Box Score WACO, Texas – Illinois women's tennis opened the 2026 dual campaign with a hard-fought battle against No. 21 Pepperdine from Waco, Texas on Friday but fell 4-1. Senior McKenna Schaefbauer earned her first dual win of the season with a victory on the top singles court to get the Illini on the board.
Four Fighting Illini made their dual debuts on Friday as Tess Bucher, Kimiko Cooper, Cara Mester, and Lizzie Isyanov saw action from Texas.
The Fighting Illini held an early lead on the doubles courts but would ultimately drop the point as the Waves picked up wins at No. 2 and No. 3 before the Illinois tandem could play the match point at No. 1.
Pepperdine pushed its lead to 2-0 with a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 5 singles. Schaefbauer was the next off the courts, picking up a straight-set 6-4, 7-5 victory at No. 1 singles. The senior battled from behind in both sets, trailing 0-2 in set one and 2-4 in the second before securing the win.
After Illinois got on the board, the Waves would get the final say, picking up wins at No. 2 and No. 3 singles, respectively. Play would go unfinished for Ariel Madatali (No. 4 singles) and Alice Xu (No. 6 singles).
Illinois is right back at it on Saturday at 3 p.m. CT when they face weekend host, No. 25 Baylor.
NO. 21 PEPPERDINE (1-0) 4, ILLINOIS (0-1) 1
Doubles:
1 – No. 60 Tess Bucher/Alice Xu vs. Ziva Falkner/Duru Soke (Pepperdine) - 5-3 (40-40), unfinished
2 – Anastasiia Grechkina/Chantal Sauvant (Pepperdine) def. McKenna Schaefbauer/Kimiko Cooper – 6-4
3 – Alexia Harmon/Sonja Zhiyenbayeva (Pepperdine) def. Cara Mester/Ariel Madatali – 6-3
Singles:
1 – McKenna Schaefbauer def. Ziva Falkner (Pepperdine): 6-4, 7-5
2 – No. 7 Anastasiia Grechkina (Pepperdine) def. Kimiko Cooper – 6-2, 7-6(3)
3 – Sonja Zhiyenbayeva (Pepperdine) def. Tess Bucher – 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
4 – Ariel Madatali vs. Chantal Sauvant (Pepperdine): 6-7(2), 3-2 (40-30), unfinished
5 – Duru Soke (Pepperdine) def. Lizzie Isyanov – 6-2, 6-2
6 – Alice Xu vs. Alexia Harmon (Pepperdine): 3-6, 6-4, 0-0 (30-40), unfinished
Order of finish:
Doubles: 3, 2
Singles: 5, 1, 2, 3
Duration: 2:38
NEXT WEEKEND
The Fighting Illini will host their first two matches in Atkins Tennis Center of the dual season from Jan. 24-25. Miami (OH) is slated for an 11 a.m. CT contest on Saturday, Jan. 24, followed by a tilt with Xavier on Sunday, Jan. 25 at 12 p.m.
