MALIBU, Calif. — Bolstering its top-five recruiting class, the Pepperdine women’s tennis team announced the addition of Duru Söke, of Turkey, and Liam Oved, of Israel, to the 2024-25 roster on Thursday.
Söke and Oved will join freshmen Taylor Goetz and Alexia Harmon — two American players who signed with the Waves last November — as newcomers in the fall of 2024. As it stands, Pepperdine has the top-ranked recruiting class amongst mid-major schools and the fifth-best recruiting class in the nation, according to the Tennis Recruiting Network.
Hailing from Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, Oved’s career-high ITF junior ranking was 61st in both singles and doubles, and she was a two-time U16 Israel championship winner. She has won six juniors singles titles, plus she made four semifinal and nine quarterfinal appearances in junior singles tournaments. In 2023, she participated in the qualifying draws of the US Open and Junior Wimbledon.
Oved attended Royi Kariv and graduated in February 2023. She is the second tennis player from Israel to sign with Pepperdine women’s tennis, joining Yael Tobi, who played for the Waves in 1998.
“I really feel that Pepperdine can be a very good environment for me because of the values of the school,” Oved said of her commitment to Pepperdine. “I was raised on the same values and have respect for what this school stands for. Additionally, Pepperdine is a small school, and I believe that for my personality a small school like Pepperdine can be the perfect fit.”
A native of Bayraklı, Turkey, Söke is the third Turkish-born player to sign with Pepperdine women’s tennis, joining Merve Asimgil (’06) and three-time All-American Ipek Senoglu (’01). Söke comes from a tennis family: Her older brother, Cagatay, began his career at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before wrapping up his career as an All-Mountain West Conference selection at Fresno State from 2018-20.
Söke comes to Malibu after a successful juniors career, in which she was ranked as high as 101st in the ITF Junior Rankings, seventh in the Tennis Europe Race Rankings and 14th among all European juniors. She won 10 junior titles (five singles and five doubles) and recently picked up her first ITF singles title by winning the W15 Antalya title in May. In Tennis Europe Tournaments alone, Söke reached the finals 11 times and won the title in nine of them. Additionally, Söke is no stranger to international competition: She played twice in the Billie Jean King Cup and made the U12, U14, U16 and U18 Turkish national teams.
In spring 2024, Söke graduated from Okyanus Koleji Antalya, where she went 39-1 at the top spot in the singles lineup and helped her team win the Antalya Championship and the Turkey Championship.
“I want to become a good professional tennis player and I believe that I can achieve this goal at Pepperdine,” Söke said of her commitment to the Waves.
Pepperdine is coming off its second NCAA semifinal appearance in program history. Head coach Per Nilsson‘s squad is expected to bring back two members of last year’s 21-7 campaign, in which the Waves were outright West Coast Conference champions. A full 2024-25 schedule will be released at a later date.
