Photo courtesy of Mallorey Maloney
Growth.
That is the one word that Pepperdine Club Tennis team captain Mallory Maloney used to describe the club tennis experience.
The Club Tennis team, which has been training three times per week since September, has seen a lot of growth over the past few seasons, including a significant increase in members since the club’s inception in 2011.
“The amount of people we had at tryouts was insane,” Maloney said. “We had about 40-45 members who tried out in the fall and currently have 34 members on the team.”
When asked about the club’s goals for the season, Maloney wanted members of the club to grow together as a group.
“My goal for the team was to help us grow together as a community of avid tennis lovers. I wanted to host practices that had purpose and wanted to make people feel comfortable with each other and be confident in their skills as a tennis player.”
Giving credit to chemistry on and off the field, the Pepperdine Club Tennis team has indeed benefited as a result of the close-knit community. The club’s chemistry has translated to success with the team, reaching their first national tennis tournament since 2011.
“I’m really happy about our team competing against tough opponents, playing with heart, and representing Pepperdine with the best of their efforts,” Maloney said.
In mid-February, 27 teams from all over southern California, including Pepperdine, entered the qualifying tournament hosted by Claremont McKenna College.
Pepperdine’s pool of opponents included teams from UCSD, SDSU and UCLA. After the first day of grueling matches, the Waves ended up winning the pool and entered the gold bracket, which had never been done by the club in its short history.
“It was a really tough competition we had to face in that first pool play,” Maloney said. “I am proud of what the team was able to do, especially with our club defeating a tough UCLA team that won the national tournament a few years ago.”
On the second day of match play, Pepperdine took on UCSB in a hard-fought matchup, but the Waves unfortunately couldn’t capture a victory.
However, the Waves, thinking that their team lost its chance of marching into nationals with the loss, discovered that the finalists of the back draw were still able to qualify for nationals.
The Waves then took on rival LMU in the final match and secured a victory to solidify Pepperdine’s bid to the USTA Tennis On Campus National Championship.
“I think this experience as a team helped us on the court and has really prepared us for success in the national tournament,” Maloney said. “We are all very excited to represent Pepperdine’s fighting spirit and would love to share the excitement with the fellow Pepperdine students.”
The Pepperdine Club Tennis team will travel to Cary, North Carolina from April 8-11 to take on teams around the nation in the USTA Tennis On Campus National Championship.
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Follow Arthur Puu on Twitter: @arthur_puu
