NCAA TOURNAMENT CENTRAL  |  COMPLETE PEPPERDINE WOMEN’S TENNIS RECAP
WATCH WAVES VS.TEXAS

LAKE NONA, Fla. – The magical, record-setting run for No. 5 Pepperdine continues. Making the first NCAA Semifinal appearance in program history the Waves dispatched the No. 1 team in the nation, previously unbeaten and No. 1 North Carolina 4-3.
 
Pepperdine (25-3) will now face No. 2 Texas (30-1) Saturday, May 22 for the NCAA Championship. First serve against the Longhorns is set for 2:30 p.m. PT live on the Tennis Channel from the USTA National Campus.
 
PEPPERDINE WOMEN’S TENNIS NCAA TOURNAMENT NOTABLES

• Making its 33^rd straight NCAA Tournament appearance and 37^th overall the Waves advance to the first National Championship appearance in program history
• Waves will face No. 2 Texas (30-1) Saturday for the title. The Longhorns posted four 4-0 sweeps in the NCAA Tournament, including their semifinal win vs. NC State.
• Pepperdine seeks its first-ever women’s NCAA team championship
  • The Waves won two AVCA Beach Volleyball Championships (2012 & 2014)
  • The Waves made the Finals of the 2017 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship, falling to USC 3-2
• Pepperdine dispatched unbeaten and No. 1 North Carolina (30-0) 4-3 Friday in the first NCAA Semifinals appearance in program history.
  • The Waves avenged an earlier 4-1 decision to the Tar Heels at the ITA Indoors in February
  • All victories against the Tar Heels Friday came in straight sets
• No. 5 Pepperdine upended No. 4 UCLA 4-3 in the NCAA quarterfinals to even the season series against the Bruins at 2-2
• So far in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, the Waves have swept NAU (first), beat Stanford 4-2 (second), swept Michigan (round of 16) and downed UCLA 4-3 in the NCAA quarters
• Pepperdine’s match against the Bruins was the eighth NCAA quarterfinals appearance in program history, and its fourth since 2016

 
WCC IN NCAA TEAM NATIONAL FINALS – 2020-21

• Pepperdine Women’s Tennis becomes the third West Coast Conference program to advance to a NCAA National Final in 2021
  • Waves are the third WCC team to compete in a NCAA Championship in less than two months
  • The WCC has sent four teams to an NCAA semifinal since the start of April (LMU Beach Volleyball)
• Santa Clara Women’s Soccer – 2020 NCAA Champions (11th College Cup) – 5/17/21
• Gonzaga Men’s Basketball – 2021 NCAA National Runner-Up (Second Final Four) – 4/5/21

 
WCC NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS – 2020-21

• Santa Clara Women’s Soccer
• BYU Women’s Cross Country (Team)
• Conner Mantz, BYU Men’s Cross Country (Individual)

 
WCC TENNIS HISTORY

• Pepperdine is making history for the West Coast Conference in Orlando, advancing further than any team before it in the sport of women’s tennis.
• The Waves are the first women’s tennis team in WCC history to reach a NCAA Finals and were the first to reach an NCAA Semifinals
• The Waves were the first WCC tennis team to reach the NCAA semifinals since Pepperdine men’s tennis did so in 2012
  • Pepperdine men’s tennis won the 2006 NCAA Team Championship – the only NCAA title for the WCC in the modern era
  • Pepperdine men’s tennis owns two NCAA Team Semifinals appearances in program history: 2006 & 2012 – the only two in WCC men’s tennis history
• San Diego’s Zuzana Lesenarova won the 1999 NCAA Singles Championship – the first women’s NCAA Championship in WCC history and the first-ever for the Toreros
• Two WCC women’s tennis student-athletes have been ranked No. 1 in ITA singles rankings since 2019
  • Gonzaga’s Sophie Whittle, 2019
  •  Pepperdine’s Ashley Lahey, 2020
• San Francisco won the 1949 NCAA Team Championship before the formation of the WCC
• San Francisco’s Art “Tappy” Larsen, an ITA Hall-of-Famer, won the 1950 US Open and reached the 1954 French Open Finals. Larsen was a member of the Dons’ 1949 title team.