MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine men's volleyball team will face eight home matches to begin the 2024 campaign, with four on the docket in the upcoming week beginning this Saturday.

MATCH #1 — Saturday (December 30) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (0-0) vs. British Columbia (12-4, 8-4 CW) at 5:00 p.m. PT | Exhibition

MATCH #2 — Tuesday (January 2) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (0-0) vs. Alberta (17-6, 9-3 CW) at 6:00 p.m. PT | Exhibition

MATCH #3 — Wednesday (January 3) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (0-0) vs. Fort Valley State (0-0) at 6:00 p.m. PT

MATCH #4 — Friday (January 5) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (0-0) vs. Morehouse College (0-0) at 6:00 p.m. PT

COVERAGE — All Pepperdine home matches will be streamed live.  Live scoring will also be available for all matches.  Links can be found at PepperdineWaves.com.

UP NEXT — The Waves will face another four opponents at home in the following weeks, welcoming LIU (Jan. 13), Lincoln Memorial (Jan. 14) and McKendree (Jan. 19, Jan. 20) in Firestone Fieldhouse.

TICKETS & SPECTATOR GUIDELINES — Tickets to all Pepperdine home men's volleyball matches in 2024 will be available via e-ticket only at tickets.pepperdinewaves.com.  Pepperdine faculty, staff and students must show Pepperdine ID card for entry — no ticket purchase is required.

Due to campus construction, nearby parking is limited and guests are advised to arrive early.  Each match costs $13 for adults, $8 for seniors (65+) and $5 for children and non-Pepperdine students. 

FOLLOW — Follow the Waves on Facebook and X, @PeppVolleyball, and follow the team on Instagram and TikTok, @peppmvb.  Get all the most recent schedules, results and more on www.PepperdineWaves.com.

RANKINGS — The AVCA preseason rankings have not yet been released.

MPSF — The Waves were picked to finish sixth in the MPSF this season in a preseason vote of the league's coaches.  UCLA was slated to finish on top with six first-place votes, while Stanford is projected to finish second with one first-place vote.  BYU and Grand Canyon tied for third in the poll, while USC rounded out the top-five.  Concordia was picked to finish seventh.

ROSTER NUMBERS — The Waves have a solid presence of returning starters and key players from last season's squad.  Twelve players, plus the libero, who saw action last season are back, including three starters and the libero.  The roster consists of four graduate students including three fifth-year transfers, two seniors, two redshirt-juniors, six sophomores (five redshirts) and eight freshman (three redshirts, five true).  The Waves bring back just under half of last year's total kill totals, including three attackers in the top-four - Akin Akinwumi (1.84), Joe Deluzio (1.98) and Andersen Fuller (1.64).  Akinwumi and Fuller also return as the top-two blockers for Pepperdine with 0.84 and 0.58 blocks/set respectively.  Senior libero Trey Cole will return to the back row after leading the squad in digs (2.07) last season.

2023 SEASON — Pepperdine concluded the 2023 campaign ranked #10 in the country.  The Waves went 16-14 overall and finished fifth in the MPSF regular season after tallying a 5-7 league record.  The Waves faced Grand Canyon in the MPSF Tournament, falling in the first round.

OPPONENTS — British Columbia and Alberta play from September through March in the Canada West League.  UBC has gone 12-4 overall and 8-4 in the CW so far this season.  The program has won the last four-consecutive matches, including a pair against Calgary before the winter break in the beginning of December. 

Alberta has produced a 17-6 overall record and a 9-3 output against league opponents.  They have won the last five-straight matches, though haven't played since prior to Thanksgiving.  The Bears play UC Irvine and UCLA on Friday and Saturday before facing the Waves. 

This will be the first match of the season for Fort Valley State.  Pepperdine has never faced FVSU before.

Morehouse State will also play UCLA on January 4 to open the 2024 season.  The Waves have never faced Morehouse State.

WINDER AT THE HELM — Pepperdine all-time great Jonathan Winder - an NCAA champion and former national player of the year - was hired to lead the Waves in 2023 and began his second season in 2024.  He is the ninth head coach in the storied history of the Waves' men's volleyball program and debuted with a 16-14 record last season.  He most recently had served as the head coach of the Fresno Stat4e women's indoor volleyball program for the previous four seasons.  He had also spent time as an assistant coach for the Washington women's volleyball team, helping lead the Huskies to a 105-21 record in three seasons, back-to-back Pac-12 championships and consecutive Elite Eight appearances in 2015 and 2016.  Winder spent the 2014 season in Malibu as an assistant for the Pepperdine after playing professionally in France, Germany, Greece and Romania and spending 2007-12 as a member of the U.S. National Team.

COACHES — Returning for his fifth season as an assistant coach, Matthew Pollock will rejoin the sidelines for the Waves.  With Pollock on the staff, the Waves advanced to the NCAA Tournament and finished with a #5 ranking in both 2021 and 2022.  Pollock played for the Waves from 2009-12 and was a starter middle blocker in his final two seasons, earning All-MPSF honors as a senior.  He played professionally in Finland, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy and Germany.  Will Craft also joined the staff as an assistant in July 2023, bringing a wealth of playing and coaching experience at both the professional and collegiate levels.  He most recently served as the head men's coach at Dominican (DIII) and was named Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year.  He was an All-American at Carthage before playing with SVG Luneberg in Germany and Nordenskov UIF Volley in Denmark.  Another Pepperdine alumnus joined the staff in November 2023 with AVCA All-American Michael Wexter. After graduating in 2019 from Pepperdine, he played professionally in Germany for Helios Grizzlys Giesen and has been coaching various club teams and ages in Southern California.  Marv Dunphy continues to play a role as head coach emeritus.

PEPPERDINE VOLLEYBALL — Pepperdine has won five NCAA men's volleyball championships, second only to UCLA. Coaching legend Marv Dunphy stepped down after the 2017 season. He won four of the NCAA titles, plus 612 matches over his 34 years with the Waves. Pepperdine has won 17 regular-season or tournament conference titles. The Waves have finished in the top six in the final AVCA poll in 20 of the last 26 seasons, and in the top 10 in 26 of the last 27 years. Eleven different Waves have competed at the Olympics and were part of the U.S. gold-medal winning teams in 1984, 1988 and 2008.

COMPETING WITH PURPOSE — The Pepperdine University Department of Athletics is committed to Christian values, to the academic well-being of all our student-athletes and to competing for championships. The Competing with Purpose campaign highlights the commitment to our core values. Learn more about our exceptional student-athletes at www.PepperdineWaves.com.

ABOUT PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY — 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 18 schools to have accomplished this feat — and 10 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 26 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, California, 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 #75 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.