MALIBU, Calif. — No. 6 Pepperdine women's tennis (9-3, 3-0 WCC) is set to host No. 2 Ohio State (10-1, 3-0 B1G) Wednesday at 2 p.m. from Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
Live scoring and streaming for the match can be found
here.
The Waves recently wrapped up a 5-0 road trip which featured three ranked victories, including a win over No. 10 Cal this past Sunday.
Sonja Zhiyenbayeva is coming off her fifth WCC Freshman of the Week honor, having gone 3-0 in singles and 3-0 in doubles on the spring break trip. Zhiyenbayeva has been one of the breakout freshmen in the country with a 9-1 singles record this season. She currently sits at No. 122 in the ITA singles rankings while being the No. 26 doubles duo alongside
Živa Falkner.
Falkner and Zhiyenbayeva received WCC Doubles Team of the Week as well after going 3-0 at the No. 1 doubles position on the trip to improve to 5-1 on the season. Additionally on the doubles courts,
Anastasiia Grechkina and
Chantal Sauvant have boasted a 6-1 record this season while
Shihomi Leong and
Duru Söke have gone 4-2.
Zhiyenbayeva's nine singles wins have paced the squad, with
Alexia Harmon sitting at 8-2 on the year while riding a six-match winning streak. Harmon has also gone 5-3 in doubles with four different partners.
Söke has been a stalwart in the Pepperdine lineup throughout the season, going unbeaten to this point with a 7-0 record. Sauvant has won her past two singles matches and is 6-4 in her debut campaign with the Waves.
Three Waves currently occupy spots in the ITA singles rankings, featuring Grechkina (No. 10), Falkner (No. 43) and Zhiyenbayeva (No. 122).
Pepperdine has boasted a 6-1 record against ranked opponents this season, previously defeating No. 2 Texas A&M at home Jan. 30. The Waves have won six straight matches overall entering Wednesday's contest.
Ohio State has won 10 of 11 matches this dual match season, falling only to No. 1 Georgia 4-3 in the ITA National Indoor Team Championship Final. The Buckeyes are coming off a 4-1 win at home over No. 40 Michigan this past Friday.
The Buckeyes enter play as the No. 2 team in the country, having moved up from No. 13 in the preseason rankings. Luciana Perry (No. 3) and Leah Chavez (No. 4) account for the highest-ranked pair of teammates in the ITA singles rankings, as Nao Nishino (No. 67) and Audrey Spencer (No. 102) have also cracked the rankings. Chavez is currently riding an eight-match winning streak while Spencer has won 12 straight singles matches.
On the doubles side, four different Buckeye tandems currently rank within the top-70.
The two programs have met just five times before, as this also marks the Buckeyes first-ever trip to Malibu. Ohio State has B1G conference matches this weekend at UCLA and USC which prompted their trip to California.
In the previous five meetings, Pepperdine holds a 2-3 overall record, having won the most recent matchup in March 2024 by a score of 4-2 in Columbus, Ohio.
Next up, the Waves will have a rematch with No. 15 Cal this Sunday (March 15). Match time is set for noon against the Bears from Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE WOMEN'S TENNIS
Pepperdine women's tennis has been a consistent powerhouse in the collegiate scene, reaching 40 NCAA Tournaments since 1982 including 28 straight appearances. Since 2018, the program has seen three national runner-ups between both singles and doubles while reaching an NCAA Regional as a team eight times in the past nine tournaments. The success at the conference level has been paramount with 33 WCC Championships including an active streak of 11 consecutive conference titles. With its 24 total All-Americans, the program has also consistently sent players to the pro circuit following their time in Malibu.
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