Pepperdine University
#4 LMU
Waves' WCC Tournament Title Defense Begins This Weekend
4/24/2025 10:18:00 AM | Women's Tennis
MALIBU, Calif. — Kicking off the 2025 postseason, the No. 27 Pepperdine women's tennis team starts its West Coast Conference Tournament title defense against either LMU or Gonzaga this Friday.
Once again, the WCC Men's and Women's Tennis Tournament takes place at San Diego State's Aztec Tennis Center, starting with the quarterfinals this Thursday. The Waves, which earned the top seed in the draw and a semifinal bye after clinching a share of the regular-season title, take on the winner between 4-seed LMU and 6-seed Gonzaga, who play Thursday at 10 a.m.
Live stream and live stat links for all WCC Tournament matches will be available on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
MATCH 24: #27 Pepperdine (12-11, 5-1 WCC) vs. LMU (7-11, 5-3 WCC)/Gonzaga (11-9, 3-3 WCC) | Friday, April 25 | 10 a.m. | Aztec Tennis Center | San Diego, Calif.
SCOUTING THE WAVES
Despite plenty of changes to the Pepperdine women's tennis program over the offseason, the Waves ended up exactly where they were expected to be. Interim Head Coach Tassilo Schmid's squad split the WCC regular-season crown with San Diego, extending Pepperdine's 13-year streak of winning conference titles. Now, the freshman-heavy squad will set its sights on the program's 11th consecutive WCC Tournament title.
Despite playing a challenging non-conference schedule, the Waves took care of business in every conference match, save for a 4-3 loss at No. 57 San Diego, and will be the favorites to make the championship match. There will be high expectations on Pepperdine this week: The Waves have won every WCC Tournament title since 2012 and made every conference tournament final since 1987.
With two first-team All-WCC players Vivian Yang and Anastasiia Grechkina, plus WCC Co-Freshman of the Year Alexia Harmon atop the lineup, Pepperdine is one of the youngest and most talented rosters in the league. Thankfully for the Waves, they appear to be peaking at the right time: All six players in their singles lineup are on win streaks heading into this weekend.
Harmon was named the WCC's Co-Freshman of the Year for a reason: She went 5-0 in league play, leads the team with 16 dual-match wins and carries a team-best nine-match win streak into the WCC Tournament. She has been automatic for the Waves at the third position; eight of her last nine wins were in straight sets. Harmon and Liam Oved — who plays at the sixth position — have won at least four straight matches heading into this weekend.
Grechkina, Sebastianna Scilipoti and Duru Söke all have three-match win streaks heading into this weekend. At 79th in the ITA singles rankings, Grechkina will likely be the only ranked player in Pepperdine's singles lineup this weekend. She has a 13-7 record playing mostly at the second position in the Waves' lineup, plus she has three nationally ranked wins. Scilipoti went 3-2 at the fourth position in WCC play, while WCC Singles Honorable Mention award winner Söke was a perfect 4-0 in league play at the fifth position.Â
In doubles, Grechkina and Harmon are one of the most dependable doubles teams in the WCC. The first-team All-WCC award winners lead the team with a 12-6 record in dual match play and have won their last six matches. The rest of the doubles lineup was a work in progress, yet the team took the doubles point in both matches last week with Oved and Scilipoti at the second position, plus Söke and Yang at the third position. Pepperdine, which won the doubles point in its last three matches, took the doubles point just three times in WCC play.
ACROSS THE NET
It's hard not to look ahead in the WCC Tournament draw. A rematch with No. 48 San Diego looms in the final, which would not only give Pepperdine an opportunity to exact revenge on its rival but also would be a rematch of last year's conference final.Â
To get there, the Waves need to beat either the 4-seed LMU Lions or the 6-seed Gonzaga Bulldogs, who play each other in the quarterfinals on Thursday at 10 a.m. Pepperdine and LMU squared off in the regular season, with the Waves eking out a 4-2 road win that required Sebastianna Scilipoti to win a three-set match to clinch the victory.
LMU has been unpredictable in WCC play: They beat Washington State 4-2, yet needed to squeak out 4-3 wins over Saint Mary's and Santa Clara — both of whom missed the WCC Tournament. The senior-heavy LMU squad includes All-WCC First Team selection Stefania Rogozinska-Dzik and the 87th-ranked doubles pairing of Rogozinska-Dzik and Anastasia Bozova. That duo helped the Lions take the doubles point over the Waves earlier this season; LMU has taken a 1-0 lead into singles play five times against WCC teams.
Pepperdine didn't play the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the regular season. The Bulldogs, who needed to win tiebreakers to get to the WCC Tournament as the 6-seed, have regular-season wins over Santa Clara, Pacific and Saint Mary's, but won just one singles match across losses to Washington State, Portland and LMU. All-WCC Second Team selection Emily Robertson leads the Bulldogs with a 9-6 record atop their singles lineup, while the Bulldogs put two different doubles teams on the All-WCC awards list.
WHAT'S NEXT
The NCAA Women's Tennis Selection Show will air Monday, April 28 at 2 p.m. PTÂ on NCAA.org. All schedule updates can be found on the women's tennis team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
