SAN DIEGO, Calif. — After a two-hour and 45-minute rain delay in Saturday's West Coast Conference Tournament final, it's safe to say the Pepperdine-San Diego women's tennis rivalry has seen it all.
It took a three-set comeback and nearly three hours stewing with the score frozen at 3-2, yet the No. 27 Pepperdine women's tennis team outlasted the No. 48 San Diego Toreros to win 4-2 and claim its 11th-consecutive WCC Tournament title at the Aztec Tennis Center on Saturday evening.
The win punched Pepperdine's ticket to their 37th consecutive NCAA Tournament and extended Pepperdine's impressive streak of winning every WCC Tournament since 2013. It also avenged a 4-3 regular-season loss at San Diego earlier this month, which snapped Pepperdine's streak of 83 consecutive WCC wins.
Freshman Anastasiia Grechkina clinched the win with a come-from-behind, three-set win over No. 35 Kailey Evans at the second position. The Waves (14-10, 5-1 WCC) took the doubles point and won straight-set matches from Duru Söke and Alexia Harmon before a two-hour and 45-minute rain delay paused the match with the score 3-2 in favor of Pepperdine.
Grechkina and Liam Oved were beginning their third sets when light, yet persistent rain rolled in.
Once the players got back on court, Grechkina — who was serving up 2-1 in the final set — was broken by Evans. Although the USD senior consolidated the break to put the match back on serve, both players held serve until Grechkina broke Evans in the seventh game to go up 4-3.
Just as Oved tried pulling away from Gabby Gregg on court six, drama mounted between Grechkina and Evans. The Pepperdine freshman held at deuce in the eighth game, then broke Evans at deuce for a 5-4 lead. That break point ended up turning the tide for the match. Grechkina won the first three points of her final service game before Evans made one final offering at 40-15. Serving from the deuce side, Grechkina clinched the match on a return error from Evans, capping off her 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory.
Although the final 40 minutes after the rain delay determined the match, the meeting between the bitter WCC rivals had an extensive prologue earlier that morning.
Pepperdine won a pivotal doubles point thanks to a big 6-1 win from Söke and Vivian Yang on court three, then Sebastianna Scilipoti and Liam Oved winning an epic 7-5 match over Kristina Nordikyan and Hannah Read on court three.
The Waves saved a match point in the ninth game, then Scilipoti broke the Toreros to tie the match at five games apiece. Although the Toreros didn't go quietly in Pepperdine's final service game, Oved kept composure behind the service line, consolidated the break and put pressure on the Toreros to hold serve in the 12th game. After a double-fault put Pepperdine up 30-15, the Waves didn't look back, as Oved wrapped up the 7-5 win with a forehand winner.
With the doubles point in hand, the Waves bolted out to big leads in two of the six singles matches. However, San Diego wound up taking four first sets, essentially making the match dead-even 90 minutes into singles play.
But Pepperdine took a 3-0 lead thanks to two straight-set wins from freshmen Duru Söke and Alexia Harmon.
At the fifth position, Söke sped through her first set against Anna Linn Puls. The WCC Honorable Mention singles selection won all three deuce points — including a break point winner for the set — to take the first set 6-0.
In the second set, Söke broke Puls at deuce in the Toreros' first service game, yet Puls broke back and put the match back on serve in the fourth game. Up 3-2 in the sixth game, Söke turned the tide of the match by breaking Puls at deuce. Despite falling behind 30-0 in the seventh game, Söke battled back to force a deciding point, which she won to take a 5-2 lead. The match was played on serve from that point forward, and Söke won one final deuce point in the last game to seal her 6-0, 6-3 win.
Moments later, Harmon wrapped up her match against Kristina Nordikyan at the third position. Like Söke, Harmon shut out Nordikyan in the first set before her opponent found her level in the second set.
The reigning WCC Co-Freshman of the Year went up a break before Nordikyan battled back to put the match back on serve. Nordikyan broke Harmon in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead, yet Harmon broke back and consolidated the break at deuce point to put the match back on serve. Harmon won another break point to go up 5-3, but Nordikyan wouldn't go quietly; the Torero saved a match point to break Harmon in the ninth game and forced another deciding point in the 10th game.
But Harmon broke through on the third match point. Nordikyan returned a Harmon backhand long, and the Waves were up 3-0 with Harmon's 6-0, 6-4 victory.
San Diego made a push. The Toreros won in straight sets on court four, then won a three-set match on court one to make the score 3-2, Pepperdine. Just as both remaining matches reached the early stages of the final set, the wind picked up and rain paused the match.
Fortunately for Pepperdine, it was worth the wait.
The Waves find out their postseason fate during the NCAA Selection Show, which airs on NCAA.com next Monday at 2 p.m. PT.
RESULTS
Singles
1. #92 Claudia de las Heras (USD) def. Vivian Yang (PEPP) 6-2, 4-6, 6-0
2. #79 Anastasiia Grechkina (PEPP) def. #35 Kailey Evans (USD), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
3. Alexia Harmon (PEPP) def. Kristina Nordikyan (USD) 6-0, 6-4
4. Hannah Read (USD) def. Sebastianna Scilipoti (PEPP) 6-3, 6-2
5. Duru Söke (PEPP) def. Anna Linn Puls (USD) 6-0, 6-3
6. Liam Oved (PEPP) vs. Gabby Gregg (USD) 4-6, 6-3, 5-4, unfinished
Order of finish: 5,3,4,1,2*
Doubles
1. #52 Claudia de las Heras/Kailey Evans (USD) def. Alexia Harmon/Anastasiia Grechkina (PEPP) 6-4
2. Liam Oved/Sebastianna Scilipoti (PEPP) def. Kristina Nordikyan/Hannah Read (USD) 7-5
3. Duru Söke/Vivian Yang (PEPP) def. Gabby Gregg/Anna Linn Puls (USD) 6-1
Order of finish: 3,1,2*
