MALIBU, Calif. — No. 6 Pepperdine women's tennis (12-4, 3-0 WCC) returns to conference play with a home fixture against Portland (6-6, 1-1 WCC) Sunday at noon from Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
Live streaming and scoring for the match can be found
here.
The Waves have four regular season contests remaining on the schedule, traveling to San Diego next week before hosting LMU and Saint Mary's to close out the West Coast Conference (WCC) slate.
Pepperdine is coming off a 7-0 victory at home over Cal Poly this past weekend, as the Waves did not drop a set on the singles courts.
Earlier this week, the Waves swept the weekly WCC awards for the second straight week and fifth time overall this season.
Chantal Sauvant earned her second WCC Singles Player of the Week honor of the season after earning wins over No. 14 NC State and Cal Poly. Sauvant is 8-4 on the season in singles, including 6-2 at the No. 4 position, and has won four straight matches.
Sonja Zhiyenbayeva and
Živa Falkner received WCC Doubles Team of the Week for the third time this season as a pair, after defeating No. 2-ranked pair in the country against NC State. The tandem has gone 7-1 this season for the Waves including a 4-0 mark against ranked opponents.
Zhiyenbayeva also claimed her third straight WCC Freshman of the Week recognition and seventh overall on the season, earning a singles win at the No. 2 position against Cal Poly in addition to the doubles victory over the Wolfpack.
Zhiyenbayeva is now 11-2 overall on the season in singles, while Falkner has tabbed a 5-6 mark at the No. 1 position.
Sauvant and
Anastasiia Grechkina (7-2) plus
Duru Söke and
Shihomi Leong (7-3) have also proved formidable all season to round out the Waves' most common doubles lineup. Mixing up the lineup against Cal Poly, Falkner and Grechkina earned a tiebreak win to clinch the doubles point for Pepperdine.
Söke and
Alexia Harmon have combined to win 19 consecutive singles matches, as Söke has gone an unblemished 10-0 this season in singles, playing half of her matches at flight five. Harmon has gone 11-2 so far, winning nine consecutive matches that have been completed.
The Waves have collected an 8-2 mark against ranked opponents this season, surging into the top-10 of the ITA rankings.
Grechkina (No. 13), Falkner (No. 23), Zhiyenbayeva (No. 36) and Söke (No. 107) all represent Pepperdine in the ITA singles rankings, while Falkner and Zhiyenbayeva are the No. 15-ranked doubles pairing.
The Pilots enter play with a 6-6 overall record, having defeated Santa Clara 4-3 before suffering a 5-2 defeat to San Diego to open their conference ledger this past weekend. Portland is also matching up with LMU today (Mar. 28).
Alaia Rubio has led the Pilots at the No. 1 position this season, achieving a 6-5 record this spring. Rubio was named WCC Singles Player of the Week earlier this season.
Pepperdine boasts an 18-0 overall record against Portland all-time, including an 8-0 mark in Malibu. Pepperdine came away victorious 6-1 at home in last season's matchup.
The Waves will head to No. 46 San Diego next for their final regular season road contest, taking on the Toreros on Friday at 2 p.m.
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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