Press Release courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics.
The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team has a full schedule of West Coast Conference competition this week, first challenging No. 9 BYU on the road on Tuesday before returning home to host Pacific on Saint Mary’s and Thursday and Saturday respectively.
All matches will stream live with the match at BYU on BYUtv and all home matches on Wavescasts at TheW.tv.
MATCH #15 — Tuesday (September 26) at George Albert Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah: Pepperdine at #9 BYU at 6 p.m. (PT).
MATCH #16 — Thursday (September 28) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine vs. Pacific at 7 p.m. (PT).
MATCH #17 — Saturday (September 30) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine vs. Saint Mary’s at 12 p.m. (PT).
LIVE — All Pepperdine home matches will stream live on TheW.tv. The match at BYU will stream live on BYUtv. 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 home 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.
BY THE NUMBERS — The Waves have posted a 9-5 overall record this season, with an 8-5 record against opponents outside the WCC. Pepperdine opened conference action at PCH Cup rival LMU on Saturday, collecting a 3-1 win. The Waves have gone 4-2 at home, 2-2 on the road and 3-1 in neutral settings this season thus far.
Pepperdine averages 13.71 kills/set, 12.94 assists/set, 1.63 aces/set, 15.71 digs/set and 2.63 blocks/set. On 1,928 swings, the Waves have put up 699 kills and only 275 errors for a .220 success rate. The team’s 38.80 attacks/set ranks 32nd nationally, while the 2.63 blocks/set ranks 33rd, 1.63 aces/set ranks 36th and 134.0 total blocks ranks 37th. Opponents have tabbed 13.16 kills/set on a .195 clip, while adding 12.33 assists/set, 1.24 aces/set, 16.16 digs/set and 2.50 blocks/set on average.
RETURNING IMPACT — Senior Ashley Harris, juniors Nikki Lyons and Heidi Dyer and sophomores Hannah Frohling, Jasmine Gross and Hana Lishman are all instrumental to the Waves’ successes this season. Harris averages 1.66 kills/set on a .205 output from the right side, and adds 0.95 blocks/set for the Waves. Lyons is good for 3.00 kills/set, 0.21 aces/set, 2.39 digs/set and 0.34 blocks/set, while Dyer adds 1.75 kills/set on a .211 success rate, 3.85 assists/set, 0.21 aces/set, 1.67 digs/set and 0.65 blocks/set.
Gross leads the team and ranks 30th nationally with 70 total blocks this season. She also ranks 37th in the national with 1.37 blocks/set and adds 3.10 kills/set on a .362 hitting percentage and 0.16 aces/set. Frohling leads the team with 3.41 kills/set and 0.35 aces/set, while also producing 2.69 digs/set and 0.41 blocks/set. Lishman leads the squad with 3.70 digs/set and 174 total digs as the primary libero. She also produces 0.26 aces/set and 0.83 assists/set.
NEWCOMER TALENT — Junior transfer Blossom Sato and freshmen Alli O’Harra and Lexi Barker are also key to the Waves’ offense and defense. Sato leads the team and ranks 28th nationally with 11.17 assists/set. She has posted 391 total assists and puts up 0.31 aces/set and 2.71 digs/set in the all-around effort. O’Harra has been clutch in the middle for the Waves with 1.83 kills/set on a .259 output and 1.05 blocks/set after 42 total blocks. Barker is big in the back row with 1.88 digs/set and 0.20 aces/set for Pepperdine.
PCH CUP BATTLE — In the Waves’ sole match last week, Pepperdine posted a 3-1 win over PCH Cup rival Loyola Marymount on the road, marking 25-27, 25-17, 26-24 and 25-22 final set scores during the match. The team produced 46 kills on a .246 success rate, while adding 43 assists, six aces, 42 digs and 15.0 team blocks for the win. The Lions were good for 54 kills on a .115 clip, along with 52 assists, 10 aces, 58 digs and 8.0 team blocks.
Nikki Lyons led the team with 12 smashes on a .207 hitting percentage, while adding an ace, four blocks and four digs. Jasmine Gross also hit for double-figure kills with 11 on a .450 clip, along with two aces and five blocks. Alli O’Harra led the team with a career-best nine blocks, while tabbing eight kills and five digs. Heidi Dyer posted a double-double with 38 assists and 10 digs, while adding three blocks and an ace. Hannah Frohling was also good for nine kills, eight digs and two blocks, while Ashley Harris picked up five kills and five blocks and Jaiden Farr marked nine digs and an ace.
THE COMPETITION — Pepperdine holds winning records over two-of-three teams on the docket this week. BYU, ranked 9th in the AVCA Coaches Poll, is the only West Coast Conference team that has a winning record over the Waves at 7-22. Pepperdine has gone 2-13 in Provo since 1976 when the two teams first met. The Waves went on a four-match winning streak from 2000-11, but in recent years the Cougars have produced 10-consecutive wins from 2012-16. Last season, the Waves fell 3-1 at home and 3-0 on the road. This season, BYU has gone 13-1 overall and 2-0 to start WCC action with 3-0 wins against San Francisco and Santa Clara last week.
Pepperdine has gone 15-13 over Pacific all-time since 1977 when the Waves won four straight. The Tigers went on a 10-match winning streak from 1979-94, but the Waves have gone 11-3 against Pacific since 1996. In the last two years, Pepperdine has gone 4-0 against Pacific. This season, the Tigers have gone 6-7 overall and 1-1 in the conference with a 3-2 win against Portland and a 2-3 loss at Gonzaga last week.
The Waves have gone 45-15 all-time against Saint Mary’s since the 1987 campaign when Pepperdine won the first five matches by straight-set decision. During that time, the Waves won 14-straight matches before SMC took the first 3-2 win in 1994. From 1987-2003, the Waves went 33-1 against the Gaels, including 24 wins with sweeping results. Last season, the Waves and Gaels split with SMC taking a 3-1 win in Moraga and the Waves sweeping the Gaels at home.
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 on September 12 and showed the masses what it is to be a student-athlete in Malibu.
HEIDI DYER, THE TITANIUM WOMAN — Junior Heidi Dyer had an interesting road to NCAA Division I athletics and AVCA Beach All-American status. When she was 12, a major scoliosis curve of over 60 percent forced her to get corrective surgery. She had two titanium rods fused to her spine to keep her back straight. Despite her parents being told she would never play volleyball again and may never walk again, she defied all odds and became one of Pepperdine beach and indoor volleyball student-athletes. During the NCAA Beach Volleyball National Championships last season, TurnerSports and NCAA.com did a feature piece on her that streamed throughout the NCAA tournament and aired on TBS. It was voted one of the top-10 features on NCAA.com last season
SATO NATION — Junior Blossom Sato comes from the very well-known Sato volleyball dynasty. Her mother Liane was a member of the US Women’s National Team in 1988 and 1992 when the team captured the Olympic Games bronze medal. She now coaches Santa Monica High School. Her uncles Eric and Gary were also standouts in the sport, playing or coaching alongside legendary Pepperdine men’s volleyball coach Marv Dunpnhy for Team USA when the squad won the gold in 1988. Eric was a member of the 1988 US Men’s National Team that claimed gold and the 1992 squad that earned bronze. Gary, who is now an assistant for USC, served as the United States’ Head Coach for the 1985 FIVB World Cup gold medal finish and served as an assistant for the US Men’s National Team from 1984-88, 1992 and 2009-12.
GROSS’ IN COLLEGE ATHLETICS — Sophomore Jasmine Gross is the daughter of Aaron Gross and Susan Campbell, who both are the head coaches of West Coast Conference competitors University of Portland men’s and women’s tennis teams respectively.
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. 46 overall on U.S. News and World Report’s list of America’s best colleges.
Leave a Reply