Sophomore Duru Söke, with ball in hand, prepares to serve in her match facing Texas A&M on Jan. 30 at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. Söke is a key returner on the 2026 spring season roster, according to Pepperdine Athletics. Photos by Oliver Evans
After a fall season full of individual success, Pepperdine Women’s Tennis has entered the full swing of the 2026 spring season. Pepperdine officially kicked off their season at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center in Waco, Texas on the turf of Baylor University. They opened up the season with a 4-1 win over the University of Illinois.
The Waves said they are looking to enter the spring season with the ultimate goal of weekly improvement and competing at the NCAA tournament in May, led by Head Coach Tassilo Schmid.
“The biggest strength of our team this year is that we learned very fast in a short time how to play for each other,” Schmid said. “There are still improvements that we have to make, but the girls are really buying into each other every day in practice.”
Pepperdine named Schmid head coach July 10 after working as the interim head coach for one spring season, according to Pepperdine Athletics. But he is no stranger to Pepperdine Tennis.
Schmid served seven seasons working under Adam Schaechterle, Pepperdine Director of Tennis and Men’s Tennis Head Coach, and contributed to helping Men’s Tennis advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament three times within his first five seasons, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Schmid said he and a roster of eight players aim to build their team chemistry, especially with the addition of two athletes that were not here in the fall — freshmen Chantal Sauvant and Shihomi Leong — and returning players like NCAA singles qualifier sophomore Anastasiia Grechkina and freshman standout Sonja Zhiyenbayeva.
“From a team perspective, our goals are to get better every week and make improvements from week to week,” Schmid said. “It is crunch time, or the time when you want to peak is coming in May for the NCAA tournament, and that is the time where we want to play our best tennis.”
Schmid said the fall season was heavily focused on individual development. With only six players on campus, each athlete spent most of the season working on personal growth.
“In the fall, it was basically a little bit more individualized, but still we have a very high standard on how we train and how we approach things at Pepperdine and those values were also held in the fall,” Schmid said.
But since the beginning of January, Schmid said the main focus has shifted to working on the team as a whole.
Grechkina, the No. 7 ranked singles player in the nation, according to Pepperdine Athletics, said she worked to shift her focus from individual to teamwork this spring.
“I had to switch my mind a little bit between fall and spring season because fall is considered as an individual time,” Grechkina said. “When spring comes, it’s all about the team. There is a team and your friends alongside you, so I had to switch to thinking about my friends and teammates more than about myself.”
Zhiyenbayeva has also made a quick change in her perspective to contribute to the team’s overall success, earning herself WCC Freshman of the Week honors for three consecutive weeks from Jan. 20 to Feb. 3, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“For me, that was something that never happened before because I was not familiar with college at all,” Zhiyenbayeva said. “It’s something new for me and definitely something I value and appreciate, especially now that I represent Pepperdine and in the conference and also in the college tennis world.”
Transfer Živa Falkner swings through a forehand in her match against Texas A&M on Jan. 30. Falkner and Zhiyenbayeva earned WCC Women’s Tennis Doubles Team of the Week honors on Feb. 3.
Zhiyenbayeva said the driving force behind her success since the season has started has been focusing on herself and the team’s success, a shared goal of her own that ties into the team’s goals.
“I truly try to focus on the team and on myself and not everything around me, and it’s been pretty good,” Zhiyenbayeva said. “I try to focus on myself, and it’s working.”
Zhiyenbayeva said she is looking forward to traveling with the team, getting to know the coaches and team on a more personal level and competing at home matches in her first full season in collegiate competition.
As the season continues to unfold, the Waves said they are prioritizing learning to work as a unified team and building stronger camaraderie.
Team connection was already put to the test earlier this spring on the Wave’s opening series road trip to Waco, Texas. From playing at Baylor’s indoor courts to face University of Illinois, to playing outdoors to compete against University of Texas.
“Our first road trip was pretty difficult flying to Baylor, so they have done a tremendous job in that short amount of time to come together and really battle for each other,” said Schmid.
Looking ahead, Pepperdine will compete in the International Tennis Federation W35 tournament from Feb. 23-March 1, before traveling to Pullman, Washington to face Washington State University on March 3 at 11 a.m.
With more than a month of competition left in the spring season, returning players and newcomers continue to come together to chase the same goal.
“I’m really excited to play with our new players. They’re awesome, and I think all of us can show great tennis and achieve great results,” Grechkina said.
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Contact Madison Chavez via email: madison.chavez@pepperdine.edu