MALIBU, Calif. — Entering the second half of the season, the No. 28 Pepperdine women's tennis team plays a pair of non-conference matches against ranked opponents this week.
First, Pepperdine travels north to No. 51 UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Later this week, the Waves will host No. 36 Oklahoma State on Sunday, March 16 at 2 p.m. Admission to Ralph's-Straus Tennis Center is free to the public, and the match will be livestreamed for free via PlaySight. If available, all live stream and live stat links can be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
MATCH 14: #28 Pepperdine (5-8) at #51 UC Santa Barbara (4-7) | Wednesday, March 12 | 1 p.m. PT | Arnhold Tennis Center | Santa Barbara, Calif.
MATCH 15: #28 Pepperdine (5-8) vs. #36 Oklahoma State (9-6) | Sunday, March 16 | 2 p.m. PT | Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center | Malibu, Calif.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
With the bulk of the non-conference schedule behind them, the #28 Pepperdine Waves' new objective is simple: Keep winning matches and get above .500 before WCC play. Both opponents will give Pepperdine opportunities for winnable matches while also bolstering its postseason resume.
Last week's 5-2 loss at California saw the Waves take the doubles point with impressive wins at the top of the lineup before the Golden Bears won matches on courts one through five to flip the script.
Despite the result, the doubles team of Anastasiia Grechkina and Alexia Harmon earned their third West Coast Conference Doubles Team of the Week award for clinching the doubles point, plus freshman Duru Söke took home WCC Player of the Week honors for the second-consecutive week. Söke is quietly putting together a solid freshman campaign at the sixth spot, where she has won her last four matches.
So far, Pepperdine has two nationally ranked teams of No. 7 Savannah Broadus and Vivian Yang, plus No. 81 Grechkina and Harmon. The Waves have won the doubles point just six times this year, but they have shown they can bounce back from dropping the doubles point. Just ask USC and Rice.
The top of Pepperdine's singles lineup has three nationally ranked players with No. 13 Broadus, No. 59 Anastasiia Grechkina — who leads the team with eight dual match wins — and No. 102 Yang. Freshmen Alexia Harmon has moved up to the fourth spot as of late; she and spring admit Sebastianna Scilipoti have been going back and forth at the fourth and fifth spots in the lineup.
Pepperdine leads the all-time series 34-7 over UC Santa Barbara, yet the Waves haven't played in Santa Barbara since 2010. The Waves are 9-7 against the Gauchos on the road.
ACROSS THE NET
This year's Pepperdine squad might be kindred spirits with the No. 51 UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. UCSB has a young roster led by a senior All-American, boasts a top-10 doubles team and is a mid-major team with a sub-.500 record — all despite testing themselves in the non-conference slate.
Led by senior All-American and the nation's Amelia Honer, the Gauchos are looking to return to the NCAA Tournament after being upset by Cal Poly in the Big West Championship a year ago. Honer, who ranks 11th in the latest ITA Singles Rankings, has made a steady climb into the nation's best women's tennis players after reaching the NCAA Singles Quarterfinals last spring. Since then, Honer has gone 22-9, earned All-American honors again and played on Team USA for the Master'U BNP Paribas with Savannah Broadus. This past weekend, she was named a Universal Tennis Foundation Hurd Award finalist — a grant given to the top two American college tennis players.
UC Santa Barbara's top-10 doubles team of Honer and Marie Weissheim, who made the NCAA Doubles Championship last fall, rank 10th in the nation with an 11-5 record. They have eight wins over ranked opponents and have been instrumental in helping the Gauchos clinch the last three doubles points. Aside from Honer, Weissheim ranks 107th in the latest singles polls.
The Gauchos and Waves share common opponents: UCSB lost 6-1 to Cal after winning the doubles point, but they also lost 4-3 to Arizona, who Pepperdine beat 4-1 during ITA Kickoff Weekend. UCSB is looking to pick up its second-straight win over a WCC team after beating LMU 6-1 last week.
Meanwhile, the No. 36 Oklahoma State Cowgirls are in dire need of resume wins this season. In one of the more surprising developments of the season, the team that went 29-1 has fallen back to earth — despite returning most of the players from their historic season. Winners of their last two matches, the Cowgirls are 9-6 and are looking to climb back into the postseason picture after going 2-5 in February.
While All-American Ange Oby Kajuru has been absent all spring, her doubles partner Anastasiya Komar and recently-eligible spring admit Melisa Ercan have picked up the slack atop the lineup. Right now, six Cowgirls carry win streaks heading into this weekend. Rose Marie Nijkamp leads the group as the winner of her last six matches while No. 49 Gracie Epps is close behind on a five-match win streak. Both players play in the middle of the singles lineup.
Aside from No. 81 Komar, who plays second in the singles ladder, the Cowgirls' ranked players are at the bottom of the lineup. Marcela Lopez, who is ranked No. 105, plays mostly at the bottom half of the lineup with No. 49 Epps, giving the Cowgirls depth across the lineup.
Unfortunately for college tennis fans, Kajuru's absence means Oklahoma State will not be playing with its All-American doubles pairing of Kajuru and Komar. Pepperdine fans will remember that team from all of the entertaining, intense matches between them and the Waves' all-star pairing of Savannah Broadus and Janice Tjen from years ago. Just as Broadus has adapted to a new doubles partner, Komar has paired up with Nijkamp atop Oklahoma State's doubles lineup this year. Komar and Nijkamp rank 69th in the latest doubles rankings with a stellar 11-2 record.
Oklahoma State leads the all-time series 6-4 over the Waves, yet the Cowgirls haven't won in Malibu since 1990 — well before anyone on Pepperdine's current coaching staff or roster was born. The Cowgirls' last match at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center was a 4-1 loss in 2023.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Waves begin WCC play by hosting Portland on Sunday, March 22 at noon. All pertinent information can be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
