MALIBU, Calif. –  The No. 6 Pepperdine men's volleyball team (4-1) welcomes undefeated Long Beach State (7-0) to Malibu for yet another top-10 showdown in Firestone Fieldhouse Friday night.
 
LAST TIME OUT
•Pepperdine reverse-swept the Lewis Flyers on the road last weekend, coming away from the Windy City 2-0.
• Cole Hartke led the team in his home state,  hitting .378 with an average of 5.75 through the two matches, including a career-high 35 kills in the reverse-sweep Saturday.
• Hartke swept the conference awards, earning MPSF offensive and defensive player of the week as well as AVCA National Player of the Week.
 
GAME NOTES
• Pepperdine was projected to finish second in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation, coming in behind UCLA.
• The Waves tied for second with USC, receiving four first place votes with the Trojans receiving just two.
• This season marks the 56th and final season with Firestone Fieldhouse as the home for Pepperdine Men's Volleyball
• Pepperdine will move into the Mountain at Mullin Park for the 2026-27 season.
• The Mountain is a new 3,600-seat arena that 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.
• Owning 5 NCAA titles and 18 MPSF titles, with the most recent being earned last year, the Waves are no stranger to what it takes to put together a championship-level team.
• With one of the toughest schedules in the NCAA, Pepperdine is setting the season up for success with a NCAA quarterfinal rematch against Loyola Chicago, a semifinal rematch with Long Beach State and a trip to the islands, taking on No. 2 Hawai'i in March.
• After going 2-0 on the road this weekend in Chicago with two top-10 wins over Loyola Chicago and Lewis University, the Pepperdine Waves hold steady at No. 6 in the latest AVCA poll.
• Ryan Barnett, James Eadie, Cole Hartke, and Jacob Reilly all return as All-Americans for the Waves.
• Barnett, Hartke, and Reilly all played on some level of the national team this summer.
• Ryan Barnett earned a silver medal with the U23 team at the Pan American Cup while also playing on the senior USA team with Jacob Reilly in the Pan American Cup.
• Cole Hartke earned a bronze in the FIVB World Championship with the U21 team, the farthest the USA has ever gotten in the tournament.
• Redshirting last season, Grant Lamoureux is a player to keep an eye out for on this star-studded roster.
• Named the Junior Male Indoor Athlete of the Year this past year, the redshirt freshman brings plenty of experience regardless of never logging collegiate minutes.
• This summer, Lamoureux was a captain of the U19 World Championship squad with team USA where he led the team in kills nearly every time out.
• Redshirt Ford Harman transferred into Pepperdine from national-champion Long Beach State.
• This summer, Harman earned a Silver medal at the 2025 Men's Beach Collegiate Challenge for team USA.
• Harman is originally from Santa Barbara, playing at Santa Barbara HS before college.
• Outside of the United States, the Waves represent three other countries in Cuba, Serbia, and Switzerland.
• Andrej Polomac, a transfer from Purdue Fort-Wayne, is the sole Serbian on the squad, brings elite experience as a setter with an average of just under 9 aces per set last season.
• The Waves add even more international experience next year with two of the three commits coming from overseas, bringing another Serbian to Malibu as well as a middle blocker from the Czech Republic.
• In his fourth year at the helm, Winder is coming off his most successful season last year with a run to the final four in the NCAA tournament.
• Last season, Winder led the Waves to an MPSF title, the program's first since 2019.  
• As the ninth coach at the helm, Winder is an alum of the program himself, earning a National Title with Pepperdine in 2005.
 
SERIES HISTORY WITH LONG BEACH STATE
• All-time Pepperdine narrowly leads LBSU 52-50, with matches dating back to 1971.  
• Last season, the Waves met the Beach twice throughout the year, losing 2-3 early into the year before falling to the Caliifornia foe 1-3 in the NCAA Championship Semi-finals. 
• In Malibu, Pepperdine holds a 29-19 advantage.
• Pepperdine has not beat LBSU in over a decade with the last win coming in a 2-0 series sweep during the course of the 2015 season.
 
SCOUTING THE BEACH
• Sitting at 7-0, the Beach have only gone to four sets in one match, sweeping the other six opponents in three.
• Last time out, LBSU swept the sharks of Long Island at home Jan. 24.
• Offensively, Skyler Varga leads the way on a .416 hitting percentage, tallying 98 points so far for the Beach.
•Defensively, Kellen Larson haas a team-high 44 digs with an impressive .989 reception percentage so far this season while Jackson Cryst has a team leading 31 blocks.
 
 
First serve on Friday is scheduled for 6:00 P.M. PST. Mr. Softee will be provided for the first 100 students in attendance and as the Jr. Waves game, sign making as well as lawn games will be provided pre-match. The match will be streamed on B1G+ (subscription required) with live stats available on pepperdinewaves.com.
 
ABOUT PEPPERDINE MEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Pepperdine men's volleyball boasts one of the richest histories in collegiate volleyball, with five NCAA National Championships. Four of those championships came under the direction of Hall of Fame coach Marv Dunphy who totaled 612 victories in 34 seasons at the helm. With 19 NCAA Appearances and 63 All-Americans, the program has consistently been a destination for top talent across the country. Under current head coach Jonathan Winder, the Waves reached the NCAA Final Four in his third season at the helm in 2025.
 
TICKETS
For more information and to purchase tickets to upcoming home events, visit here.
 
FOLLOW
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