Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball comes together after scoring a point against Menlo College on March 22 at Firestone Fieldhouse. The back of their jerseys contain the last name of all the players who have been a part of the program. File photo by Mary Elisabeth (’25)
As Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball’s takes the court, their jerseys don’t just represent the current players; instead, they tell the story of championships, legacy and unity as well as how how all of these factors have built the team of today.
Rather than just having a player’s own last name, the back of each set of Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball’s jerseys include the last names of the over 200 players who have been a part of the program. Members of the program said these jerseys subtly display the program’s storied legacy.
“Pepperdine is such a historic program, and a lot of our values and our culture is built off of all the guys that came before us,” said Ryan Barnett, redshirt senior outside hitter and team captain. “That one jersey that shows our culture and one capsule moment that this program, over 50 years, was built through everyone that played before us.”
Men’s Volleyball is Pepperdine’s most winning program with five National Championships in 1978, 1985, 1986, 1992 and 2005, according to Pepperdine Athletics. The team has also been runner-ups six times and made it to the NCAA semi finals in 2025 after winning three straight matches at Firestone Fieldhouse to win the MPSF.
One story being told by these jerseys is the talented pool of alumni who helped win those championships. Across the back of the jerseys are the names of the 63 players to have been named All-Americans and the five players to win National Player of the Year: outside hitter George Roumain in 1998 and 1999, middle blocker Brad Keenan in 2002, Sean Rooney in 2005, current Head Coach Jonathan Winder in 2007 and opposite hitter Paul Carroll in 2009, according to AVCA.
“Winning is infectious, and culture is something that can be contagious,” Winder said. “When you have alumni that are part of the program, their attitudes and their competitiveness and their stories just add to the fuel for the current players that they can really understand how to behave, how to act, work in training, how to have high standards for themselves on the court — on and as well off the court.”
A set of Men’s Volleyball’s jerseys sits on the desk in Head Coach Emeritus Marv Dunphy’s office Jan. 13. Five of the alumni featured on the back won National Player of the Year during their time at Pepperdine. Photo by Tony Gleason
Another story told through these jerseys is how many of Pepperdine Volleyball’s coaching staff were once athletes here. The back of the jerseys include ‘Dunphy’ for Head Coach Emeritus Marv Dunphy (’74), ‘Winder’ for Head Coach Jonathan Winder (’08), ‘Pollock’ for Associate Head Coach Matthew Pollock (’12), ‘Wong’ for Scott Wong (‘01), Women’s Indoor Volleyball head coach, ‘Wexter’ for Michael Wexter (’19), Women’s Indoor Volleyball assistant coach and ‘States’ for Max States (’17), Women’s Beach Volleyball assistant coach.
After graduating from Pepperdine in 1974, Dunphy took over as Men’s Volleyball head coach in 1977, where he would go on to coach for 34 seasons and was at the helm for four of the five National Championships, according to Pepperdine Athletics. Thus, many of the names seen on the back of the jersey were once members of “Marv’s Army,” including all of the student-athletes turned coaches.
“I realized that their joys will be my joys,” Dunphy said. “Their disappointments will be my disappointments, and it’s lifelong, and the best thing about coaching is you get to choose the people you go through life with.”
Winder was a player on Dunphy’s 2005 National Championship team where he earned Freshman of the Year honors, according to Pepperdine Athletics. Other names on the team’s jerseys from the ’05 team include the aforementioned Rooney who was the NCAA Tournament MVP and ‘Hein’ for middle blocker Andy Hein, who was a first team All-American that year.
Despite the talent throughout all the alumni, Barnett said every player, whether they were All-American or didn’t see the court much, has created the culture the team has today. They view wearing their jersey as a privilege that isn’t fully earned until they graduate.
“The logo means so much more than any of us can imagine, and we’re carriers of this jersey,” Barnett said. “So we didn’t earn anything to represent that, to wear that logo — that’s a status that we have to achieve, that we get once we graduate. But now we’re just passing it down, and we’re representing it the best we could.”
One set of names Dunphy said stood out to him on the back of these jerseys is near the bottom where it says “Rigg” four times in a row. This represents Mark, Scott, Matt and Doug Rigg, four brothers who each played under Dunphy.
“All four of them came here, and all four of them won national championships and kind of like in two different eras,” Dunphy said.
Pepperdine Men’s Volleyball wins the 1978 National Championship at St. John’s Arena in Columbus, Ohio. This was the program’s first national championship.
Mark and Scott Rigg were the first two to play for Pepperdine, as they were members of the 1978 National Championship team, according to Pepperdine Athletics. Less than a decade later, Matt and Doug Rigg won back-to-back National Championships in 1985 and 1986.
As for the future of the program, Pepperdine Athletics and Winder agreed to a contract extension through 2030, which the department announced Jan. 7. Winder said with staying in Malibu, his goal is to bring Men’s Volleyball their sixth National Championship.
“This is where I want to be, and this is the program I want to be stewarding and leading,” Winder said. “And so it’s my hope that our program can sustain this level of excellence that we’re always in the mix to be the one of the best teams in the country.”
Men’s Volleyball’s entered the season ranked No. 4 in the country, according to AVCA. Their next game is Jan. 30 against No. 2 Long Beach State in Malibu.
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