Pepperdine tops Washington State 4–1 behind freshman firepower, continues decade-long streak
The Pepperdine women’s tennis team continued its winning streak over West Coast Conference opposition on April 6.
They downed Washington State 4-1 at Pepperdine’s Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. The home victory for the Waves, rated 23rd in Intercollegiate Tennis Association women’s tennis rankings, put their winning streak over the WCC’s other eight teams at 83 straight. In fact, Pepperdine hasn’t lost to another WCC opponent since 2015. Additionally, the last time Pepperdine finished lower than first in the WCC regular season standings was when they finished second in 2012.
The Waves have a 3-0 record against conference opposition this season. Four of their five final regular season matches before the two-day WCC Championships later this month are against WCC foes.
The Cougars, ranked 59th in the nation, got off to a winning start against Pepperdine, though. WSU won the doubles point by a close margin, but then the Waves — led by the rackets of freshmen Alexia Harmon, Duru Soke, and Liam Oved — had three straight-set singles victories. Anastasiia Grechkina, also a freshman, closed Pepperdine’s win with a three-set triumph.
Cougar duos Maxine Murphy and Eva Alvarez Sande and Hania Abouelsaad and Martina Markov secured wins over Pepperdine pairs to win the doubles point.
Harmon, from Las Vegas, defeated Elyse Tse 6-1, 6-1 to gain Pepperdine’s first singles point. Harmon was never brokenon her way to her fifth-straight win.
Soke scored the first singles victory for Pepperdine. The first-year Wave from Turkey was down a break against Chisato Kanemaki early in the first set on court five, but then she broke the Cougar to knot the score at four games each. Soke broke Kanemaki at deuce in the tenth game and went on to claim the first set 7-5. The Wave broke her opponent and didn’t look back during the second set, notching a 6-1 triumph.
Oved downed Martina Puvill on court six 6-3, 6-4 next, but it wasn’t easy. The Wave from Isreal had a double-break lead, but Puvill held at deuce in the seventh game. Oved broke Puvill to get the win eventually.
Grechkina, ranked 87th in singles, secured Pepperdine’s win with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory. Grechkina, from Moscow, Russia, held at deuce against Maxine Murphy on court two before breaking Murphy finish the match.
The Waves have a 9-9 overall record heading into their Senior Day home matchup against UC Santa Barbara on Thursday.
Pepperdine then has WCC matches against San Diego and UC San Diego on Saturday, Pacific on April 18, and Saint Mary’s on April 19.
At press time, San Diego was the only other WCC squad with an undefeated record in the conference.
The WCC Championships begin on April 25 at San Diego State’s Aztec Tennis Center. Pepperdine has won every WCC Tournament since 2013.
The Waves have won three of their last four matches. Before beating Washington State, Pepperdine defeated WCC foes Portland and Loyola Marymount, but fell to non-WCC opponent Washington, a team ranked in the nation’s top 25.