Press Release courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics.
The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team finishes off non-conference competition this week with the Nevada Wolf Pack Invitational on Friday and Saturday, facing Missouri, Sacramento State and tournament-hosts Nevada throughout the weekend. The match on Saturday against Nevada will air live on the Mountain West Network.
MATCH #11 — Friday (September 15) at The Virginia Street Gym in Reno, Nev.: Pepperdine vs. Missouri at10 a.m. (PT).
MATCH #12 — Friday (September 15) at The Virginia Street Gym in Reno, Nev.: Pepperdine vs. Sacramento State at 4 p.m. (PT).
MATCH #13 — Saturday (September 16) at The Virginia Street Gym in Reno, Nev.: Pepperdine vs. Nevada at 1 p.m. (PT) | Watch on the Mountain West Network
LIVE — The only match available via live stream will be the match on Saturday afternoon against tournament-host Nevada. It will air on the Mountain West Network. 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.
SNAPCHAT FAMOUS — The NCAA rolled out a new initiative highlighting a day in the life of a student-athlete on Snapchat for the first time on the Waves’ game day with Long Beach State. Pepperdine, with Hannah Frohling at the helm, took over the controls of @ncaasports Snapchat and showed the masses what it is to be a student-athlete in Malibu.
#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 — The Waves have posted a 6-4 overall record so far this season, with a 4-2 home output and a 2-0 record on neutral hard wood. As a team, Pepperdine boasts 13.62 kills/set on a .211 hitting percentage, while adding 12.89 assists/set, 1.76 aces/set, 16.35 digs/set and 2.32 blocks/set. The Waves allow opponents 12.59 kills/set one a .202 success rate, while giving up 11.73 assists/set, 1.16 aces/set, 16.05 digs/set and 2.53 blocks/set on average.
RETURNING IMPACT — Senior Ashley Harris, juniors Nikki Lyons and Heidi Dyer and sophomores Jasmine Gross, Hannah Frohling and Hana Lishman are all key returners this season. Frohling and Lyons lead the attack front with 3.59 and 3.25 kills/set on average. Frohling has posted a team-high 133 kills, while leading the team with 16 aces for 0.43 aces/set and adding 2.86 digs/set and 0.41 blocks/set. Lyons has amassed 78 kills along with 0.29 aces/set, 2.38 digs/set and 0.33 blocks/set for the Waves.
Gross and Lishman are extremely instrumental defensively. Gross has tallied 1.27 blocks/set after putting up 47 blocks including eight solo rejections. She also adds 2.81 kills/set on a team-best .346 success rate and adds 0.76 digs/set. Lishman leads the team with 3.81 digs/set after digging up 141 total attempts this season. She also manages 0.27 aces/set and 0.89 assists/set for her team.
Dyer and Harris each spend time on the right side for Pepperdine, posting 2.35 and 1.63 kills/set respectively. Dyer adds a .216 hitting percentage along with 0.18 aces/set, 1.41 digs/set and 0.56 blocks/set. Harris is good for 0.81 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 11.17 assists/set and ranks highly for her 391 total assists. Sato also adds 0.31 aces/set, 2.71 digs/set and 0.31 blocks/set for Pepperdine. O’Harra does work in the middle, amassing 0.73 blocks/set with 19 total blocks. She also marks 1.54 kills/set on a .232 attack percentage. Barker is solid in the back row with 2.03 digs/set and 63 total digs.
LONG BEACH STATE — On Tuesday, the Waves defeated Long Beach State for the first time since the 1984 campaign, breaking the 49ers 14-match winning streak with a 3-1 victory at home. Pepperdine dominated the competition with 25-14, 21-25, 25-18 and 25-21 final set scores en route to the win. As a team, the Waves produced a .224 hitting percentage with 56 kills on 156 attempts. The team also amassed 52 assists, eight aces, 72 digs and 13.5 team blocks. The opposition put up 50 kills on a .155 clip, while adding 46 assists, one ace, 69 digs and 9.0 team blocks.
Jasmine Gross led the Waves’ attack with 13 kills on a team-best .480 hitting percentage. She also was good for a team-high seven blocks including one solo rejection, one ace and four digs. Nikki Lyons andHannah Frohling also produced their fourth double-doubles of the season. Lyons collected her 11th career double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs, while adding two aces and five assists. Frohling posted her career-fifth double-double with 11 kills and 16 digs. Alli O’Harra was also good for eight kills and four blocks, including one solo, and Ashley Harris posted seven kills and three blocks. Blossom Sato and Heidi Dyersaw time in the setting position with 20 and 21 assists respectively. Dyer also added four kills, two aces, nine digs and six blocks with two solo rejections. Hana Lishman tabbed 15 digs and Jaiden Farr posted nine as well.
THE COMPETITION — The Waves will take on three big teams for the Wolf Pack Invitational with Missouri and Sacramento State on Friday and tournament-hosts Nevada on Saturday. Pepperdine and Mizzou have gone 1-1 against each other all-time, with the Waves winning the first match-up in 2008 with a 3-0 sweep and the Tigers taking redemption in 2010 with a sweep of their own. This season, Missouri has amassed a 4-6 overall record with a 0-3 record on the road and a 4-3 record on neutral ground. Most recently, the Tigers were swept by No. 15 San Diego and No. 18 Utah. The Waves hold a 2-0 record against Sacramento Stateall-time, with both wins being sweeps in 1985 and 1998. This season, the Hornets have produced an 8-5 record with a 2-2 output on the road and a 5-2 record on neutral courts. The team is currently on a five-match winning streak with wins against San Francisco and Seattle University most recently. Pepperdine has a 6-1 record over Nevada, dating back to 1985 when the teams first met and the Waves went on a four-match winning streak. The Wolf Pack collected their only win in 2007 in a five-set battle in Malibu. Since then, the Waves have won twice more with the most recent being a five-set win in Firestone Fieldhouse. This season, Nevada has posted a 2-7 record with a 1-0 output at home, 0-3 record on the road and 1-4 record in neutral settings. The team is on a six-match losing streak with recent straight-set losses to WCC competitors and 10th-ranked BYU and Hawai’i
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.
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