MALIBU, Calif. — Wrapping up its first week of West Coast Conference play, the Pepperdine women's volleyball team (7-6, 1-1 WCC) swept Seattle (6-7, 0-2 WCC) on Saturday afternoon.
The Waves rarely trailed in their first WCC win of the year. Pepperdine led in every statistical category but had the most notable advantage in blocks: The Waves' block amassed 11 total blocks to Seattle's three, partially because of Tristen Raymond and Irelynd Lorenzen leading the way with four blocks apiece. Middle blockers Ella Piskorz and Vanessa Polk also helped on offense by leading the Waves with eight kills apiece. Chloe Pravednikov and Lorenzen also chipped in seven kills apiece to help the Waves.
"Seattle is a good team and runs a good offense, but we were ready for them," Pepperdine head coach Scott Wong said. "I feel good about the first two matches of WCC play. The ball is in our court, in a lot of ways. We have to focus on us. We have to get better, and we have to have some urgency in our practice gym to compete, grow and keep on connecting as teammates."
Pepperdine shook off a slow start to the first set and broke an eight-all tie with a 3-0 run capped off by a Raymond ace. From there, the Waves never trailed. Powered by Raymond's four-kill set, Pepperdine extended its lead to as many as six with back-to-back swings from Raymond to make the score 18-12. On match point, Raymond found Piskorz for a simple tip shot over the front row to help the Waves win set one 20-25.
The second set saw the Waves' defense tighten down on the Redhawks, who hit a match-low. .053 in the frame. In a sign of things to come, Lorenzen opened the set with a big solo block — the first of three Pepperdine solo blocks in the set. Piskorz tallied five kills in the second set alone: first to tie the score at four and then to cap off a 3-0 run that gave Pepperdine a 7-5 lead. Pepperdine kept Seattle at arm's length for the remainder of the set and extended its lead to four points with a solo block from Polk, then extended its lead to 23-17 off a Laine Briggs ace. The Waves closed the set with consecutive kills from Piskorz, who had set point for the second time of the match to give the Waves a 25-18 second-set win.
Leading 7-4 in the third set, Piskorz went back to serve for one of her best showings behind the service line this year. Her first ace of the afternoon doubled up Pepperdine's lead, then she dialed up back-to-back service aces to put Pepperdine up 11-4. Her trio of aces sparked a 10-1 Pepperdine run that put the Redhawks in the rear-view mirror for good. The Waves led by 11 points on three occasions down the stretch — first off a Raymond ace, then off a kill from Polk and finally off a service error to make it 23-12 — and the Waves cruised to their first WCC victory with a 25-15 third-set win.
Pepperdine goes on its first WCC road trip next week, starting with a match at San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 2. 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.
