Upcoming Event: Women's Tennis versus ITA All-American Championships on September 17, 2026
W Tennis
vs ITA All-American Championships
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Friday, May 5
Malibu, Calif.
1 p.m.
Grand Canyon
at
Pepperdine
Photo by: Zach Campbell
Lopes take on Waves in NCAA tourney
5/4/2023 4:25:00 PM | Women's Tennis
GCU faces No. 9 Pepperdine in opening round of NCAA tournament
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| Grand Canyon Lopes (15-9) |
vs. | No. 9 Pepperdine Waves (18-3) |
| Live Stats Live Video |
Friday, May 5 1 p.m. |
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.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
Thursday, April 23
Monday, April 21