The No. 54-ranked Pepperdine women’s tennis team defeated No. 58-ranked Cal Poly on Wednesday after two rescheduled matches due to rain this season 6-1. Pepperdine is now 7-12 this season.
Pepperdine sophomore Andrea Oates said the Waves had confidence against visiting Cal Poly after two rescheduled matches.
“We knew we would have to compete hard but we also have a very good record against Cal Poly so that always gives that extra bit of confidence Oates said. We are ranked closely [with Cal Poly] but the rankings can be very misleading; any team can have a really good day so you always have to go out there expecting to fight as hard as you can.”
Wednesday’s match began with a round of three doubles matches that were swept by the Waves. Anamika Bhargava and Marie Zalameda honored as doubles team of the month for March won their game over a ranked opponent 8-5. Bhargava and Zalameda defeated the Mustangs’ No. 26-ranked Brittany Blalock and her partner Suzie Matzenauer.
After the victory by the month’s top doubles team the Waves continued with two more victories in the doubles event. Arianna Colffer and Ali Walters defeated their Cal Poly opponents 8-6 and the team of Oates and Tania Rice also won their game 8-6.
The Waves swept the doubles matches and proceeded to win five out of six of the singles matches. Colffer Rice and Zalameda all faced tiebreakers in their matches. Colffer ranked No. 87 defeated Blalock and Rice also came out on top. Zalameda lost the tiebreaker to the Mustangs.
Oates won her match in two sets but said the second set was close.
“My first set was pretty close today; it could have gone either way but I managed to pull it off Oates said. The girl I played was left-handed so that’s always a little unusual but besides that it was just a fun very competitive match.”
Walters also said Wednesday’s match was a great team effort and just what the Waves needed to continue a strong season.
“Today’s match was definitely what the doctor ordered for us Walters said. It always feels good when everyone is working and fighting hard in the match.”
The Waves continue their 12-game home series with a game against Loyola Marymount today in the Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center at 1:30 p.m.
Pepperdine defeated LMU in 2009 and Oates said competing against them this week will be a good learning experience.
“We played LMU last spring and we beat them; we’re lucky that we also have a very good record against them and they’re also in our conference Oates said. Hopefully we can pull off another win and get a feel of how they’re playing before we face them at conference in San Diego.”
Walters said she is also ready to take on the local rival.
“LMU is a conference match and so I’m really excited to get out there again tomorrow and play my game.”
