Ex-Sailor excelling as Wave

Barry Faulkner

Indecision has proved invaluable for Pepperdine junior women’s tennis

standout Natalie Braverman, who has embraced her instinct to act at

the last instant.

Braverman’s penchant for procrastination has nothing to do with

waffling on things such as work ethic, or devotion to improving her

game. Rather, it is merely a preference for avoiding premeditation on

the court, a technique she has developed over years of trial and

error.

“I play horribly if I try to plan and strategize on the court,”

the former Newport Harbor High standout said. “If I think when I’m on

the court, it’s the worst thing I can do. I never decide until the

last minute where I’m going to hit the ball.”

However rushed, those decisions usually work out for Braverman,

who is in her second season at the Waves’ primary No. 1singles

player. As a sophomore, Braverman, who will turn 21 in about a month,

went 18-6 at No.1 singles, finished the season ranked No. 29 by the

Intercollegiate Tennis Assiciation and was the lone Wave to compete

in the NCAA championships.

This season, she has helped the Malibu-based school to a 6-4 start

and the No. 35 national ranking as a team.

Braverman is considered among the top two singles players in the

West Coast Conference. Her primary rival is University of San Diego

junior Emma Murphy, who recently defeated Braverman for the first

time in their five meetings.

“She was my first collegiate opponent ever,” Braverman said of

Murphy, a native of Ireland.

Braverman’s willingness to shoot from the hip on the baseline --

she uses two hands on both her forehand and backhand and is most

comfortable rocketing winners from distance -- also belies the

forethought that went into her collegiate success.

“I think my senior year in high school I made a big jump,”

Braverman said of a season in which she won the Sea View League

singles crown and polished a 43-5 career prep singles record that

also included a league crown as a sophomore. “I gained a lot of

confidence and I became more motivated and more serious. I decided I

really wanted to work to make my next four [college] years the best

they could be.”

Braverman, a former Prep All-American, said she has been somewhat

surprised at the level of success she has achieved at Pepperdine. But

she believes there is more good times ahead.

“I don’t think I’ve peaked yet,” she said. “I work really, really

hard and, since I don’t plan on playing after college, I want my last

year and a half to be special.”

Braverman said the biggest improvement since arriving in Malibu is

her ability to finish off matches.

She said one of her goals is to earn All-American status,

something afforded those who either finish in the top 20 of the

national rankings or reach the NCAA quarterfinals.

A business administration major who will intern this summer for

Leigh Steinberg’s Newport Beach sports management company, Braverman

is on schedule to graduate in May of 2006. She said she would like to

somehow combine sports and business into a career.

She said she enjoys the picturesque Pepperdine campus and believes

her athletic experience has prepared her well to succeed after

graduation.