Ziva Faulkner rips a backhand in her doubles match against Texas A&M on Jan. 30 at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. Faulkner and Zhiyenbayeva won 6-4. Photos by Oliver Evans
No. 19 Pepperdine Women’s Tennis defeated No. 2 Texas A&M 4-1 at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on Jan. 30
This was Pepperdine’s first home match of the season. The Waves are undefeated against ranked opponents, beating No. 12 University of Texas earlier this month.
“We want to compete with the best teams in the country,” Head Coach Tassilo Schmid said. “When the girls fight and compete for every point, everything is possible for us.”
Pepperdine’s doubles lineup:
1. Transfer Živa Faulkner/Freshman Sonja Zhiyenbayeva (PEPP) vs. Senior Mia Kupres/Junior Lucciana Pezez (TAMU)
2. Sophomore Anastasiia Grechkina/Graduate Chantal Sauvant (PEPP) vs. Freshman Anna Perelman/Senior Violeta Martinez (TAMU)
3. Sophomore Duru Söke/ Freshman Shihomi Leong (PEPP) vs. Sophomore Lexington Reed/Senior Daria Smetannikov (TAMU)
Söke and Leong went down early, losing the first three games. The Waves were able to rally back to 4-3 before succumbing 6-3 to the Aggies.
Faulkner and Zhiyenbayeva played a back-and-forth set, exchanging games early. Texas A&M broke the Waves’ serve, tying the match 4-4, but Pepperdine closed out the next two games, defeating Kupres and Perez 6-4.
“Doubles was energetic,” Zhiyenbayeva said. “We’ve [Faulkner] been practicing this for the past few days. We tried to close the net as much as we could and take every point they would give us.”
All eyes were on Grechkina and Sauvant playing for the doubles point. At 6-6, the match headed to a tiebreaker. The Waves lost the first two points but won the next four to turn it around and win the tiebreak.
With this, Pepperdine claimed the first point of the match.
1-0 Waves.
Pepperdine’s singles lineup:
1. Ziva Faulkner vs No. 34 Mia Kupres
2. No. 9 Anastasiia Grechkina vs Lucciana Perez
3. Sonja Zhiyenbayeva vs Lexington Reed
4. Chantal Sauvant vs Violeta Martinez
5. Sophomore Alexia Harmon vs Daria Smetannikov
6. Duru Söke vs Anna Perelman
Reed took the first set quickly, capitalizing on cramps Zhiyenbayeva received medical attention for mid-set.
Zhiyenbayeva dominated the second set, winning the first five games in a row and taking it 6-1. That momentum carried into the third set, as she swiftly took the match 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
“I started the second set with a little bit more energy,” Zhiyenbayeva said. “I think it went well after that. I stayed locked and was moving better.”
2-0 Waves.
Grechkina lost in straight sets 7-6 (7-4), 6-1. However, Söke got to celebrate her birthday with a win, defeating Perelman 7-6, 6-4.
“It was an extremely special win,“ Söke said. “I told all the team to win for me, and that was going to be my birthday gift. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Duru Söke prepares to serve in her doubles match against Texas A&M on Jan. 30 at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center. Söke and Leong lost 3-6 to the Aggies.
3-1 Waves.
With three matches going on simultaneously in their third set, Faulkner, Harmon and Sauvant raced to see who would clinch the match for Pepperdine.
Faulkner and Harmon each won their first set, while Sauvant won a second-set tiebreak to send it to the third.
Ultimately, Sauvant finished first, defeating Martinez 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2.
4-1 Waves.
When play was suspended, Harmon’s score was 6-3, 3-6, 5-5, and Faulkner’s 5-7, 6-7 (3-7), 4-4.
“Every match for her [Faulkner] at number one is going to be really tough,” Schmid said. “That is a high-level college match, and she did an excellent job for us.”
Pepperdine’s next match will be against Arizona State University on Feb. 15, at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
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Contact Addison Thomas via email: addison.thomas@pepperdine.edu