MALIBU, Calif. — In a battle between two of the West Coast Conference's top four teams, the Pepperdine women's volleyball team (11-7, 5-2 WCC) hosts the Oregon State Beavers (12-5, 6-1 WCC) Thursday at 6 p.m.
The match doubles as Pepperdine's annual Block Out Cancer match. Commemorative pink shirts will be given to the first 50 fans in attendance. Tickets can be purchased at this link. All West Coast Conference matches will be livestreamed on ESPN+, which requires a subscription. Live stream and live stat links can be found on the women's volleyball team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.
Thursday will be a strength-on-strength matchup, pitting Pepperdine's block against one of the most efficient and high-powered offenses in the WCC. Pepperdine leads the league at 2.63 blocks per set and has two of the WCC's top 10 middle blockers in Ella Piskorz and Irelynd Lorenzen. Oregon State, meanwhile, ranks second with 13.60 kills per set and leads the league with a .260 hitting percentage.
LAST TIME OUT
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Pepperdine swept Portland with ease to cap off a successful 2-0 road trip to the Pacific Northwest.
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Maggie Beauer led Pepperdine's offense with 12 kills, which she achieved on a career-best .556 hitting percentage on 18 total attempts.
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One week removed from setting her career high with nine total blocks, Irelynd Lorenzen had eight total blocks and seven kills in three sets against the Pilots.
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Laine Briggs tied her career high with five service aces and led the way with 11 digs. In the second set, Briggs served up three consecutive aces, becoming one of just 13 players in Division I to achieve that feat this season.
AWESOME ARIZONANS
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Stepping into a bigger role as a sophomore, Chandler, Ariz. native Maggie Beauer is second on the team with 164 total kills and leads the team averaging 2.88 per set. She has recorded double-figure kills in eight matches.
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Peoria, Ariz. native Tristen Raymond has given the Waves a spark as a do-it-all setter who helps Pepperdine run an effective 6-2 offense. Raymond ranks in Pepperdine's top five in nearly every statistical category: The lefty leads Pepperdine with 5.69 assists per set, is second in service aces per set (0.41), fourth in blocks per set (0.73) and second in digs per set (2.38).
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Raymond is the reigning WCC Setter of the Week after totaling 50 assists in two matches, averaging 8.33 per set. She recorded her seventh-career double-double with a 24-assist, 10-dig night against Seattle. Two days later against Portland, she stuffed the stat sheet with 26 assists, nine digs, three blocks, three aces and two kills.
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After this week's award, Raymond has won WCC Setter of the Week honors twice, becoming the first Wave to win multiple weekly awards this year.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
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Sophomore outside hitter Chloe Pravednikov leads the team with 180 kills, which is No. 15 in the WCC. Her 2.81 kills per set rank second on the team.
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A WCC All-Freshman Team selection last year, Pravednikov is picking up where she left off late last season, in which she emerged as Pepperdine's consistent third option on offense. Earlier this season, Pravednikov tied her career high with 19 kills against Sacramento State — one of a team-high 11 games with 10 kills or more.
O CANADA
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Sophomore middle blocker Ella Piskorz is picking up where she left off last season as one of the best young middle blockers in the nation. She ranks No. 38 in the NCAA with 86 total blocks and No. 30 with 1.34 blocks per set.
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She leads the WCC with 86 total blocks, 1.34 blocks per set and 75 block assists.
STAY IN YOUR LAINE
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Junior libero Laine Briggs is one of the best servers in the country, as her 33 total aces lead the WCC and rank No. 60 in all of Division I and first in the WCC. Her 0.51 aces lead the WCC and rank No. 38 in Division I.
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She set her career-high with five aces against Portland, which is one of her 12 matches with multiple aces this year.
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Briggs also leads the team and ranks eighth in the WCC with 3.39 digs per set.
GOING BACK TO CALI
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San Diego native Irelynd Lorenzen has been a key piece for Pepperdine's block during her first year of playing collegiate volleyball in her home state. The Lafayette transfer is second on the team with 1.15 blocks per set, which ranks fifth in the WCC.
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Lorenzen also ranks in the top 10 in the WCC with 57 block assists (fifth), 11 solo blocks (ninth) and 68 total blocks (eighth).
STRONG SERVING
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Pepperdine is No. 17 in the nation with 1.97 aces per set and No. 64 with 126 aces this year.
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The Waves lead the WCC with 1.97 service aces per set and rank second with 126 aces.
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Four Waves rank in the top 20 in the WCC in service aces per set: Laine Briggs (No 1, 0.51 per set), Tristen Raymond (No. 4, 0.41), Ryan Gilhooly (No. 16, 0.33) and Brynne McGhie (No. 16., 0.33)
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The team has had at least one player with multiple aces in every match this season. Multiple Waves have recorded multiple aces in 14 of the 18 matches this year.
COMEBACK KIDS
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On Oct. 2, Pepperdine trailed San Francisco 18-7 in the first set but came back to win 25-23, which was their biggest single-set comeback of the season.
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This comeback was one of four comebacks of 11 points or more. Northeastern came back from a 13-point deficit, while DePaul and Wisconsin rallied back from 11-point deficits.
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So far this season, both of Pepperdine's five-set wins were reverse-sweeps.
SOLID SCHEDULING
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At the end of non-conference play, Pepperdine's non-conference schedule ranked No. 35 in the nation in terms of opponents' combined win percentage.
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Pepperdine is the only WCC team to face two top-10 programs in non-conference play (No. 9 Pitt and No. 8 Arizona State).
SERIES HISTORY
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
SEASON OVERVIEW
- In Scott Wong's eleventh season at the helm, the Pepperdine Waves were picked second in the WCC Preseason Coaches' poll behind San Diego and ahead of LMU. The top three teams in the poll were the last three teams to win the WCC title.
- Pepperdine also put three players on the WCC Preseason Team: redshirt junior Vanessa Polk, sophomore Ella Piskorz and Bradley transfer Iva Popovic, who was one of three conference newcomers to make the team.
- Pepperdine has ten returners but brings back just one starter from last year: middle blocker Ella Piskorz. However, fellow middle blocker Vanessa Polk, who was a key piece on Pepperdine's 2023 WCC Championship squad, will return after redshirting in 2024. Sophomore opposite hitter Chloe Pravednikov, an All-WCC Freshman Team selection from a year ago, worked her way into the starting rotation late last season and will be expected to have a larger role this season.
NEW WAVES
- The Waves also welcome six newcomers to the team, consisting of three transfers and three true freshmen. Junior middle blocker Irelynd Lorenzen and sophomore setter Nalani Muniz are both returning to their home state after competing for Lafayette and Southern Utah, respectively. Iva Popovic also comes to Malibu by way of Bradley University and New Mexico Junior College, where she was a two-time NJCAA All-American.
- Pepperdine's three freshmen are Ryan Gilhooly (Pacific Palisades, Calif.), Tristen Raymond (Peoria, Ariz.) and Alice Vigano (Lake Como, Italy).
- For the first time under Scott Wong, the Waves feature three international players on the roster: Ella Piskorz (Canada), Iva Popovic (Serbia) and Alice Vigano (Italy).
THE MOUNTAIN AT MULLIN PARK
The Mountain at Mullin Park will become the new home for Pepperdine's basketball and volleyball programs in 2026. The 3,600-seat arena will give Pepperdine a state-of-the-art competition venue, complete with a 360-degree high-definition scoreboard, VIP and hospitality spaces, and custom team locker rooms. The facility will improve the experience for student-athletes and provide fans with one of the premier indoor collegiate environments on the West Coast. Connected to the arena is a three-story, 45,000-square-foot student center that will house the University's RISE Institute along with a broad range of wellness and recreation amenities.
Construction reached a major milestone with the topping-out ceremony in May 2025, marking the completion of the arena's highest structural point. Following interior build-out and finishing, Pepperdine men's and women's basketball teams are expected to be the first teams to compete in the new arena beginning the 2026-27 season
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.
