#8 Waves Extend Streak to Nine with Win at Gonzaga

Three Waves' singles are curerntly on six or more consecutive wins.

Mayar Sherif (Photo by Sarah Otteman)

Results

SPOKANE, Wash. – After battling through to win the doubles point early, the No. 8 Pepperdine women’s tennis team dominated the singles action towards a 4-0 road-sweep over Gonzaga at the Stevens Center on Friday afternoon.

The Waves (15-1, 4-0 WCC) extend the team’s current winning streak to nine-matches, including four-straight sweeps, with the win over West Coast Conference opponent Gonzaga (13-5, 4-1 WCC).

RESULTS

#8 Pepperdine 4, Gonzaga 0

Singles

1: #25 Luisa Stefani (PEPP) vs. Sophie Whittle (GU) – 4-6, 4-4, unfinished

2: #17 Ashley Lahey (PEPP) vs. Nevada Apollo (GU) – 6-4, 5-3, unfinished

3: #12 Mayar Sherif (PEPP) def. Graciela Rosas (GU) – 7-5, 6-2

4: #72 Evgeniya Levashova (PEPP) def. Domonique Garley (GU) – 6-1, 6-1

5: #115 Laura Gulbe (PEPP) def. Haruna Tsuruta (GU) – 6-4, 6-1

6: Adrijana Lekaj (PEPP) vs. Kate Ketels (GU) – 6-4, 4-2

Order of Finish: 5, 4, 3*

Doubles

1: #17 Luisa Stefani/Mayar Sherif (PEPP) def. #40 Sophie Whittle/Graciela Rosas (GU) – 6-4

2: Haruna Tsuruta/Alex Bourguignon (GU) def. #72 Evgeniya Levashova/Dzina Milovanovic (PEPP) – 6-3

3: Ashley Lahey/Adrijana Lekaj (PEPP) def. Nevada Apollo/Ashleigh Jacobs (GU) – 6-3

Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1*

MATCH RECAP

Gonzaga gave Pepperdine a run in doubles, pulling ahead early in two of the matches. The Waves came back swiftly to win the first match of the day as Ashley Lahey and Adrijana Lekaj downed Nevada Apollo and Ashleigh Jacobs 6-3 in the No. 3 position for the pairs seventh-straight win. The Bulldogs countered with a 3-1 win on two, but 17th-ranked Luisa Stefani and Mayar Sherif shut the door in the No. 1 position after collecting a 6-4 victory over 40th-ranked Sophie Whittle and Graciela Rosas.

In singles action, No. 72 Evgeniya Levashova came out with big energy, cruising past her opponent Domonique Garley with a pair of 6-1 set scores to push the Waves to a 2-0 lead. Then, No. 12 Mayar Sherif and No. 115 Laura Gulbe downed their opponents in back-to-back successes to help Pepperdine earn the team’s fourth-consecutive sweep.

All other matches were stopped, with Ashley Lahey leading on two 6-4, 5-3 and Adrijana Lekaj leading on six 6-4, 4-2.

NOTABLES

The Waves have gone 3-1 against opponents ranked in the top-12 of the Oracle/ITA rankings.

Pepperdine has won the last nine-straight matches and has collected eight sweeps this season.

Laura Gulbe is on an eight-match winning streak in singles, while Evgeniya Levashova and Mayar Sherif are on seven-match streaks.

In doubles, Ashley Lahey and Adrijana Lekaj have won seven-consecutive matches.

The No. 1 doubles position has gone 14-2 this season for the Waves in dual action, with Mayar Sherif and Luisa Stefani collecting a 10-1 record in the top-spot.

The Waves have gone 64-13 in singles action and 31-9 in doubles play this season.

The Waves have five ranked in the Oracle/ITA singles rankings #12 Mayar Sherif, #17 Ashley Lahey, #25 Luisa Stefani, #72 Evgeniya Levashova and #115 Laura Gulbe.

The team has three doubles pairs ranked with Sherif and Stefani ranking #17, Sherif and Lahey ranking #33 and Milovanovic and Levashova ranking #75.

NEXT UP

Pepperdine continues the action next week with home matches against West Coast Conference opponents San Diego and BYU.

Recap courtesy of Pepperdine