Press Release courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics.
The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team opens West Coast Conference action with a PCH Cup bout against Loyola Marymount in the Gersten Pavilion on Saturday. The match will stream live on TheW.tv.
MATCH #14 — Saturday (September 23) at Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles, Calif.: Pepperdine vs. Loyola Marymount at 12 p.m. (PT).
LIVE — The match will stream live on TheW.tv. 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 on September 12 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 on September 3. 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.
GETTIN’ JAZZY WITH IT — Jasmine Gross garnered her second-career and first seasonal West Coast Conference Player of the Week nod last week after a stellar performance throughout four matches. The middle blocker marked double-figure kills in all four matches and added her second-ever double-double with 15 kills and 10 blocks against Nevada on Saturday. She posted 15 kills in the second two matches of the weekend tied her career-best kill effort and averaged 4.00 kills/set, 1.79 blocks/set, 0.86 digs/set, 0.29 aces/set and 0.29 assists/set in 14 sets played for the Waves. She hit for a .404 success rate with 56 smashes and only 10 errors on 114 swings. The sophomore also amassed 25 blocks with three solos, four aces and 12 digs towards the Waves’ effort.
Against Long Beach State, Gross posted 13 kills on a .480 hitting percentage and added seven blocks including one solo, one ace, four digs and two assists. In the Wolf Pack Tournament against Missouri, she put up 13 kills on a .310 clip with two aces, four block assists and three digs. In the sweep over Sacramento State, she tied her career-best 15 kills on a .577 hitting percentage, while adding four blocks including one solo denial, one ace and three digs. In the final four-set win over Nevada, she posted another tied career-high kill effort on a .295 attack output along with a season-high 10 blocks to compete the double-double with one solo rejection.
BY THE NUMBERS — The Waves have posted an 8-5 overall record thus far this season, with a 4-2 record at home and a 3-1 record on neutral courts. The team averages 13.89 kills/set on a .218 clip, along with 13.13 assists/set, 1.64 aces/set, 16.15 digs/set and 2.53 blocks/set. Pepperdine’s 38.34 team attacks/set ranks 19th nationally and 1st in the WCC. The Waves also rank 1st in the WCC with 16.15 digs/set, 617 team assists, 759 team digs, 653 team kills, 77 team aces and 1,802 total attacks.
RETURNING IMPACT — Juniors Nikki Lyons and Heidi Dyer and sophomores Hannah Frohling, Jasmine Gross and Hana Lishmanprovide a positive level of experience to the Waves’ squad. Lyons averages 3.00 kills/set, 0.21 aces/set, 2.56 digs/set and 0.26 blocks/set for the Waves, while Dyer posts 1.89 kills/set, 3.34 assists/set, 0.20 aces/set, 1.59 digs/set and 0.64 blocks/set for the Waves.
Frohling leads the squad and ranks among the top in the WCC with 3.51 kills/set, 0.38 aces/set, 2.74 digs/set and 0.40 blocks/set. She has posted 18 total aces this season and 165 total smashes. Gross leads the team and ranks 18th nationally with 65 total blocks this season. She also ranks 38th nationally with 1.38 blocks/set, while adding 3.13 kills/set on a .356 hitting percentage. Lishman is key to the back row effort and leads the team with 3.70 digs/set and 174 total digs. She has also amassed 12 aces to post 0.26 aces/set. SeniorAshley Harris also posts 1.70 kills/set and 0.92 blocks/set for her team.
NEWCOMER TALENT — Alli O’Harra, Lexi Barker and Blossom Sato all make an impact as newcomers this season. O’Harra averages 1.81 kills/set on a .268 success rate and adds 0.92 blocks/set. Barker is instrumental to the back row success and averages 1.94 digs/set and 0.19 aces/set. Sato leads the team and ranks 27th nationally with her 11.17 assists/set. She also has posted 0.31 aces/set, 2.71 digs/set and 0.31 blocks/set.
PCH CUP — An annual all-sport competition between two local rivals that are separated by just 19.1 miles of scenic coastline, the PCH Cup is in its eighth season of existence. Pepperdine won the first five cups. A home win is worth one point, a road victory is worth 1.5 points. In the eight years since the cup first began, the Waves have won six-out-of-eight years, including the Waves 2015-16 win at 11.5 to 7.5.
NEVADA WOLF PACK TOURNAMENT — Pepperdine went 2-1 at the Nevada Wolf Pack Tournament in Reno, Nev. last week. The Waves fell to Missouri in three sets before sweeping Sacramento State and downing Nevada 3-1. In the first match, the team posted 46 kills on a .197 hitting percentage, while adding three aces, 41 digs and 7.0 team blocks. The opposition was good for 50 kills on a .248 clip along with four aces, 51 digs and 13.0 team blocks for the 25-22, 25-21, 33-31 win. Jasmine Gross led the team with 13 kills, two aces and four blocks, while Hannah Frohling posted 10 kills.
In the Waves first win of the weekend, a 25-22, 25-16, 26-24 victory over Sacramento State, Pepperdine posted 50 kills on a .325 success rate and added four aces, 56 digs and 11.0 team blocks. The opposition posted 44 kills on a .234 clip along with two aces, 53 digs and 6.0 team blocks. Gross led the team with a tied career-best 15 kills on a .577 success rate and marked four blocks. Alli O’Harra led the squad with seven blocks and Frohling was good for another double-figure kill effort with 13. Hana Lishman led the team with 14 digs and Nikki Lyons added eight kills and 13 digs.
For the final match of the weekend, the Waves won with 25-23, 27-25, 22-25 and 25-18 final set scores. The team produced 53 kills on a .215 output along with five aces, 57 digs and 15.0 team blocks. The competition marked 57 kills on a .142 clip along with four aces, 68 digs and 7.0 team blocks. Gross led the team with her second-career and first seasonal double-double with 15 kills and 10 blocks. Lyons also added 12 kills and 12 digs for a double-double and Frohling posted nine kills, two aces and eight digs towards the win.
THE COMPETITION — Pepperdine leads Loyola Marymount with a 53-23 all-time record dating back to the 1976 campaign when the two teams first faced. The Waves won the first three matches before LMU took a win in 1982. Pepperdine has gone on four-separate winning streaks with six or more wins, including 10-consecutive victories from 1987-91 and 12-straight from 2006-12. The longest Lions’ winning streak came from 1994-96 when the opposition won five in a row. Last season, LMU won both contests. This season, the Lions have posted a 7-4 overall record, including a 2-2 record when playing at home. Last weekend, the Lions defeated No. 24 North Carolina with a 3-2 road-win and Duke with a 3-1 victory.
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 onNCAA.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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