MALIBU, Calif. — Returning to Malibu after three matches at the Sacramento State Invitational, the Pepperdine women's volleyball team (2-1) hosts No. 19 UCLA (0-0) for the 2025 home opener on Tuesday at 6 p.m..

Tickets will be available one hour prior to the start of the game for $15 on the day of the event. The first 100 fans in attendance will receive a free orange T-shirt. All home contests 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.

Tuesday's match will be the penultimate home opener at Firestone Fieldhouse, which will host the Waves one final season in 2026 before the completion of The Mountain at Mullin Park. 

LAST TIME OUT

• Pepperdine reverse-swept Sacramento State 3-2 to conclude its three-match stint at the Sacramento State Invitational on Sunday. The Waves went 2-1 on opening weekend, kicking off the year with a four-set win over UC Davis before being swept by the defending Conference USA champions UTEP last Saturday.

• For their efforts leading the Waves' offense, sophomore pin-hitters Maggie Beauer and Chloe Pravednikov earned spots on the Sacramento State Invitational All-Tournament Team. Pravednikov and Beauer finished in double-figure kills in all three matches, plus both players either set or tied their career highs. Beauer smashed her career high with 15 kills against UC Davis, while Pravednikov tied her career high with 19 kills — including the match-winner — against Sacramento State.

• The Waves worked in several new players to the starting rotation during opening weekend. Freshmen setter Tristen Raymond — who helped the Waves run the 6-2 with junior Brynne McGhie — notched her first career double-double against UC Davis, then became the first Wave to record five service aces in a match since Grace Chillingworth did so in 2023.

• UCLA leads the all-time series 12-52 and has won nine of the last 10 meetings. The Waves will look for their first win against the Bruins since 2011, which was a five-set home win.
   

• Picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten Women's Volleyball Preseason Poll, the Bruins put four members on the Big Ten Volleyball Preseason All-Conference Team, which tied No. 1 Nebraska for the most selections in the 18-team league.

• The Bruins began the year ranked No. 18 in the AVCA Preseason Poll but dipped to No. 19 in the Sept. 1 poll. UCLA dropped because the Bruins were idle during week one; they begin their season Monday on the road against Long Beach State before heading to Malibu on Tuesday.

• UCLA reloaded its roster with Power-4 transfers in the offseason. Outside hitter Maggie Li came down south from Cal, where she earned AVCA Pacific Region Freshman of the Year and VolleyballMag All-American Honorable Mention honors in 2023. Middle blocker Marianna Singletary, one of the nation's most dominant middle blockers, came over from Texas, while fellow middle blocker Phekran Kong transferred from Louisville in the offseason. All three women made the Big Ten All-Conference Preseason Team.

• Outside hitter Cheridyn Leverette was the lone returning Bruin who made the league's preseason team. She was an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention and First Team All-Big Ten selection after a breakout junior campaign, in which she ranked sixth in the Big Ten with 4.14 kills per set and eighth with 435 total kills.

• Head coach Alfee Reft has one former Wave on his sidelines: Assistant Coach Stevi Robinson-Trail ('12), who was a two-time WCC Libero of the Year. She is Pepperdine's current career digs leader with 1,750, plus she ranks second all-time with 4.33 digs per set.

• The Waves enter the eleventh season under head coach Scott Wong. 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.
   

NEW WAVES

• 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).

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.