Waves Trek to Portland, Gonzaga This Week
11/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
GAME NOTES
MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team has six matches left in the 2016 regular season, and the Waves will play two of them on the road this week, first taking on Portland on Thursday before heading to Gonzaga on Saturday.
MATCH #25 — Thursday (November 3) at Chiles Center in Portland, Ore.: Pepperdine (10-14, 4-8 WCC) vs. Portland (13-10, 6-5 WCC) at 7 p.m. (PT).
MATCH #26 — Saturday (November 5) at the Martin Centre in Spokane, Wash.: Pepperdine vs. Gonzaga (13-8, 6-5 WCC) at 12 p.m. (PT).
LIVE — All matches will be streamed 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 — The Waves currently have a 10-14 overall record this season, and have gone 4-8 in the West Coast Conference to sit in the nine-spot in the standings. At home, the team has gone 4-6, while on foreign courts Pepperdine has produced a 2-8 record. The team hits for a .184 hitting percentage while averaging 11.89 kills/set and also putting up 10.97 assists/set, 1.03 aces/set, 15.53 digs/set and 2.41 blocks/set against opponents. The Waves allow opponents a .185 attack percentage and 12.80 kills/set this season.
WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK — After setting the all-time Pepperdine record for most blocks in a single match through both the rally scoring and sideout scoring eras, freshman Jasmine Gross earned her first career West Coast Conference Player of the Week nod. She had a stellar week for the Waves, tabbing 15 blocks and 15 kills in a double-double performance to propel the team to a five-set comeback win over Pacific at home, breaking the all-time Pepperdine record for most blocks in a single match, which in the rally scoring era stood since October 17, 2003 when current Director of Operations Lyndsey Weisenberg (Haché) posted 13 against Gonzaga on the road. The all-time record including the sideout scoring era has stood at 14 since 1996 and 1991 when Carrie Romer did it against Colorado State at home and Lesli Asplund did it against Santa Clara at home respectively.
Gross performed highly in both the matches the Waves played at home, first helping the team to a straight-set sweep over Saint Mary's after producing eight kills on a .500 hitting percentage (8-1-14) and tabbing nine block assists and an ace. Then, she stunned in the reverse-sweep win over Pacific, collecting her first-ever double-double with a career-high 15 kills and 15 blocks. She amassed a .333 success rate on the attack (15-4-33), while adding an ace, along with one block solo and 14 block assists. In eight sets played, the Portland native put up a .383 hitting percentage, while averaging 2.88 kills/set, 3.00 blocks/set, 0.75 digs/set and 0.25 aces/set for 4.69 points/set.
SOPHOMORE RETURNERS — The returning sophomores have been key components to the Waves' performance this season, with Heidi Dyer, Tarah Wylie and Jenna Tunnell leading the pack. Dyer has charted five triple-doubles, tying for 4th in the nation and ranking 1st in the WCC this week. She averages 1.98 kills/set, 5.25 assists/set, 2.27 digs/set and 0.52 blocks/set for the team. Wylie is strong at the net and service line for the Waves, amassing 85 total blocks to average 0.93 blocks/set, while adding 24 aces to post 0.26 aces/set. She also posts 1.86 kills/set on a .236 attack output. Tunnell became a starter halfway through the season, and has been unstoppable since. She tallies 0.98 kills/set, 3.33 assists/set, 0.14 aces/set, 1.67 digs/set and 0.38 blocks/set. Nikki Lyons also produces for Pepperdine, posting 2.04 kills/set, 0.17 aces/set, 2.28 digs/set and 0.38 blocks/set on average.
FRESHMEN IMPACT — The freshmen impact has been strong for Pepperdine this season, as Jasmine Gross, Hannah Frohling and Hana Lishman all lead the Waves in some fashion. Gross picked up the Waves' only WCC Player of the Week nod this past week and she has been performing highly all season. Her 122total blocks this season currently rank 10th in the all-time Pepperdine single-season record books and her 1.36 blocks/set ranks 2nd all-time. She has tabbed 109 block assists and 13 solos for the Waves, while also amassing 1.88 kills/set on a .295 success rate. Frohling leads the team with 2.15 kills/set after totaling 198 kills this season. She also puts up 1.0 digs/set and 0.42 blocks/set for the season thus far. Lishman leads the team with 3.53 digs/set and posting 328 digs this season. She has also tabbed 12 aces for the Waves.
PORTLAND PILOTS — Pepperdine leads with a 55-4 all-time record against the Pilots, dating back to the first-ever meeting between the two teams in 1987. The longest Waves' winning streak occurred from 1995-2015 when Pepperdine won 41-straight matches against Portland, including 28 in straight-set fashion. Most recently in 2016, the Pilots defeated the Waves in five sets in Firestone Fieldhouse.
GONZAGA BULLDOGS — The Waves hold a 53-6 overall record against the Zags, going back to the 1987 campaign when Pepperdine won the first-ever meeting. The Waves went on a 34-match winning streak through the 1997-2013 seasons, winning 25 of those matches in only three sets. Earlier this season, the Bulldogs downed the Waves with a 3-1 win in Malibu.
LAST WEEK: SAINT MARY'S & PACIFIC — The Waves had a stellar outing last week, downing Saint Mary's in straight sets before coming back from a 2-0 deficit to reverse-sweep Pacific, a team standing in the No. 3-spot of the WCC standings.
Pepperdine first took down SMC with 25-17, 25-22 and 25-15 set wins. The team produced a .261 hitting percentage with 46 kills, while amassing four aces, 38 assists, 52 digs and 14.0 team blocks. Jenna Tunnell led the Waves with a double-double after posting 10 kills and 11 assists. Jasmine Gross posted nine blocks and eight kills on a .500 attack percentage (8-1-14) and Heidi Dyer was good for a double-double with 22 assists and 11 digs, on top of seven blocks and nine kills on a .500 success rate (9-0-18). Along with Dyer, Ashley Morgan and Hana Lishman also had double-figure digs.
Then in the reverse-sweep five-set thriller over Pacific, Pepperdine first went down by two with 25-21 and 25-22 set scores. The Waves battled back with 25-22, 26-24 and 15-10 scores to take the overall match. The Waves posted a .224 hitting percentage with 65 kills, while adding 61 assists, three aces, 74 digs and an impressive 19.0 team blocks. Gross led the Waves with her first career double-double after posting 15 kills and blocks. Her 15 blocks broke the all-time Pepperdine single-match blocks record which in the rally scoring era stood at 13 and the sideout scoring era stood at 14. Hannah Frohling also posted 15 kills with six blocks and Dyer tabbed nine kills, 29 assists, eight digs and two blocks. Tunnell added another double-double with 27 assists, 14 digs, six blocks and eight kills. Four players had double-figure digs, including Tunnell, Lishman, Morgan and Jaiden Farr.
Scott Wong — Pepperdine alum Scott Wong was named head coach in December 2014, becoming the fifth head coach in program history. In his first outing on the sidelines with the Waves, he led the team to their first 4-0 undefeated start since the 2009 season, as well as an Asics Classic victory. In his first complete year, Wong led the Waves to a 17-14 overall record and 8-10 record among West Coast Conference competitors. 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 41 seasons, including 13 trips to the NCAA Championships in the last 19 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.
