Press Release courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics
The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team completes a four-game home stand with two ranked West Coast Conference opponents this week, hosting No. 8 BYU on Thursday and No. 18 San Diego on Saturday in Firestone Fieldhouse. All home matches will be streamed live on TheW.tv.
MATCH #22 — Thursday (October 19) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif..: Pepperdine vs. No. 8 BYU at 7 p.m. (PT).
MATCH #23 — Saturday (October 21) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif..: Pepperdine vs. No. 18 San Diego at 12 p.m. (PT).
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.
BY THE NUMBERS — Pepperdine has posted a 12-9 overall record and 4-4 record among West Coast Conference competition at this point in the season. The team puts up 13.80 kills/set on a .222 clip, along with 13.09 assists/set, 1.53 aces/set, 16.22 digs/set and 2.60 blocks/set this season. The Waves’ rank 14th nationally with 211 total blocks and 1,060 total assists. The team ranks 21st with 38.21 attacks/set and 1,118 kills, 24th with 124 service aces, 127th with 3,095 team attacks and 34th with 2.60 blocks/set. The Waves allow opponents 13.16 kills/set on a .200 output, while adding 12.43 assists/set, 1.14 aces/set, 16.53 digs/set and 2.60 blocks/set.
RETURNING IMPACT — The Waves have a wealth of returning impact this season with sophomores Jasmine Gross, Hannah Frohling and Hana Lishman and juniors Heidi Dyer and Nikki Lyons making big moves on the court. Gross leads the team and WCC and ranks 5th nationally with 116 total blocks this season, while ranking 21st with 1.43 blocks/set. She also adds 3.10 kills/set on a .347 hitting percentage from the middle and produces 0.16 aces/set and 0.90 digs/set. Frohling leads the team with 3.62 kills/set and 0.32 aces/set after marking 293 total smashes and 26 aces. She also marks 2.60 digs/set and 0.47 blocks/set and ranks nationally in seven categories. Lishman leads the back row for the Waves with 3.96 digs/set on 273 total digs. She adds 0.30 aces/set on top of 21 aces this season as well.
Dyer is big all-around for the Waves, posting 1.38 kills/set on a .228 output, with 6.24 assists/set, 0.19 aces/set, 2.12 digs/set and 0.68 blocks/set. She ranks 9th nationally after posting her first triple-double of the season against Santa Clara on October 14. Lyons is big on the attack effort, amassing 2.87 kills/set, 0.18 aces/set, 2.53 digs/set and 0.31 blocks/set for the Waves.
NEWCOMER TALENT — Along with returners, new faces this season have been helpful to the Waves, with junior transfer Blossom Sato and freshmanAlli O’Harra doing Waves’ work on the court. Sato leads the team with 10.26 assist/set this season and returned to the court last week. She adds 0.29 aces/set, 2.74 digs/set and 0.26 blocks/set for the Waves. O’Harra is strong in the middle, adding 1.69 kills/set on a .237 hitting output, 0.35 digs/set and 0.94 blocks/set.
LAST WEEK — The Waves faced two West Coast Conference opponents last week, defeating San Francisco in straight sets and falling to Santa Clara in five in Firestone Fieldhouse. Against USF, the Waves downed the Dons with 25-19, 25-23 and 25-16 final set scores. Pepperdine marked 42 smashes on a .231 success rate, and added 41 assists, six aces, 52 digs and 9.0 team blocks. The Waves allowed the opposition 34 kills on a .152 output, along with 33 assists, two aces, 56 digs and 7.0 team blocks. Hannah Frohling and Nikki Lyons led the team with 10 kills on top of double-doubles after 10 and 15 digs respectively. Heidi Dyer led the squad with 27 assists and added six digs and four blocks. Alli O’Harra led the team with five blocks including two solo rejections and Hana Lishman was strong with 13 digs and two aces.
Pepperdine pulled ahead 2-1 over Santa Clara with 25-18, 18-25, 28-26 set scores on Saturday, but the Broncos came back with 26-24 and 15-11 final set scores for the WCC win. The Waves posted 64 kills on a .188 clip along with 59 assists, eight aces, 1-1 digs and 11.0 team blocks. The team allowed the opposition 73 kills on a .203 output as well as 68 assists, two aces, 107 digs and 14.0 team blocks. Lishman was huge in the back row with a career-high 31 digs. She, Frohling and Dyer led the squad with two aces apiece as well. Frohling had a team-high 19 kills and added nine digs, while Dyer posted her fourth career and first seasonal triple-double with 12 kills on a .257 output, 21 assists and 20 digs along with four blocks. Jasmine Gross led the team with six blocks and produced 17 kills on a .350 success rate. Blossom Sato added 31 assists, 18 digs and one ace.
THE COMPETITION — Pepperdine hosts No. 8 BYU and No. 18 San Diegoon Thursday and Saturday. BYU holds a 23-7 all-time record over the Waves dating back to the first-ever match-up in 1976 which resulted in a 2-0 Waves’ win. BYU went on three winning streaks after that, first four-matches from 1977-82, seven from 1983-92 and a current 11-match win from 2012 to the most current 3-1 win in 2017. Pepperdine longest winning streak stands at four matches from 2000-11. This season, the Cougars are ranked 8th nationally with a 19-1 overall record and have yet to be defeated in conference action with an 8-0 record.
The Waves hold a 40-28 all-time record against San Diego this season including a 20-match winning streak from 1979-92 to open the action. USD won five-matches straight from 1993-95 and again from 1996-98, but the Waves rebutted with an 11-match streak. From 2012-16, the Toreros defeated the Waves nine-consecutive times, but Pepperdine broke that streak against then-ranked No. 11 San Diego in 2016 with a 3-1 win in Malibu. USD currently has a 14-4 overall record and a 7-1 WCC record to rank 18th nationally and 2nd in the conference.
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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