Women's Volleyball Falls to Saint Mary's

Saturday, October 3

Malibu, Calif.

1:00 pm PT

Pepperdine University

11-4,3-1WCC

Saint Mary's

8-8,3-1WCC

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Saint Mary's (CA)	25	25	23	26	3
Pepperdine	16	15	25	24	1

Photo by: Greg Bintz

10/3/2026 5:16:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Greg Bintz

MALIBU, Calif. - Pepperdine women's volleyball team (11-4, 3-1 WCC) fell in four sets to Saint Mary's (8-8, 3-1 WCC) on Saturday afternoon.

The defeat halted the Waves' seven-match win streak. Chloe Pravednikov had eight kills to pace Pepperdine while Mariia Nikol Dvornikova and Irelynd Lorenzen each tallied seven. Ella Piskorz had five blocks, bringing her total to 10 for the weekend and moving her into seventh all-time in program history with 372 blocks.

"Saint Mary's came out strong early in the match, and we scratched and clawed our way back into the match," said Head Coach Scott Wong. "Proud of our fight but we need to come out more of an edge."

Ryan drops it in for a beautiful ace!

📺 ESPN+#MakeWaves | @PepperdineWaves pic.twitter.com/o20h4lOy20
— Pepperdine Women's Volleyball (@PepperdineWVB) October 3, 2026

The first two sets belonged to the Gaels. While both teams played it close at 11-10 to start, things started getting shaky for the Waves following an 11-2 run from Saint Mary's that blew open the first set, as Sadie White delivered a service ace to put the Gaels up 22-12. Saint Mary's forced an attack error and a service error, running away with a 25-16 opening set win. It was more of the same in the second set as Saint Mary's rattled off a 7-0 spurt to go up 16-6. Anaya Thrower hammered a kill to finish it off as Pepperdine had its back against the wall down 2-0.

The momentum of the match slowly started to shift in Pepperdine's favor thanks to the Waves defense. Consecutive blocks from Tristen Raymond and Ella Piskorz gave the blue and orange an 11-10 advantage. Both squads would trade shots down the stretch, but Pepperdine's defense again came up clutch as Lorenzen and Dvornikova each had a kill and block, helping force a fourth set with a nail-biting 25-23 third set victory.

Saint Mary's looked like they'd run away with it, going up 11-3 following a Sadie White kill. Pepperdine had a great response, charting a 5-1 run to pull back within four at 12-8. The Gaels would hold their ground as White registered several more kills as Saint Mary's looked to land the plane up 20-13. The Waves had no plans of letting up, getting a kill from Pravednikov and Piskorz to pull within a field goal at 20-17. The Gaels tallied a pair of kills before Pepperdine registered another 4-0 run capped by a Laine Briggs service ace, and the Waves trailed by just one. Pepperdine soon tied it at 24 apiece thanks to a couple attack errors, but after several lengthy and dramatic replay reviews, Saint Mary's ended the match with a kill from Anaya Thrower and Antonie Kelnarova.

GAME NOTES

Saint Mary's racked up 63 kills to Pepperdine's 38.
Briggs and Raymond each had 10 digs to lead the Waves defense.
Lorenzen was the lone Wave to eclipse double figures in points with 12.5.

Pepperdine will head back on the road for a trio of games, starting with WCC newcomer Denver in the Mile High City on October 8, followed by San Diego (Oct. 10) and LMU (Oct. 17). The Waves are back home on Oct. 22 against San Francisco.

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.

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