Pepperdine’s Homberg, Broadus, and Yang to compete at Baylor University courts in Waco, Texas
Pepperdine tennis players began competition in NCAA tournaments in the Lone Star State this week.
Waves men’s tennis player Maxi Homberg took to the court in the opening round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Tennis Championship Event: Singles Championship on Tuesday, more than a week after he won the Intercollegiate Tennis Association West Sectionals Singles title.
Pepperdine women’s tennis player Savannah Broadus played in the opening round of the NCAA Division I Women’sTennis Championship Event: Singles Championship on the same day. She qualified for the spectacle by advancing to the quarterfinals of the ITA All-American Championships in September.
Additionally, Broadus, a four-time All-American in singles and doubles, took the court on Wednesday with teammate Vivian Yang, a sophomore, in the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championship Event: Doubles Championship. The pair claimed the ITA Southwest Regional doubles crown in October.
Homberg, a junior ranked 103rd in singles, began the NCAA Tournament with a match against Oklahoma’s Jordan Hasson. The winner of that match moved on to a second-round contest against the winner of the game between Denver’s Raffaello Papajcik and Texas’ Jonah Brasell. The tournament kicked off with 64 collegiate players from across the nation.
The national championship is set for Nov. 24.
Broadus, ranked eighth in singles, competed against Mississippi’s Anaelle Leclercq-Ficher in the first round of their 64-player tournament. The winner advanced to face the winner of the contest between UCLA’s Elise Wagle and Virginia’sAnnabelle Xu. The women’s singles title match is the same day as the men’s championship.
Broadus and Yang, ranked 24th in doubles, faced Georgia’s Aysegul Mert and Guillermina Grant in the opening round of the 32-duo tournament. The winner faced either UC Santa Barbara’s Anna Marie Weissheim and Amelia Honer or Virginia’s Melodie Collard and Elaine Chervinksky in the second round. The doubles championship is also on Nov. 24.
All the NCAA competitions are at Baylor University’s Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.
Homberg won four matches in four days to win the ITA West championship at Pepperdine’s Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Nov. 9.
Homberg downed Youssef Kadiri of Nevada 6-3, 6-1 in the title match. The Wave beat UCLA’s Emon van Loben Sels 6-2, 7-5 in the quarterfinals and Arizona’s Zoran Ludoski 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-1 in the second round. On the first day of the tournament, Homberg downed UCSB’s Gianluca Brunkow 6-4, 6-3.
In route to the ITA doubles championship, Broadus and Yang beat Arizona’s Danielle Tuhten and Teja Tirunelveli 8-2 in the first round and Arizona State’s Aiya Nupbay and Emilija Tverijonaite 8-2 the following round.
They beat CSUN’s Angelo Ho and Yuliia Zhytelna 8-6 in the quarterfinals. The Waves downed UCLA’s Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer and Ahmani Guichard in the semifinals and UCLA’s Kate Fakih and Olivia Center 6-4, 6-1 in the championship.
Last May, Broadus and Janice Tjen, who graduated, were the first Pepperdine duo to make it to the NCAA doubles title match. The two were beat but, Broadus, who has played in the NCAA postseason four times now, is Pepperdine’swinningest doubles player ever.