Can Pepperdine upset Stanford? Waves have hung with the Cardinal before

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Pepperdine is into match play at the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship for the first time in school history.

The Waves’ reward: a quarterfinal date Tuesday with top-ranked Stanford.

It would be easy to consider it a David-versus-Goliath matchup, the reigning NCAA champions against a match-play newbie. But the Waves, ranked No. 16 in the country, are no pushovers. In fact, just last month Pepperdine tied Stanford for the team title at the Silicon Valley Showcase.

“We were right there with the best team in the country,” Pepperdine head coach Laurie Gibbs said.

Gibbs is now in her third decade at this program’s helm, so she knows confidence when she sees it – and this…