SEATTLE — Extending its West Coast Conference win streak, the Pepperdine women's volleyball team (10-7, 4-2 WCC) swept the Seattle Redhawks (6-11, 0-6 WCC) in Seattle on Thursday night.
"I'm proud of our team effort as we played extremely efficient volleyball tonight in our attack," Head Coach Scott Wong said. "We also kept consistent pressure on Seattle from the service line, creating a bunch of opportunities to get a few stuff blocks along the way."
For the second straight match, the Waves paired a dominant block with an efficient offense. Pepperdine notched 11.5 total blocks to Seattle's 4.0, plus recorded 37 kills to the Redhawks' 30. The Waves hit .346 on the night compared to Seattle's .097 clip.
Individually, Maggie Beauer led the team with eight kills, while Chloe Pravednikov chipped in seven and Vanessa Polk and Irelynd Lorenzen had six apiece. Tristen Raymond had a 24-assist, 10-dig double-double, while Laine Briggs finished with a match-high 14 digs and three service aces. Defensively, Ella Piskorz led all players with seven total blocks, including one solo block.
The first set saw Pepperdine pin hitters Beauer and Pravednikov start hot, as the pair of sophomores had four kills apiece. Pepperdine took a 3-0 lead and trailed just once before the team put together several 3-0 runs to distance itself from Seattle. Leading 13-10, the Waves sided out with Beauer's second kill of the night, which kick-started a 4-0 run capped off by a tip from Lorenzen to make the score 17-10. Both teams traded serve down the stretch, but a pair of late kills from Beauer and a big block from Lorenzen and Polk helped the Waves take the first set 25-18.
In their best set of the night, the Waves broke open the second set with a 9-0 run midway through the proceedings and led by as many as 12 points on four occasions before putting away the 25-12 second-set win. The Waves hit a match-best .462 off 14 kills while the block limited the Redhawks to hitting just .029.
Charis Kai went back to serve with the Waves up 10-6, then stayed behind the service line thanks to a trio of blocks, kills from Piskorz and Raymond and an ace from Kai. Three late kills from Lorenzen and another from Polk gave the Waves their first match point before Pravednikov and Piskorz teamed up for a block to cap off the set.
The third set score was tied at five all before the Waves rattled off a 5-1 run to put Seattle in the rear-view mirror for good. Later in the set, Briggs — the WCC's best server — dealt consecutive aces to make the score 17-10, then the Waves pushed their lead to double-digits when Alice Vigano's first career kill made the score 23-13. Seattle closed the set on a 3-1 run, but Polk put away the match on the Waves' third match point to win the set 25-16.
Pepperdine continues its Pacific Northwest road trip with a match at Portland this Saturday at 1 p.m. All schedule updates can be found on the women's volleyball team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Pepperdine women's volleyball has reached 26 NCAA Tournaments since 1981 as one of the most successful collegiate programs on the West Coast. The 12-time WCC Champions Waves have consistently produced top talent with 21 All-American selections with honorees in six straight decades. With multiple Olympians going through the program, Kim Hill brought home the program's first gold medal at the 2020 Olympic Games.
