Lopes take on Waves in NCAA tourney


Grand Canyon Lopes (15-9)	vs.	No. 9 Pepperdine Waves (18-3)
	Live Stats Live Video	Friday, May 5 1 p.m.

The Grand Canyon women's tennis team will face No. 9 Pepperdine in its second NCAA tournament match in program history. The Lopes return to the Big Dance after making their first appearance in 2021.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

PLAYING WELL AT THE RIGHT TIME: The Lopes have hit their peak tennis at the perfect time, taking a winning streak of five games into the NCAA tournament. The Lopes came into the WAC Tournament as a No. 4 seed and rolled over No. 5 Abilene Christian in the first round and No. 1 UT Arlington in the semifinals before overcoming a 3-1 deficit to defeat No. 2 Tarleton in the final. Five players picked up singles wins while the Lopes won the doubles point on two of the three matches.
TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE: Senior Natasha Puehse is the lone Lope to bring NCAA tournament experience into Friday's match. Puehse played at No. 1 singles and doubles in 2021 as a sophomore. Now as a senior, Puehse will again line up at the top singles position, where she owns an 18-3 record with a 14-match winning streak. At the top doubles court, Puehse and her partner Santa Strombacha are 16-3 and 9-1 in their last 10 matches.
FIRST YEAR, NO PROBLEM: GCU first-year head coach Katarina Adamovic wasted no time in guiding the Lopes to the Big Dance, doing so just 288 days after she was hired. Adamovic had a strong resume in her playing career, leading Oklahoma State to the NCAA title match in 2016 and making two quarterfinal appearances in the NCAA Singles Championship.

SCOUTING

Pepperdine has been one of the most consistent programs in the country with 35 straight NCAA tournament appearance after capturing their ninth straight West Coast Conference Tournament title. The Waves have not lost a conference match since 2015 and they posted a 7-0 home record this season. They boast a nationally ranked lineup with the No. 1 doubles pair in Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen. Broadus and Tjen are two of four players ranked in singles, placing 16th and 19th nationally.

WHAT'S NEXT?

The GCU-Pepperdine winner will face the winner of UNLV-USC in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Saturday.

3 THINGS TO KNOW

SCOUTING

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Natasha Puehse

Santa Strombacha

Grand Canyon University Athletics