The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team continues its home stand with a Tuesday night match against Long Beach State in Firestone Fieldhouse at 7 p.m. The match will air live with Wavecasts on TheW.tv.
MATCH #10 — Tuesday (September 12) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine vs. Long Beach State at 7 p.m. (PT) | Watch live with Wavecasts on TheW.tv.
LIVE — All Pepperdine home matches will stream live on TheW.tv. Direct links for all matches, including live statistics can be found on PepperdineWaves.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA — Follow @WavesVolleyball on Twitter for updates and check out PepperdineWaves.com and Facebook (/WavesVolleyball) for releases and more information.
TICKETS — Each match costs $10 for adults and $8 for alumni, children, seniors and non-Pepperdine students. Tickets are free for Pepperdine students, faculty and staff with a valid Pepperdine ID. Purchase tickets in advance at 866-WAVE-TIX or at the ticket office on game day.
#NCAATOP10 — The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team cracked the NCAA Top 10 lists at No. 8 last week. Junior setter Blossom Sato made a series of digs that earned her the NCAA Top Play nod as well as West Coast Conference Top Play Tuesday recognition.
BY THE NUMBERS — Pepperdine has gone 5-4 to start the 2017 season, posting a 3-2 home record and a 2-0 record on neutral hardwood. As a team, the Waves average 13.58 kills/set on a .210 hitting percentage. The team adds 12.88 assists/set, 1.73 aces/set, 16.15 digs/set and 2.20 blocks/set against opponents. Pepperdine allows the opposition 12.61 kills/set on a .209 clip, while also allowing 11.76 assists/set, 1.27 aces/set, 15.91 digs/set and 2.56 blocks/set on average.
RETURNING IMPACT — Senior Ashley Harris, juniors Nikki Lyons andHeidi Dyer and sophomores Jasmine Gross, Hannah Frohling and Hana Lishman are all key returners this season. Frohling and Lyons lead the attack front with 3.70 and 3.35 kills/set on average. Frohling has posted a team-high 122 kills, while leading the team with 16 aces for 0.48 aces/set and adding 2.73 digs/set and 0.42 blocks/set. Lyons has amassed 67 kills along with 0.25 aces/set, 2.30 digs/set and 0.35 blocks/set for the Waves.
Gross and Lishman are instrumental defensively. Gross has tallied 1.21 blocks/set after putting up 40 blocks including seven solo rejections. She also adds 2.76 kills/set on a team-best .330 success rate and adds 0.73 digs/set. Lishman leads the team with 3.82 digs/set after digging up 126 total attempts this season. She also manages 0.21 aces/set and 0.91 assists/set for her team.
Dyer and Harris each spend time on the right side for Pepperdine, posting 2.53 and 1.48 kills/set respectively. Dyer adds a .213 hitting percentage along with 0.13 aces/set, 1.30 digs/set and 0.43 blocks/set. Harris is good for 0.76 blocks/set as well.
NEWCOMER TALENT — Junior transfer Blossom Sato and freshmen Alli O’Harra and Lexi Barker have also made quite an impact. Sato has been a key component to the Waves offense and defense as the primary setter for the squad. She ranks 25th nationally with 11.24 assists/set and ranks highly for her 371 total assists. Sato also adds 0.33 aces/set, 2.70 digs/set and 0.30 blocks/set for Pepperdine. O’Harra does work in the middle, amassing 0.68 blocks/set with 15 total blocks. She also marks 1.45 kills/set on a .241 attack percentage. Barker is solid in the back row with 2.10 digs/set and 63 total digs.
ASICS CLASSIC — Pepperdine went 1-2 in the 20th-annual Asics Classic, sweeping Wyoming in straight sets before falling to 8th-ranked Washington 3-0 and Missouri State, a team receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll, 3-1. In the win over the Cowgirls, the Waves posted a .190 hitting percentage with 48 total kills, marking eight aces, 52 digs and 5.0 team blocks. Three players hit for double-figure kills and Nikki Lyons added a double-double for the win. Lyons tabbed 11 kills, 10 digs and three aces, while adding 16 successful service receptions with no errors. Hannah Frohling marked a team-best 14 kills on a .333 success rate, while adding eight digs and two aces. Jasmine Gross was also good for 11 kills on a .421 clip, four digs, one ace and one solo block. Blossom Sato led the crew with 44 assists, six digs and one ace and Hana Lishman had a team-high 12 digs and 19 service receptions with no errors.
In the tough loss to the Huskies, the Waves put in a solid effort early on, but eventually fell. The team posted 28 kills, three aces and 12.0 team blocks throughout the match. Lyons led the squad with nine kills while each Frohling and Gross posted six. Frohling posted six digs, while Lyons tabbed four along with two aces and Gross tabbed a season-high nine blocks including one solo rejection. Sato led the team with 21 assists and added five digs, and Lishman was good for 13 digs and one ace.
In the final matchup against the Bears, Pepperdine posted 51 kills, 50 assists, eight aces, 73 digs and 5.0 team blocks. Lyons and Frohling each tabbed their third double-double of the season. Lyons was good for 17 kills, 11 digs and one block, while Frohling marked 16 kills on a .250 output with three aces and 12 digs. Sato engineered the team’s offense with 45 assists and added seven digs and two aces. Gross put up nine kills, five digs and three blocks and Heidi Dyer added seven kills on a .333 success rate, four digs and two blocks. Lishman and Lexi Barker posted 16 and 13 digs respectively and Adria Johnson marked two aces.
THE COMPETITION — Pepperdine and Long Beach State first faced each other in 1975 when the 49ers won the first two matches, 0-2 and 1-2. In 1976, the Waves took the first win with a 3-2 bout and then the two teams tied later that year, 1-1. From 1977-84, Pepperdine went on a 12-match winning streak, including five by straight-set decisions. From 1986-2016, the opposition has won 14-consecutive matches including a 3-2 victory in Long Beach in the 2016 campaign. The season, the 49ers have gone 1-8, including recent losses to San Diego State, Pacific and PCH Cup rivals Loyola Marymount.
SCOTT WONG — Pepperdine alum Scott Wong was named head coach in December 2014, becoming the fifth head coach in program history. In first two seasons at the helm of the Waves, he amassed a 30-31 overall record for Pepperdine. He was an assistant with the Waves’ men’s program from 2005-09 (and was part of the 2005 NCAA championship-winning team) before moving back to his home state of Hawaii and serving as associate coach with the Rainbows’ women’s squad for five seasons. He was also Hawaii’s sand volleyball head coach. Wong was a three-time All-American with the Waves between 1998-01.
INDOOR VOLLEYBALL HISTORY — The Pepperdine women’s volleyball program is synonymous with the word excellence, as the Waves are a perennial national power. The Waves have advanced to postseason play 27 times in 42 seasons, including 13 trips to the NCAA Championships in the last 20 seasons. Pepperdine’s best finishes in recent years came when the team made the regional final of the NCAA Tournament in 2002 and again in 2011. Ten players have earned AVCA or Volleyball Magazine All-American honors a combined 19 times, while six players have been dubbed the WCC Player of the Year nine total times. Nina Matthies, who stepped down after the 2013 season, was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame in December, 2015.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE — Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I Championships in five different men’s sports — one of just 17 schools to have accomplished this feat — and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a “major” conference. The Waves have won a total of 25 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that’s given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation’s most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks No. 50 overall on U.S. News and World Report’s list of America’s best colleges.
Press Release courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics.
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