Pepperdine Women’s Indoor Volleyball gathers for a team huddle to discuss strategy against the University of Denver on Oct. 8 at Hamilton Gymnasium in Denver. The Waves defeated the Pioneers 3-0. Photos courtesy of Pepperdine Athletics
Pepperdine Women’s Indoor Volleyball, ranked No. 2 in the West Coast Conference (WCC), battled against No. 8 University of Denver on Oct. 8 at Hamilton Gymnasium in Denver. The Waves cleared the Pioneers with a final score of 3-0.
The Pioneers opened strong, putting up a score first with a kill by sophomore outside hitter Hailey Goebel. The Waves were quick to crash the Pioneers with a counterattack, responding with four points of their own to rack up an early lead, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
The first set continued in a back-and-forth battle until Pepperdine went on a five-point scoring run, putting the Waves up 14-8. As Denver tried their best to match the offensive pace of Pepperdine, they were nowhere close to closing the gap as the Waves put on a clinic and made it difficult for Denver to pick up on the next attacker, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
By the end of the first set, the Waves capitalized on seven Pioneer attack errors, with senior middle blocker Irelynd Lorenzen, junior outside hitter Chloe Pravednikov, Maggie Beauer, junior outside hitter and opposite hitter and freshman outside hitter Mariia Nikol Dvornikova all having three kills, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Graduate outside hitter Iva Popovic and Laine Briggs, senior defensive specialist and libero, also struck a service ace to allow the Waves to establish a lead. The Waves dusted off the first set with an easy 25-18 score, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Laine Briggs, senior defensive specialist and libero, wearing white, holds the ball as she huddles with her team. Briggs aided the Pepperdine offense with 17 digs in the match, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Despite the first set loss, Denver continued to battle hard, once again starting the scoring. However, Pepperdine was quick to respond with two kills and pouncing on an attack error to go on a three-point scoring run, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
The Pioneers tenaciously fought to put up points against the Waves, but once the Waves scored their 13th point, marking the game 13-8, Pepperdine couldn’t be stopped, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Feeding off of three attack errors from the Pioneers, four kills and one service ace, the Waves pulled their lead to 20-8, taking a massive eight-point run and denying the Pioneers of any breathing room, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
The rest of the match continued in a fair battle, but Pepperdine was able to maintain their advantage to claim another set over the Pioneers with a final score of 25-14, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Contributing offensively, Dvornikova had a total of 27 attacks with a .333 hitting percentage by the end of the second set. The Waves’ offense peppered Denver with 10 attacks, nine of those being kills that led into the third set, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
The Waves strided into the third set, getting on the leaderboard first and putting up an additional three points to start with an early 4-0 lead. Despite being down 2-0, Denver still put up a relentless fight and matched each Pepperdine point with one of their own, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
As the set reached its end, Pepperdine was able to extend their lead and pull ahead. The third set ended with a close score of 25-20, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Junior middle blocker Ella Piskorz and Maggie Beauer, junior outside hitter and opposite hitter, centered in the middle, jump to block an attack by the Pioneers. Piskorz led the Waves with nine blocks while Beauer tallied eight kills and six blocks, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
By the end of the match, Popovic led the team with 4 aces while Dvornikova led the Waves with 14 kills, followed by Pravednikov with 13 and Beauer with eight. On the defensive side, junior middle blocker Ella Piskorz had a team-high of nine blocks, followed again by Beauer with six and Lorenzen with four, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Sophomore setter Tristen Raymond had a total of 43 assists and eight digs, following behind Briggs with 17 digs and in front of Dvornikova with six, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
The Waves continued on the road but returned to California to play No. 5 University of San Diego on Oct. 10 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego, Calif. The Waves defeated the Toreros with another 3-0 sweep.
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Contact Genevieve Cantu via email: genevieve.cantu@pepperdine.edu