MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team kicks off the 2025 season with three matches at the Sacramento State Invitational, which runs from Aug. 29-31.

The Waves will face the UC Davis Aggies on Friday at 4 p.m. before taking on the UTEP Miners on Saturday at 4 p.m. A road match against the hosting Sacramento State Hornets on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. wraps up the weekend. All three matches will be livestreamed on ESPN+. Livestream and live stat links can be found on the women's volleyball team's schedule page on pepperdinewaves.com.

MATCH NOTES

• The Waves enter the eleventh season under head coach Scott Wong. Earlier this month, Pepperdine was 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. 
• The Waves also welcome six newcomers to the team, consisting of three transfers and five 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. 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).
• This weekend's tournament features two of the four NCAA Tournament teams on the non-conference slate: UTEP and Sacramento State. All three teams finished in the top-100 in the final 2024 RPI rankings, and all three squads were picked in the top three of their respective conference preseason polls.

SERIES HISTORY

• Pepperdine owns a 1-0 advantage over UC Davis in the all-time series. The Waves swept the Aggies in Reno, Nev. in 2008. 
• Saturday will be the first-ever match between Pepperdine and UTEP.
• The Waves are a perfect 3-0 against the Sacramento State Hornets, with all three wins occurring at neutral sites. Sunday will be the first meeting between the two teams since 2017, when the Waves swept the Hornets in Reno, Nev.

SCOUTING THE AGGIES

• Picked to finish second in the Big West Women's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll, the UC Davis Aggies boast two upperclassmen who made the Big West Preseason Coaches' Team: junior middle blocker Ally Chandler and senior outside hitter Jade Light. Last season, Light was ranked seventh with 3.39 kills per set and was third in the league in kills (403), service aces (40) and points (490.0). Chandler was an effective hitter, leading the Big West with a .373 hitting percentage while tallying 81 total blocks.
• The Aggies enter their 12th season under head coach Dan Conners, who led the Aggies to a career-best 19 wins and a program-best 13 conference wins.
• UC Davis has three newcomers on the roster: graduate transfer Maike Bertens Deckart, plus freshmen Laela Burgess and Faith Rabb-Patterson. Bertens Deckart was a 2021 NJCAA Division I National Champion at Iowa Western before continuing her career at Bradley in 2022. She played at Manhattan from 2023-24, where she earned All-MAAC Second Team honors in 2023.

SCOUTING THE MINERS

• Defending their Conference USA title from a year ago, the UTEP Miners bring back a heavy contingent of players from last year's 27-6 campaign, which was one of the most successful in program history. The Miners were picked second in the CUSA Preseason Coaches' Poll, barely being edged out by Western Kentucky.
• Middle blocker Kayla Weaver was selected as the CUSA Preseason Player of the Year. Last year, the senior was the 2024 CUSA Player of the Year and an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American selection after putting together after leading the Miners with 151 total blocks (averaging 1.31 per set). Weaver ranked seventh in the nation with her .439 hitting percentage and helped anchor a front row that ranked 13th nationally at 2.76 blocks per set.
• The Miners put three more players on the Preseason All-CUSA Team: outside hitters Sara Pustahija and Ema Uskokovic, plus middle blocker Danika Washington.
• Last year, UTEP made its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and finished the season at a program-best ranking of No. 38 in the RPI rankings. The team returns a majority of its starters from a year ago.

SCOUTING THE HORNETS

• Sacramento State is coming off a 21-12 season in which they won the Big Sky Championship title on their home floor. Heading into their final season in the Big Sky Conference before joining the Big West in 2026, the Hornets have won at least 10 conference matches in nine of the last 10 years.
• Sacramento State was picked third in the Big Sky Preseason Coaches' Poll in a tie with Idaho State. 
• Setter Katie Doorn was the Hornets' only All-Big Sky Preseason selection. Playing the 6-2 alongside Hailey Plugge, who graduated this past spring, Doorn helped the Hornets lead the Big Sky with 12.13 assists per set.
• Head coach Ruben Volta's squad returns nine players, including four starters. However, the three starters they lost to graduation were All-Big Sky Conference selections, including 2023 Big Sky MVP and All-American Bridgette Smith. 

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 elevate 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.