Press Release courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics
The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team hits the road again for two more West Coast Conference match-ups and Saint Mary’s and Pacific on Thursday and Saturday. All matches will stream live on TheW.tv.
MATCH #24 — Thursday (October 26) at McKeon Pavilion in Moraga, Calif.: Pepperdine at Saint Mary’s at 7 p.m. (PT).
MATCH #25 — Saturday (October 28) at Alex G. Spanos Center in Stockton, Calif.: Pepperdine at Pacific at 12 p.m. (PT).
LIVE — The 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.
BY THE NUMBERS — This season, the Waves have gone 12-11 overall and 4-6 in the West Coast Conference at this point in the season, including a 7-5 record at home, 2-5 on the road and a 3-1 output on neutral courts. As a team, Pepperdine has amassed 13.49 kills/set on a .218 hitting percentage, as well as 12.79 assists/set, 1.45 aces/set, 16.04 digs/set and 2.65 blocks/set.
AMONG THE RANKS — The Waves are ranked in many statistical categories as both a team and individually, highlighted by Jasmine Gross. Gross ranked 3rd nationally and 1st in the conference with 131 total blocks, and ranks 16th nationally and 1st in the WCC with 1.47 blocks/set. Heidi Dyer ranks 10th nationally and 3rd in the conference with one triple-double this season thus far. As a team, the Waves top the conference in six separate categories including digs/set, assists, aces, digs, blocks and attacks/set and rank 2nd in five including assists/set, blocks/set, kills/set, attacks and opponent hitting percentage. The team ranks 13th nationally with 236.0 total blocks, 23rd with 1,138 team assists, 30th with 37.97 attacks/set and 33rd with 3,379 total attacks.
RETURNING IMPACT — Pepperdine has a wealth of returners that have been making an impact on the court, including Jasmine Gross, Hannah Frohling, Heidi Dyer, Hana Lishman and Nikki Lyons. Gross excels both offensively and defensively, leading the team with 1.47 blocks/set and 131 total blocks, including 19 solo rejections. She adds 2.97 kills/set on a .336 hitting percentage. Frohling leads the team with 3.56 kills/set on a .204 success rate. She also leads the squad with 26 aces and 0.29 aces/set and adds 2.47 digs/set and 0.49 blocks/set for the Waves. Dyer is an all-around big player for the Waves with 1.41 kill/set on a .220 success rate, 6.03 assists/set, 0.17 aces/set, 2.21 digs/set and 0.65 blocks/set.
Lishman is strong in the back row, leading the squad with 3.91 digs/set and 301 total digs, while adding 0.86 assist/set and 0.30 aces/set. Lyons is solid on the attack with 2.75 kills/set, 0.18 aces/set and 2.50 digs/set for the Waves as well. Ashley Harris adds 1.65 kills/set on a .212 output, and 0.86 blocks/set,
NEWCOMER TALENT — Pepperdine has used newcomers as effective tools this season as well with Blossom Satoand Alli O’Harra doing solid Waves’ work on the court. Sato leads the team with 9.24 assists/set after posting 462 total assists. She also adds 0.26 aces/set and 2.54 digs/set. O’Harra adds 1.65 kills/set on a .240 success rate, while adding 0.97 blocks/set.
LAST WEEK — Pepperdine had a tough schedule last week, facing both 8th-ranked BYU and 18th-ranked San Diego at home. The Waves fell to the Cougars in straight-sets, but gave the Toreros a big five-set battle.
Against BYU, the opposition posted 25-20, 25-21 and 25-15 final set scores for the win. The Waves marked 32 kills on a .126 output, along with 30 assists, two aces, 45 digs and 7.0 team blocks. They allowed the opposition 40 kills on a .193 success rate, along with five aces, 53 digs and 4.5 team blocks. Alli O’Harra led the team with five blocks, whileAshley Harris and Hannah Frohling had four and three apiece respectively. Frohling also collected seven kills, whileJasmine Gross had a team-high eight kills on a .500 clip. Blossom Sato tabbed 12 assists and eight digs, Heidi Dyer posted 11 assists, five digs and seven kills and Nikki Lyons marked five kills, one ace and nine digs. Hana Lishman led the team with 10 digs.
In the five-set thriller against USD, the Waves tied the match after posting 20-25, 25-16, 20-25, 25-22 set scores. The opposition took home the fifth set win with a 15-7 output, however. The Waves out-blocked the Toreros with 18.0 team blocks compared to 7.0. The 18.0 team blocks ties for 6th in the Pepperdine women’s volleyball record books for most team blocks posted in the rally scoring era. The team also produced 51 kills on a .202 output, along with 48 assists, three aces and 69 digs. USD was allowed 68 kills on a .174 clip, along with 65 assists, seven assists and 95 digs. Gross led the team with 13 blocks, including one solo, while adding five kills and seven digs. Dyer posted a double-double with 20 digs, 21 assists and added six kills and three blocks. Frohling led the team with 17 kills on a .319 output, while putting up 48 successful service receptions and three blocks. Harris was good for 10 kills on a team-best .360 output and added four blocks, while Lyons put up nine kills, nine digs, one ace and a tied career-high seven blocks. Lishman also marked 18 digs and Sato posted 19 assists.
THE COMPETITION — The Waves hold winning records against both opponents this week, helped by a pair of 3-1 wins earlier this season over both Saint Mary’s and Pacific. Pepperdine has gone 16-13 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 12-3 against Pacific since 1996. In the last two years, Pepperdine has gone 5-0 against Pacific. This season, the Tigers have gone 10-11 overall and 4-5 in the conference and are coming off three-straight wins with 3-1 victories over SMC and Santa Clara and a sweep over San Francisco.
The Waves have gone 46-15 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. Earlier this season, Pepperdine won the match-up at home in four sets. This season, SMC has gone 6-14 overall and 2-8 in the WCC. The team split last week with a 1-3 loss to Pacific and a 3-0 win over USF.
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. 50 overall on U.S. News and World Report’s list of America’s best colleges.
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