Women's Volleyball Visits Mile High City and San Diego

Thursday, October 8

Denver, Colo.

5:00 pm PT

Pepperdine University

Denver

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Photo by: Greg Bintz

Women's Volleyball Visits Mile High City and San Diego

10/6/2026 2:46:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

By: Greg Bintz

DENVER, Colo. - Pepperdine women's volleyball is back on the road this week, visiting new WCC foe Denver (8-7, 1-2 WCC) before returning to SoCal to battle San Diego.

Thursday's match in the altitude will mark the first-ever between the Waves and Pioneers, who joined the WCC this past offseason after previously competing in the Summit League. Saturday's clash with the Toreros will be the first of two monster matches against the WCC preseason favorite. Pepperdine owns the overall record (47-39) but has dropped four consecutive against San Diego.

THURSDAY, OCT. 8 | 5 PM PST | ESPN+
Pepperdine at Denver
Watch | Live Stats | Match Notes | History

SATURDAY, OCT. 10 | 12 PM PST | ESPN+
Pepperdine at San Diego
Watch | Live Stats | History

A big congrats to 2024 alumna Birdie Hendrickson, who recently signed a deal with @mlvolley expansion team DC Flight ‼️🖊️ 📰 | https://t.co/iUbWYqa5LA #MakeWaves | #WavesInThePros | @PepperdineWaves https://t.co/R654tikwJO
— Pepperdine Women's Volleyball (@PepperdineWVB) October 6, 2026

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS

Fourth-year Head Coach Megan Pendergast signed a multi-year extension on October 1.
Danielle Hunter was named Denver's director of volleyball operations on August 17.
Kayla Patel headlined the Pioneers newcomers. The junior outside hitter spent her first two collegiate seasons at Rice.
Patel had landed a team-leading 16 service aces.
Sophomore defensive specialist Madison Winkler earned her first career Defensive Player of the Week honor on September 7, helping Denver to a perfect 3-0 weekend at the Denver Invitational. Her current 271 digs mark the WCC lead and rank 29th in the nation.
The Pioneers made history by recording their first WCC victory on September 24 with a 3-0 shutout of Pacific in Denver.
Denver was picked to finish 6th in the WCC Preseason Poll.
The Pioneers can spread the love defensively, having four players with 20 or more blocks. Elise Hart leads the team with 37, while Jamia Johnson has 34, Katelyn Landis has 27, and Isabela Molina has 22.
Offensively, Denver has two primary weapons in Alicia Thibodeau (151 kills) and Jamia Johnson (148 kills). That duo also paces the Pioneers in points with 169.0 and 165.5, respectively.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB

Pepperdine welcomes seven freshman to the 2026 roster: Eliya Dev, Reese Poerner, Isabella Rasi, Claire McNeal, Sullivan Leonard, Ellie Sandoz, and Nikol Dvornikova
Three were signed last November (Leonard, Sandoz, McNeal), another trio was signed in the spring (Dev, Rasi, Poerner), and Dvornikova was signed in late July after coming from Moscow, Russia.
Most of the class could make an immediate impact. Poerner and McNeal clean up depth at the outside hitter position, which could be critical as graduate outside hitter Iva Popovic works her way back from a knee injury that abruptly ended her 2025 season.

SERIES HISTORY

This is the first-ever matchup between the Waves and Pioneers.

PEPPERDINE IN THE PROS

2024 alumna Birdie Hendrickson signed with Major League Volleyball expansion team DC Flight. The Flight made the announcement on Saturday, October 3.
Hendrickson, who is the 30th former Wave to go pro, was a two-time All-WCC First Team in her pair of seasons spent as a Wave. She also garnered two WCC Player of the Week awards, both in 2024 (September 9 and October 21).
Hendrickson was an all-around player for the Waves, ranking second in digs (331), points (444.5), kills (391), and total attacks (1,056) as a grad student in 2024. Her 2023 campaign was just as consistently good, ranking second on the squad in all four of those same categories.
Birdie set multiple career-highs in 2024, racking up 27.5 points on September 7 at Hawaii. She shined in the month of October, tallying 25 kills in a home match against Saint Mary's on October 17 before registering a career-best four aces on October 24 at San Francisco. Hendrickson put a bow on things, showing off her defensive skills with 22 digs on November 23 at Pacific.

REWRITING THE HISTORY BOOKS

The upset victory over No. 19 USC on September 19 was:
the first time since September 13, 2013 that the Waves have swept a ranked opponent on the road (no. 19 Kentucky)
the first road sweep of any opponent since Nov. 6 last year at Gonzaga
the first sweep of USC since December 3, 2005 (a home match for Pepperdine)
Pepperdine's highest-ranked road win since September 15, 2022 at No. 6 Minnesota

STANDOUT SUPERLATIVES

The Waves marked their longest win streak (seven matches) since a nine-match win streak from Oct. 11-Nov. 8 last year before the loss to Saint Mary's last Saturday.
Pepperdine has yet to lose a match when taking the first set.
The blue and orange have won seven of 10 matches in which Pepperdine has fewer digs.
The victory over San Francisco on Sept. 26 was the first (and currently the only) win of the year following a first-set loss.

TRACKING TRISTEN'S TRIUMPHS

Junior setter Tristen Raymond ranks 2nd on the team with 122 digs, which is also 22nd in the West Coast Conference.
Her 534 assists lead the team, rank 3rd in the WCC, and 50th in the country
She is on pace for over 1,000 assists this season and on track to crack the top-10 in program history by the end of her career.

PUTTING THE 'SPECIAL' IN DEFENSIVE SPECIALIST

Defensive specialist Laine Briggs set a career-high and a new Bluejay Invitational-best in digs with 35 on September 6.
Her 245 digs on the season pace the squad and slot 2nd in the conference, only trailing Denver's Madison Winkler (271).
She earned her second consecutive WCC Defensive Player of the Week honor (third career) on Monday, Sept. 21.

MAJESTIC MAGGIE

Junior outside hitter Maggie Beauer tied a season-high in blocks (2.5) and digs (4) against Arizona on Sept. 6
She also racked up a career-high 20 kills against Arizona, a five-set victory over the Wildcats
Maggie's 160 kills are 2nd on the team (only trailing Chloe Pravednikov's 171) and 11th in the WCC

ELLA-OTTA BLOCKS

The Waves paced the West Coast Conference with 295 blocks last year, and returning junior Ella Piskorz led all conference qualifiers with 151 (next-best was 126).
As of Tuesday afternoon (10-6-26), Piskorz is tied for the third-most blocks in the country with 89
As of Tuesday afternoon (10-6-26), the Waves pace the WCC with 165 team blocks. The next-best is LMU's 125
Ella is now seventh in program history with 372 blocks. She needs just five more to move into fifth all-time in.

PRAVEDNIKOV'S GOT THE POWER

Among all the season-highs Pepperdine players set against Arizona on Sept. 6, Pravednikov was part of the brigade with a season-best 17 kills and 15 digs
Chloe has the most points on the team with 190.0, which slots ninth in the WCC

Happy National Coaches Day to the absolute best! #MakeWaves | @PepperdineWaves https://t.co/5QjWIym2mt
— Pepperdine Women's Volleyball (@PepperdineWVB) October 6, 2026

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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