MALIBU, Calif. — Taking its final out-of-state road trip of the season, the Pepperdine women's volleyball team (15-7, 8-2 West Coast Conference) heads to the Inland Northwest for a pair of matches this week.
The Waves will kick off the road trip with a Thursday night match at Gonzaga (12-9, 5-5 West Coast Conference) at 6 p.m. On Saturday at 1 p.m., Pepperdine will then head south to Pullman, Wash. to face Washington State (14-7, 8-3 West Coast Conference) in the final West Coast Conference match between the two teams; the Cougars are expected to join the re-formed Pac-12 Conference in the 2026-27 season.
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.
Pepperdine's seven-match win streak is the second-longest active streak in the West Coast Conference. Earlier this week, the Waves checked in at No. 58 in the NCAA's RPI rankings, which is second to No. 45 San Diego amongst all West Coast Conference teams. Entering the final month of the season, the second-place Waves are two games behind San Diego in the West Coast Conference title race.
LAST TIME OUT
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The Waves capped off a perfect 2-0 week with a four-set win against San Francisco on Saturday.
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Sophomore middle blocker Ella Piskorz notched her first-career double-double by tying her career highs with 15 kills and 10 total blocks. Her 15 kills led the team. Her 10 total blocks is the second-most in a three-set match in program history.
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Pin-hitters Maggie Beauer and Chloe Pravednikov finished in double figures with 12 and 10 kills, respectively.
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Freshman setter Tristen Raymond notched her 10th double-double of the season with 35 assists and 12 digs.
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 227 total kills, averaging a team-best 2.91 per set. She has recorded double-figure kills in 12 matches.
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Peoria, Ariz. native Tristen Raymond has given the Waves a spark as a do-it-all setter. Raymond ranks in Pepperdine's top five in nearly every statistical category: The lefty leads Pepperdine with 6.37 assists per set, is third in service aces per set (0.38), fourth in blocks per set (0.73) and second in digs per set (2.29).
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Raymond is a two-time West Coast Conference Setter of the Week and one of two Waves to win multiple weekly West Coast Conference awards this season.
NO SOPHOMORE SLUMP
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Sophomore outside hitter Chloe Pravednikov leads the team with 235 kills, which is No. 11 in the WCC. Her 2.87 kills per set are second on the team.
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A West Coast Conference All-Freshman Team selection last year, Pravednikov is picking up where she left off late last season, when she emerged as Pepperdine's consistent third option on offense. Earlier this season, Pravednikov set her career high with 20 kills against Oregon State — one of a team-high 15 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. 48 in the NCAA with 95 total blocks and No. 30 with 1.32 blocks per set.
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She leads the West Coast Conference with 101 total blocks, 1.29 blocks per set and 87 block assists.
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Piskorz earned her second West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Week award after leading the Waves with 16 total blocks in two matches last week. She tied both career highs with 15 kills and 10 total blocks against San Francisco for her first-career double-double.
STAY IN YOUR LAINE
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Laine Briggs is one of the best servers in the country: Her 41 aces rank No. 23 in all of Division I, while her 0.50 aces per set rank No. 20 in Division I.
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Earlier this season, she set her career-high with five aces against Portland, which is one of her 15 matches with multiple aces this year.
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Briggs also leads the team and ranks tied for No. 6 in the West Coast Conference with 3.49 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 1.12 blocks per set, which ranks No. 5 in the West Coast Conference.
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Lorenzen also ranks in the top 10 in the West Coast Conference with 73 block assists (No. 3) and 86 total blocks (No. 4).
BLOCK PARTY
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Pepperdine has one of the best blocking defenses in the nation, ranking No. 19 with 2.68 per set and No. 43 with 220 total blocks.
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The Waves lead the league with 350 block assists. Individually, Pepperdine has four players ranked in the top 10 of the West Coast Conference in block assists: No. 1 Ella Piskorz (96 block assists), No. 3 Irelynd Lorenzen (73), No. 7 Vanessa Polk (62) and No. 10 Tristen Raymond (56).
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Sophomore Ella Piskorz leads the charge with 111 total blocks, which ranks No. 26 in the nation, while Irelynd Lorenzen's 86 blocks ranks No. 179 in Division I.
STRONG SERVING
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Pepperdine is No. 12 in the nation with 2.02 aces per set and No. 34 with 166 aces this year. Both figures lead the West Coast Conference.
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Four Waves rank in the top 20 in the league in service aces per set: Laine Briggs (No. 1, 0.50 per set), Charis Kai (No. 3, 0.43), Tristen Raymond (No. 6, 0.38) and Ryan Gilhooly (T-No. 13, 0.32).
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The team has had at least one player with multiple aces in every match this season.
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Multiple Waves have recorded multiple aces in 18 of the 22 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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At that point, the 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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Two out of Pepperdine's four five-set wins have been 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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The Waves' strength of schedule currently ranks tied for No. 30 in the nation, as their opponents have a combined win percentage of .635.
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Using that same metric, the Waves are second in the West Coast Conference (LMU is No. 15) and eighth among all mid-major schools.
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Pepperdine is the only West Coast Conference team to face two top-10 programs in non-conference play (No. 9 Pitt and No. 8 Arizona State).
SERIES HISTORY
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
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One of the biggest turnaround stories in the West Coast Conference, the Gonzaga Bulldogs are 12-9 under first-year head coach JT Wenger, who came to Spokane this year after serving as the head coach of UT Arlington. The Bulldogs have double-digit wins for the first time since 2019.
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UT Arlington transfer Sjkakkie Donkers is one of the best newcomers in the league. She ranks second in the West Coast Conference with 306 kills and her 3.97 kills per set rank third in the league.
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Senior Autumn Larson ranks third in the league with 30 service aces and is fourth with 0.42 service aces per set.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
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The Washington State Cougars are tied for third in the West Coast Conference standings and have won their last two matches. Their last loss was a reverse sweep at the hands of league-leading San Diego on Oct. 25.
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Earlier this season, Pepperdine outclassed Washington State in a home sweep. The Waves hit .375 — their second-best single-match hitting percentage of the year — and their 17 total blocks were the most in a single match this year.
- Lucie Blažková is the reigning West Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Week after averaging 3.14 kills, 4.36 points, 0.43 aces, and 1.14 blocks per set in wins over Pacific and Oregon State. She has won a league-leading three West Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Week awards this season.
SEASON OVERVIEW
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In Scott Wong's eleventh season at the helm, the Pepperdine Waves were picked second in the West Coast Conference 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 West Coast Conference title.
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Pepperdine also put three players on the West Coast Conference 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.
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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 West Coast Conference Championship squad, will return after redshirting in 2024. Sophomore opposite hitter Chloe Pravednikov, an All-West Coast Conference 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
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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.
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Pepperdine's three freshmen are Ryan Gilhooly (Pacific Palisades, Calif.), Tristen Raymond (Peoria, Ariz.) and Alice Vigano (Lake Como, Italy).
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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
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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.
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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 West Coast Conference 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.
