SAN BRUNO, Calif. - Defending West Coast Conference champion Pepperdine women's tennis stands as one of the top teams in the nation, checking in this week at No. 6 in the ITA team rankings. The Waves are 3-0 to start conference play, a half game up on second-place San Diego (2-0). Saint Mary's is also unbeaten in league matches after the first week of conference play at 1-0. 

Pepperdine is 12-4 overall this season and the Waves have amassed seven wins over teams in the ITA top-25.

In The Rankings
The West Coast Conference boasts three teams in the top 71 ITA rankings - No. 6 Pepperdine, No. 46 San Diego and No. 71 Washington State.

In the ITA singles rankings, three Waves rank in the top 36 with Anastasiia Grechkina at No. 13, Ziva Falkner at No. 23 and Sonja Zhiyenbayeva at No. 36. Also in the top 100 in singles are Eva Alvarez Sande (No. 84) and Maxine Murphy (No. 99) from Washington State. In doubles, the duo of Falkner and Zhiyenbayeva rank No. 15.

This Week
The week of conference play starts on Friday with San Diego hosting Santa Clara at 1:30 p.m. Then four matches are feature on both Saturday's and Sunday's slates. On Saturday, Saint Mary's looks for its second straight conference win as the Gaels host Washington State. In another Northern California contest, Pacific hosts Gonzaga. Two Southern California matchups will take place on Saturday with LMU hosting Portland and San Diego right back in action in non-conference play against Rice. 

On Sunday, Pepperdine looks to maintain its stranglehold of first place in Malibu against Portland. WSU treks from Moraga to Stockton to face Pacific, while Saint Mary's hosts Gonzaga. LMU hosts Seattle U for another Los Angeles matchup in the conference.  

Last Week
Last week started off with two non-conference wins for the West Coast Conference. Last Tuesday, Portland beat Montana State, 5-2, and Saint Mary's topped Rhode Island, 4-0. 

Battling another top-25 opponent last week, Pepperdine fell to No. 14 NC State, 4-3. 

In conference play last Saturday, Portland edged Santa Clara, 4-3, and LMU snuck past Gonzaga on the road, 4-3. Pepperdine got right back on its winning ways with a 7-0 sweep over Cal Poly. 

On Sunday, San Diego won its second straight conference match, a 5-2 win at Portland. Santa Clara also handeled Seattle U on the road, 6-1, and Saint Mary's beat Pacific in Stockton, 4-3. The lone home team to win on Sunday was Washington State as the Cougars defeated LMU, 4-0. 

Earlier this week on Tuesday, Santa Clara beat UC San Diego at home, 4-2. 

West Coast Conference Tennis Tournament
The 2026 West Coast Conference Men's and Women's Tennis Tournaments will take place from April 23-25 at the Green Valley Country Club in Fairfield, Calif. Click here for more information.