No. 11 Women’s Tennis Sweeps WCC Major Awards with Seven Waves Receiving All-Conference Recognition
4/21/2026 2:00:00 PM | Women's Tennis
SAN BRUNO, Calif. — No. 11 Pepperdine women's tennis swept the West Coast Conference (WCC) major awards while seven athletes received all-conference honors, announced today by the WCC.
In the major award categories, Živa Falkner was named Co-Player of the Year, Sonja Zhiyenbayeva received Freshman of the Year and head coach Tassilo Schmid took home Coach of the Year honors.
Falkner and Zhiyenbayeva also earned All-WCC Singles First Team laurels, along with Anastasiia Grechkina. Chantal Sauvant and Duru Söke were named to the All-WCC Singles Second Team, while Alexia Harmon earned honorable mention.
Pepperdine's entire doubles lineup was also recognized on the All-WCC Doubles Teams. The pairings of Zhiyenbayeva and Falkner plus Sauvant and Grechkina landed on the All-WCC Doubles First Team, while Söke and Shihomi Leong tabbed All-WCC Doubles Second Team recognition.
Tassilo Schmid earned WCC Coach of the Year in his second season at the helm of the Waves, after leading the team to a 16-4 overall record this season and perfect 7-0 mark in WCC play to earn the WCC Regular Season Championship. Schmid led the Waves to a season-high national rankings of No. 2, as the Waves sat in the top-10 throughout the majority of the regular season. Navigating four newcomers to the roster with four returners, the Waves went on to boast a 9-2 record against ranked opponents on the season. This included a pair of top-2 wins, as Pepperdine defeated No. 2 Texas A&M 4-1 in January before a 4-0 victory over No. 2 Ohio State in March. Overall, Pepperdine defeated six teams ranked within the top-15 throughout the season and went an unblemished 7-0 in true road matches. This marks the first WCC Coach of the Year honor for Schmid, who had previously been recognized twice as ITA Southwest Regional Assistant Coach of the Year while on the men's tennis staff at Pepperdine.
Živa Falkner, a transfer out of Novo Mesto, Slovenia, received Co-Player of the Year in addition to First Team honors in both singles and doubles in her debut collegiate season. Falkner posted a 9-6 singles record with a 4-1 mark in conference play this spring, playing every match at the No. 1 position for the Waves. She recorded three singles wins over ranked opponents, highlighted by victories over No. 2 Carmen Herea of Texas and No. 11 Berta Passola Folch of Cal. She earned WCC Singles Player of the Week on three occasions during the regular season. In doubles, Falkner registered a 13-3 overall record which featured a perfect 7-0 mark in WCC play. Alongside Zhiyenbayeva, they posted a 9-1, 4-0 WCC record with four wins over ranked opponents, highlighted by a triumph over No. 2 Victoria Osuigwe/Gabriella Broadfoot of NC State. The duo also earned three WCC Doubles Team of the Week honors throughout the year and peaked as high as No. 8 in the ITA doubles rankings. Falkner currently sits at No. 41 in the ITA singles rankings and No. 18 in the doubles rankings.
Sonja Zhiyenbayeva, a freshman hailing from Almaty, Kazakhstan, was named WCC Freshman of the Year to go along with First Team honors in singles and doubles. Zhiyenbayeva broke out on the national stage this season, recording a 12-2 singles record on the year split between the No. 2 and 3 position. She won both of her conference singles decisions, and was named WCC Freshman of the Week on seven occasions throughout the spring. Zhiyenbayeva earned three ranked wins on the season, including a victory over No. 3 Luciana Perry of Ohio State. Her ITA singles ranking this spring had a high of 36, as the freshman currently sits at No. 50. In doubles, Zhiyenbayeva totaled a 10-3 record and 9-1 mark alongside Falkner, as the tandem went 4-0 in conference play. The duo played every match together at the No. 1 position, earning four ranked wins including a top-2 victory. Also earning three WCC Doubles Team of the Week recognitions, they peaked as high as No.8 in the ITA doubles rankings earlier this spring and currently sit at No. 18.
Anastasiia Grechkina, a sophomore from Moscow, Russia, received All-WCC First Team honors in both singles and doubles for the second straight season. She posted a 9-5 singles record this spring which included a 4-1 record in the conference. She finished the regular season on a four-match singles winning streak and is currently ranked No. 29 in the ITA singles rankings. In doubles, she logged a 9-4 overall record and 7-3 mark with Sauvant, who she landed on the all-conference first team with. The duo received a WCC Doubles Team of the Week honor in January and earned a ranked win over Texas A&M.Â
Chantal Sauvant, a graduate student from Heidelberg, Germany, earned All-WCC First Team honors in doubles and All-WCC Second Team recognition in singles. In singles, Sauvant is currently riding an eight-match winning streak and is 12-4 overall on the season. She went 7-0 in Pepperdine's seven conference matches, and defeated No. 51 Lavinia Tanasie of NC State for her first career ranked win in March. She debuted in the ITA singles rankings in April, coming in at No. 112. Sauvant was also twice named WCC Singles Player of the Week in her debut collegiate season. In doubles, Sauvant registered an 11-5 record on the season, combining for a 7-3 mark alongside Grechkina at the No. 2 position. The tandem began the season on a seven-match winning streak as a pair, featuring a ranked win over Texas A&M. The duo also earned WCC Doubles Team of the Week in January.
Duru Söke, a sophomore from Izmir, Turkey, lands on the All-WCC Second Team in both singles and doubles after a standout campaign in both this season. After earning All-WCC Honorable Mention in her freshman season last year, Söke went on to have one of the most dominant seasons in recent memory for the program, boasting an unblemished 12-0 singles record. This included a 4-0 record in the WCC, as Söke dropped just one set in her 14 singles matches across the full spring campaign.She earned her first ranked victory over Cal's Naomi Xu in March, and is currently ranked No. 119 in the ITA singles rankings. In doubles, Söke totaled a 9-5 overall record this spring and was 9-3 alongside Leong. Her and Leong went 3-0 in the conference and finished the regular season on a three-match winning streak. The duo earned a pair of WCC Doubles Team of the Week recognitions throughout the season as a steady tandem at the No. 3 position for the Waves.
Shihomi Leong, a freshman from Ipoh, Malaysia, earned All-WCC Doubles Second Team honors in her debut collegiate season. Leong teamed up with Söke to post a 9-3 record as a pairing, with a perfect 3-0 record against WCC opponents. They were named the WCC Doubles Team of the Week on Feb. 24 and Mar. 17, after beginning the year winning four of their five matches together. Leong tabbed an overall record of 10-3 in doubles on the season to go along with a 6-4 mark in singles.
Alexia Harmon, a sophomore from Las Vegas, Nev., claimed All-WCC Singles Honorable Mention after leading the Waves with 13 singles wins this spring. She posted a 13-2 overall record, which features an active 11-match winning streak. Splitting time between the No. 4-6 positions, Harmon was 5-0 in conference matchups this season. This marks consecutive seasons in which Harmon received postseason recognition from the conference, as she earned First Team Doubles and Second Team Singles in 2025 while being named Co-Freshman of the Year.
Falkner becomes 12th Wave in program history to win WCC Player of the Year, as Pepperdine has now won the award nine of the past 11 seasons.Â
Zhiyenbayeva is the 15th in program history to receive WCC Freshman of the Year, each coming since the turn of the century. The Waves have now taken home the award in five of the past six seasons.
Schmid is now the third coach in program history to receive the award, as the honor marked the 11th total time that a Pepperdine coach has been named WCC Coach of the Year.
This season marks the fourth time that Pepperdine has seen six athletes recognized as All-WCC Singles competitors. It is the seventh occasion in which all three Pepperdine doubles pairings were recognized, and the first since 2018.
2026 Women's Tennis All-Conference Awards
Coach of the Year: Tassilo Schmid, Pepperdine
Co-Player of the Year: Živa Falkner, Pepperdine
Co-Player of the Year: Eva Alvarez Sande, Washington State
Freshman of the Year: Sonja Zhiyenbayeva, Pepperdine
Singles All-Conference
First Team
Živa Falkner, Pepperdine
Anastasiia Grechkina, Pepperdine
Charlotte Keitel, San Diego
Maxine Murphy, Washington State
Eva Alvarez Sande, Washington State
Sonja Zhiyenbayeva, Pepperdine
Second Team
Daniella Dimitrova, Santa Clara
Lidia González, LMU
Vilma Krebs-Hyllested, San Diego
Hannah Read, San Diego
Chantal Sauvant, Pepperdine
Duru Söke, Pepperdine
Honorable Mention
Sofia Daryaie, Saint Mary's
Alexia Harmon, Pepperdine
Indiya McLeod, Pacific
Dariya Radulova, Portland
Emily Robertson, Gonzaga
Alaia Rubio Perez, Portland
Maria Shmakova, San Diego
Kim Zahrai, LMU
Doubles All-Conference
First Team
Živa Falkner and Sonja Zhiyenbayeva, Pepperdine
Anastasiia Grechkina and Chantal Sauvant, Pepperdine
Maxine Murphy and Chisato Kanemaki, Washington State
Second Team
Ada Piestrzynska and Anastasia Bozova, LMU
Hannah Read and Anni Moll, San Diego
Duru Söke and Shihomi Leong, Pepperdine
Honorable Mention
Vilma Krebs-Hyllested and Maria Shmakova, San Diego
Emily Robertson and Ella Nielsen, Gonzaga
Alaia Rubio Perez and Maria Galatescu, Portland
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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Players Mentioned
