’s run of seven straight tournament championships.
The women’s team took the lead over Loyola Marymount in doubles play. Graduate student Bunyawui Thamchaiwat and senior Lisa Zaar downed Wiktoria Rutowska and Isabella Tcherkes-Zade 6-2 and graduate student Anna Campana and junior Nikki Redelijk defeated Anna Paradisi and Sofia Munera 6-1.
Redelijk got the Waves’ first win in singles play. She defeated Tcherkes-Zade 6-0, 6-1. Junior Janice Tjen beat Eva Voracek 6-4, 6-1. Sophomore Savannah Broadus, who is undefeated, solidified the victory with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Stefania Rogozinska-Dzik.
Broadus, Redelijk and Tjen were named to the all-tournament team in singles. Broadus and Tjen, Zaar and Thamchaiwat, and Redelijk and Campana were named to the all-tournament squad in doubles.
Freshman Maxi Homberg and graduate student Eero Vasa defeated Oliver Tarvet and Stian Klaassen 6-4 to give the Pepperdine men’s team a win over San Diego in doubles play. Redshirt sophomore Linus Carlsson Halldin and junior Pietro Fellin seized a 5-4 win over Marvin Schaber and Lambert Ruland for Pepperdine, also in doubles.
Senior Daniel De Jonge defeated Iiro Vasa 6-4, 6-1 to get Pepperdine off to a winning start in singles play. Redshirt sophomore Robert Shelton then beat Neo Niedner 6-3, 6-2 and Homberg downed Schaber 6-2, 6-4 to seal the victory for the Waves.
Homberg and Vasa and Fellin and Halldin were named to the all-tournament team in doubles. De Jonge, Homberg, and Shelton were named to the all-tournament team in singles.
Both Waves teams entered the tournament as number one seeds thanks to winning WCC regular season crowns. The women’s team has won 42 regular-season and tournament championships in program history.
The Waves women defeated BYU 4-0 in the tournament semifinals. The men’s team downed Santa Clara 4-0 in the semifinals.
The Pepperdine men’s team has a 18-8 record and the women’s team is 18-3.
Both teams will take the court in their respective NCAA Championships beginning on Friday.
Last May, the men’s squad was defeated in the second round. The women’s team advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals. Two seasons ago, the Pepperdine women made it all the way to the national championship match.