Pepperdine once again was one of the most dominant teams in NCAA women's tennis in 2026.

The 2026 West Coast Conference regular season and tournament champions, the Waves went undefeated in conference play and then knocked off LMU and San Diego to claim the conference tournament crown en route to earning the automatic qualifier into the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the quarterfinals. 

In addition to its success against conference foes, Pepperdine went 13-3 against top-25 teams, including five wins over top-10 teams. The Waves fell to No. 3 seed Ohio State in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament but had previously beaten the Buckeyes 4-0 during the regular season. The Waves concluded the regular season winning 10 of 11 matches. Prior to the meeting against Ohio State in Athens, Ga., Pepperdine beat UC Santa Barbara and Stanford in the first two rounds in Malibu before knocking off Oklahoma in Norman. 

The Waves nearly swept the all-conference major awards. Tassilo Schmid won Coach of the Year, Ziva Falkner was named Co-Player of the Year and Sonja Zhiyenbayeva won Freshman of the Year. In addition to the accolades for the Waves, Washington State's Eva Alvarez Sande was also tabbed Co-Player of the Year. 

In the final ITA rankings, Pepperdine came in at No. 9, followed by No. 53 San Diego.