SAN BRUNO, Calif. – After winning another outright conference regular season championship, Pepperdine nearly swept the 2026 West Coast Conference Women's Tennis major awards as the Conference announced the all-conference honors on Tuesday. Tassilo Schmid was tabbed the Coach of the Year, while his pupils Živa Falkner and Sonja Zhiyenbayeva won Co-Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, respectively. Washington State's Eva Alvarez Sande was tabbed Co-Player of the Year with Falkner. 
 
Each of the all-conference teams and major awards were voted on solely by the West Coast Conference’s women's tennis head coaches. 
 
Falkner was voted the West Coast Conference Co-Player of the Year after completing the regular season 9-6 in singles and 9-3 in doubles. Competing in the No. 1 court all year, Falkner led the Waves to an undefeated conference season. She went 9-1 in doubles with her partner Zhiyenbayeva, and the tandem garnered West Coast Conference Doubles First-Team all-conference honors. Falkner is the fifth Wave to win this award in the last six years. Falkner won conference Singles Player of the Week three times this season and was part of the Doubles Team of the Week three times. 

Alvarez Sande shared the Player of the Year award with Falkner after going in 19-6 in singles and 9-9 in doubles with multiple doubles partners. In singles, she went 11-1 while playing on the No. 1 court and 3-0 on the second court. She guided the Cougars to their second straight No. 3 seed in the conference tournament in 2026. She won conference Singles Player of the Week on April 14 and was part of the Doubles Team of the Week on Feb. 10.

This is Schmid's first time winning West Coast Conference Coach of the Year, and the first Waves' head coach to win the award since 2024. This is the 11th time in conference history that a Pepperdine head coach has won Coach of the Year. Schmid has the Waves ranked No. 11 in the latest ITA rankings after going undefeated in conference play and winning the outright regular season championship. The Waves beat seven top-25 teams during the regular season. 

Zhiyenbayeva continues Pepperdine's streak of winning at least a share of the West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year award in each of the last three seasons. She went 12-2 in singles this season, going 6-2 on court two and 6-0 on the No. 3 court. She and Falkner went 9-1 in doubles together and she went 10-3 overall in doubles this season. She won conference freshman of the week seven times this season, including two separate occurences of winning the award three weeks in a row. 

Alvarez Sande and Maxine Murphy from Washington State were named to the all-conference first team for the second straight year. Murphy and Pepperdine's Alexia Harmon also picked up first team doubles all-conference recognition for the second straight year, as well. 
 
Pepperdine earned three of the six all-conference first team awards and two of the three all-conference doubles first team awards. 
 
2026 WCC 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 Zahraj, 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