MALIBU, Calif. -- The 50th-ranked UC Santa Barbara women’s tennis team’s season came to an end with a 4-0 loss to 11th-seeded and -ranked Pepperdine in the first round of the 2026 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship, Friday at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Pavillion.
 
The Gauchos end their season with an 17-9 overall record. UC Santa Barbara earned the conference’s regular-season crown with an undefeated 9-0 league mark and won the 2026 Big West Championship last weekend with a 4-3 decision in the title match over No. 2 seed Cal Poly. The Waves will host the second-round match against Stanford on Saturday.
 
Pepperdine got the doubles point, taking two courts and one unfinished. In No. 2 doubles, Anastasiia Grechkina and Chantal Sauvant (Pepp) defeated Lily Pradkin and Shanelle Iaconi (UCSB) 6-1. In No. 3 doubles, Duru Soke and Shihomi Leong (Pepp) took down of My-Anh Holmes and Emma Tutoveanu (UCSB) 6-4. The No. 1 doubles match between Sonja Zhiyenbayeva and Ziva Falker (Pepp) verus Caroline Beard and Ekua Youri (UCSB) was unfinished with the Pepperdine pair leading 5-4.

From there, the Waves won three consecutive singles matches, all in two sets, to clinch the dual. On the No. 4 court, Sauvant (Pepp) downed Pradkin (UCSB) 6-3, 6-1. At No. 6 singles, Alexia Harmon (Pepp) defeated Iaconi (UCSB) 6-1, 7-5. On court No. 3, Zhiyenbayeva (Pepp) bested Tutoveanu (UCSB) 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).