As the 2024 athletic year drew to a close, a new trio of “up and comers” emerged for the 2025 athletic year, and more specifically for the spring semester. The highlighted athletes are: Vivian Yang, sophomore Women’s Tennis player; Ryan Graves, sophomore Men’s Volleyball setter; and Chloe Sotell, freshman Women’s Basketball guard.
“I want to win a WCC Championship,” Sotell said. “I honestly want to rebuild the program, have a winning record and take it [the program] somewhere that hasn’t been seen before.”
Vivian Yang: Tennis Phenom
Yang is a native of Auckland, New Zealand, and tennis has been a part of her life since she was 4.
“When I was younger, I had a really weak immune system, like, I was not healthy,” Yang said. “Then I moved to China, but I think my body’s just not used to the air quality and everything, so I got sick a lot.”
She said her father loved tennis and decided to get her into the sport to help build her strength, and her skills came naturally. She went from trying out for the club team to her coaches urging her to try out for the national team.
“I got in,” Yang said. “It’s easy to say because, naturally, it feels like I’m quite talented. I’m a left-handed player, I’m fairly tall from my age growing up and I had a kind of grit.”
She made the national teams in 2022 and 2023, representing New Zealand in the Billie Jean King Cup, and said she hopes to represent them again in the future.
From that point on, Yang said her parents were the first ones to tell her to commit her efforts to tennis, and she obliged. For 16 years, Yang has been a tennis player, however, her commitment to the game hasn’t always been strong.
Yang said she looks back at her career and can’t believe she has made it this long. There were times when she said she almost walked away from the sport.
On the one hand, she said she was too competitive for her own good, damaging her self confidence as a result. She hated losing, and to her, it felt like her ego suffered.
“You feel like you put in all this work, then you lose, and then you’re like, ‘Wow, I feel useless because I’ve been doing this my whole life, and now I feel like I’m not good,'” Yang said.
And on the other hand, dealing with the multiple injuries was difficult, even for her today, she said.
“As I grew older, I realized it’s not all about performance,” Yang said. “You have to deal with injuries off court, and then as I started to get injuries, I was like, ‘Wow, this is scary.'”
These injuries followed her to Pepperdine. A previous minor shoulder injury she experienced turned into a major injury requiring surgery to fully heal. It was the toughest moment of her career so far, she said.
Yang said if she didn’t get the surgery, her shoulder would be weak and unable to generate enough power for a strong stroke, but if she got the surgery, she would be out for one whole athletic year.
“They said after a year, you have to grow gradually and come back, but it’s not guaranteed that you will be better after surgery,” Yang said. “So both ways, it sounded like there’s not really a solution to this problem.”
She decided to forgo the surgery and do rehab to rebuild her back to full health, and it was ultimately the best decision she could have made.
She eventually made it back for the end of the season, just in time for the team’s NCAA run, making it all the way to the semis, she said.
Yang finished her freshman season with a 12-5 record and an 11-4 mark in dual match play. She clinched Pepperdine’s 4-0 sweep over Southern Illinois University Edwardsville for a first-round NCAA Tournament win, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
She said she credits the success of her rookie season to the coaching staff and her teammates. She said they helped her grow not only as an athlete on the court but also as a student off the court, pushing her to do well in her classes first.
Since tennis is an individual sport, it’s rare to hear a tennis player tell another tennis player how good they are, Yang said.
“Because why would you tell someone else they’re good?” Yang said. “You’re just giving them confidence.”
But the healthy team environment is what helped turn her game to the next level. She said she has never heard anyone besides her coach tell her something about her game being good, but hearing it from a player’s perspective is different because she knows they mean it.
As Yang dives into her collegiate career, she said her dream at the moment is to become a professional tennis player and play in the Wimbledon Championships.
Ryan Graves: Setting Up His Team For Success
Graves is a local kid, growing up in Irvine, California. He struck up his passion for volleyball after watching his sister play.
From there, it grew into a widespread family sport.
“Me and my brother, who attends here as well, kind of grew up playing together,” Graves said.
For Graves, he said Pepperdine was the perfect fit for this collegiate career, specifically in terms of the school’s beliefs and overall character. It was also a major upside to have played alongside a strong, bonded team that highly regards the same values.
“Having the opportunity to be a part of a team and a culture that’s so special and really values character, academics and athletics, it’s just a good combination of all those things,” Graves said. “I think any time you can enjoy the team with the guys that are just such great human beings as this team is — it’s a no-brainer.”
Such as Yang, Graves always had the dream of playing in college, and having the opportunity to do so is “such a surreal feeling and such a blessing,” Graves said.
In his freshman year, Graves played in 24 tip offs for the Waves, starting in 14. He recorded a season and career high of 53 assists against the Master’s University on April 4, according to Pepperdine Athletics. He nearly reached the 600 assists mark to end the year, totaling 596 assists for his freshman season.
Graves credits the team’s veteran presence last season for his success. He said it allowed him to have a smooth transition into the program and helped him grow.
“Just being surrounded by such a great team, such a great coaching staff and such a great culture that we have here at Pepperdine really helped me, especially my first year,” Graves said.
As his sophomore season begins, Graves said he wants to focus on his aggressiveness at the net and continue to hone in on his strengths, such as setting location. Beyond just in-game skills, Graves values the relationships he builds off the court.
“As a setter, so much of your job is putting other people in a position to score,” Graves said. “The more you can build relationships with your guys and really understand what they like and how to utilize their strengths, you can put them in situations where they can succeed.”
He said the goal of professional play is the current path, but he understands the road to get there is tough. In the meantime, Graves wants to bring back Pepperdine Volleyball to its winning ways as a top team in the NCAA.
“We belong as a top team in the NCAA, and a lot of the guys on this team truly do believe that we should be in the mix this year,” Graves said. “It’s super important just to build that confidence with one another, and really, our goal is to bring Pepperdine back to where we’ve been.”
Chloe Sotell: The Start of a New Era
Rounding out the spring stars is Sotell, the youngest member of the Women’s Basketball team.
Sotell said basketball was always her family sport, as her father played and her brother is currently playing at the University of Maryland. However, basketball wasn’t the only sport she participated in.
She said she played soccer, volleyball, lacrosse and baseball when she was very young.
“When I got to high school, I had to decide which one I wanted to continue,” Sotell said. “Basketball — I just always loved how competitive it was.”
At that point, she said she knew she wanted to pursue collegiate sports, labeling it a past dream.
“Honestly, I realized that I wanted to continue playing beyond [high school] because I started thinking about high school and that level,” Sotell said. “But then, I just was focused on continuing after that.”
Her career brought her to Pepperdine, where she said the rebuilding process of Women’s Basketball intrigued her.
“I trust in what the coaches have in store for this team and what their vision is for the program,” Sotell said.
The team is currently senior-heavy, with six seniors and two graduate students, according to Pepperdine Athletics. Sotell is just one of two youngsters, alongside sophomore guard Hailey Johnson.
To Sotell, she said being able to grow alongside a veteran class this year will help develop her future growth.
“It’s been them with a lot of experience helping me through it, especially when I came in the summer,” Sotell said. “They just were like, ‘Whatever you need, we’re here,’ and guided me through everything.”
Sotell said she has bought into the program, claiming Pepperdine has a unique opportunity to grow the program back into a winning team. But more importantly, setting up Sotell to develop further.
“All their [the staff’s] focus is on me, for freshmen and even sophomores,” Sotell said. “They’re making sure I’m doing every detail right, and they’ve all just been very meticulous with everything. It’s definitely making me into a better player and pushing me out of my comfort zone.”
With the guidance of her coaching staff and team, Sotell has been off to a roaring start in her rookie season. Sotell has started in 14 of 19 games, averaging 27.7 minutes a game alongside 10.7 points per game, with still plenty of games left to play in the season, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
She has even been a pest on defense, securing 49 offensive and five defensive rebounds to go along with seven blocks and 17 steals, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“My biggest strength is my shooting, but I honestly don’t think it’s been at its best as of now,” Sotell said.
As Sotell begins her collegiate journey, she said the glory of winning a championship isn’t the only goal she is striving for. She is also pushing to become a leader for future Waves.
“When I’m older, I’m gonna look back at how I was as a freshman and try to just help the incoming freshmen and players that are gonna come in and help this program,” Sotell said. “Just trying to help in whatever way I can and definitely become a stronger leader and voice for the team.”
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Email Justin Rodriguez: justin.rodriguez@pepperdine.edu
