GARRETT WAIT
Sports Editor
The Pepperdine women’s tennis team continues to soar through the rankings while tearing up the hardcourts with three victories over the past week. The Waves skyrocketed to No.-8 in the nation in the most recent poll and have cruised to victory in their past five matches.
The first match of the week pitted Pepperdine against No.-48 University of New Mexico.
Pepperdine won the doubles point thanks to two doubles victories. The Waves then picked up five of the six singles points to blow out the No.-49 ranked Lobos, 6-1. Sophomore Bianca Dulgheru scored an upset victory when she beat the 27th-ranked singles player in the nation, Maja Kovacek, 6-2, 6,1. Pepperdine Head Coach Gualberto Escudero said he has been impressed with Dulgheru’s play all season.
“Bianca has been able to beat anybody in the country on any given day this year,” Escudero said.
In Pepperdine’s second match of the weekend, the Waves scored a 7-0 victory over Sacramento State University. The Waves’ Raba-Braverman duo blanked Svetlana Pimenova and Cecilia Helland, 8-0 in doubles.
“We almost never lose a doubles point now,” Escudero said. “The secret is that we get great performances in the doubles matches and great performances in singles as well.”
Pepperdine finished off the week by blowing out cross-town rival Loyola Marymount University, 7-0. The Waves didn’t drop any matches in doubles or singles, easily handling the Lions who don’t have any nationally ranked players.
Pepperdine dominated lesser opponents over the past week, but the Waves will get a tough test when No.-1 Stanford University comes to Malibu on Wednesday.
Escudero, whose teams have never beaten the Cardinal, said he wants to win this match more than any other, even saying he would commemorate if the team upset Stanford.
“The team knows that if we do beat Stanford I’d tattoo my arm,” Escudero said. “We played Stanford very close a few years ago. On any given day we can give them a tough match.”
The first serve of the match pitting two top-10 programs against each other is set for 1:30 p.m. at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
03-23-2006