A few months ago we weren’t sure if we were going to get a full season in but we’ve made it to the last day of the dual-match season with a pair of NCAA Championship matches this evening.

The Pepperdine women and Florida men will be seeking their first-ever NCAA National Championship while the Texas women will be seeking title No. 3 and the Baylor men will be trying to win title No. 2.

Without further ado here are the breakdowns on each of the finals:

WOMEN’S FINAL

[2] Texas vs [5] Pepperdine (5:30 pm ET)

Road to the FINAL
#2 Texas def. Denver 4-0 in R1; def. #31 Arizona State 4-0 in R2; #16 Ohio State 4-1 in R16; def. #7 Florida State 4-0 in QF; def. #6 NC State 4-0 in SF
#5 Pepperdine def. N Arizona 4-0 in R1; def. #27 Stanford 4-2 in R2; def. #20 Michigan 4-0 in R16; def. #4 UCLA 4-3 in QF; def. #1 North Carolina 4-3 in SF

All-Time Series: Texas 14-13
Most Recent Meeting: 2020 – Pepperdine 7-0
NCAA H2H: 1-1 (2009 R1 @ Cal – Texas 4-1)

Match Notes:

• Pepperdine is into the NCAA Final for the first time in school history
• Texas is into the NCAA Final for the 5th time – first since 2005 (won in 93/95 & r/u in 92/05)
• Horns have won the doubles point in 28 of 31 (23 straight)
• Texas’s only loss this season was 4-3 to UNC in the National Indoors Final
• Singles Breakdown (UT/PEPP)
  • Peyton Stearns has won her last two matches/Ashley Lahey has won 6 of her last 8 – lost last two
  • Anna Turati has won 4 straight (with 7 unfinished matches in the middle)/Jessica Failla has won 7 of her last 8
  • Lulu Sun has won 14 straight/Taisiya Pachkaleva has won 24 straight
  • Charlotte Chavatipon has won 17 straight/Shiori Fukuda has won 15 of her last 16 matches
  • Kylie Collins has won 12 straight/Lisa Zaar has won 20 of her last 21 matches
  • Fernanda Labrana has won 14 straight/Nikki Redelijk has won 8 of her last 11 (lost last 2)
  • Malaika Rapolu has won 17 straight
• Doubles Note
  • UT’s Sun/Collins have won 6 straight at No. 1 doubles, Chavatipon/Stearns have won 14 of their last 15 matches at No. 3 doubles

Prediction: Texas has rolled into the final after only dropping 1 point throughout the tournament while Pepperdine has won back-to-back 4-3 thrillers over UCLA and North Carolina. The doubles point has been Pepperdine’s savior the past two matches and it goes without saying they’ll need it again today. The only spot where I see a clear-cut favorite is at No. 6 with both Labrana and Rapolu of Texas on major win streaks so whoever gets the call will be ready for action. I’m going to take Pepperdine in singles at 1 and 2 and Texas in singles at 3, 4, and 6 with 5 to close to call – Texas 4-3

You can follow the women’s matches with this live scoring link and streaming video is available on The Tennis Channel.

MEN’S FINAL

[1] #2 Florida vs. [2] #1 Baylor (NB 7:30 pm ET)

Road to the FINAL
#1 Florida def. South Alabama 4-0 in R1; def. #31 South Florida 4-1 in R2; def. #17 Illinois 4-0 in R16; def. #8 Texas A&M 4-1 in QF; def. #4 Texas 4-0 in SF
#2 Baylor def. Texas A&M Corpus Christi 4-0 in R1; def. #37 Oregon 4-0 in R2; def. #14 Ole Miss 4-1 in R16; def. #7 TCU 4-1 in QF; def. #3 Tennessee 4-2 in SF

All-Time Series: Florida 7-6
Most Recent Meeting: May 2019 NCAA QF – Florida 4-1
NCAA H2H: 1-1 (2019 – Florida 4-1 n NCAA QF)

Match Notes

• Baylor into the NCAA Final for the third time – 2005 (lost to UCLA); 2004 (def. UCLA)
• Florida is into the NCAA Final for the first time ever
• Singles Breakdown (UF/BU)
  • Duarte Vale has won 3 straight/Adrian Boitan has won 5 straight and 11 of his last 12
  • Sam Riffice has won 4 of his last 5/Matias Soto has won 6 of his last 8
  • Andy Andrade has won 4 straight/Sven Lah has won his last 4 matches
  • Blaise Bicknell is 23-0 in dual-match play/Nick Stachowiak has won his last 2 after losing his previous 3
  • Ben Shelton has won 5 of his last 6/Charlie Broom has won 10 of his last 13 (lost last two)
  • Josh Goodger is 15-0 in dual-match play and has only dropped 5 sets/Spencer Furman has won 14 straight matches (13 in straight sets)

Prediction: This is the matchup that most of us wanted to see – #1 vs. #2. Both teams have been good but not great in doubles and both have won matches in the last two days when they’ve dropped the opening point. As with the case in many of these tight matches I have the team that wins the doubles point winning the match. I like Vale, Bicknell, and Shelton in singles for Florida and Soto, Lah, and Furman for Baylor – Florida 4-3

You can follow the men’s match with live scoring and streaming video is available on The Tennis Channel.