Pepperdine University’s women’s volleyball team secured a five-set victory over Loyola Marymount University (LMU) in Los Angeles on Saturday. The match, held at Gersten Pavilion, saw the Waves improve their season record to 19-8 overall and 13-3 in the West Coast Conference, while LMU fell to 5-20 and 3-13 in conference play.
“It was a really nice match by Waves, led by some good attacking and blocking by Irelynd [Lorenzen] and Vanessa [Polk],” Pepperdine Head Coach Scott Wong said. “I’m proud of our fight to steadily play in the fifth set and finish strong!”
Pepperdine took the first two sets but LMU responded with wins in the third and fourth sets, forcing a decisive fifth. In the final set, LMU held multiple leads before Pepperdine went on a late run. Lorenzen contributed three blocks while Polk had two key blocks in the last set, including a solo block that ended the match with a 15-11 score.
Both Polk and Lorenzen achieved career or season milestones during the game. Polk recorded a personal best of 13 kills along with eight blocks for her best performance this season. Lorenzen posted her first double-double—10 kills and a career-high 12 total blocks. Chloe Pravednikov and Ella Piskorz also reached double figures with 11 kills each. Freshman setter Tristen Raymond tallied her 13th double-double of the year with 48 assists (one short of her career high) and 13 digs.
The Waves started strongly in the opening set but had to overcome challenges as LMU tied it midway through before Pepperdine closed out at 25-18 after an LMU rotation error on set point.
In the second set, both teams exchanged points until Maggie Beauer’s efforts helped give Pepperdine some breathing room. Despite LMU pushing back to tie late, Lorenzen’s kill followed by another from Polk sealed it for Pepperdine at 27-25.
LMU regrouped to win closely contested third and fourth sets—25-21 and 25-23 respectively—after capitalizing on late runs despite pressure from Pepperdine.
The deciding fifth set featured multiple lead changes before Pepperdine surged ahead after an ace from Emma McMahon followed by key plays from Pravednikov and Lorenzen. The match concluded when Polk delivered a solo block for victory.
Pepperdine will conclude its regular season next week with two home matches beginning Wednesday against Gonzaga at noon; updates are available on their official schedule page.
Pepperdine women’s volleyball is recognized as one of the top collegiate programs on the West Coast, having appeared in 26 NCAA Tournaments since 1981. The program has won twelve West Coast Conference championships and produced numerous All-American players across six decades. Alumna Kim Hill earned Olympic gold at Tokyo in 2020 as part of Team USA.
