The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team saw its 10-match winning streak come to an end Thursday night in San Diego, falling to the University of San Diego Toreros. The match, held at the Jenny Craig Pavilion, resulted in a 3-0 victory for San Diego (22-4, 15-0 West Coast Conference), securing their first West Coast Conference title since 2022.
Pepperdine Head Coach Scott Wong commented on the loss: “The opponent came out firing on all cylinders and despite some nice attempts to fight back, we never were able to find our aggressive style of play.”
San Diego’s sophomore outside hitter Nemo Beach led her team with 21 kills and contributed significantly in the back row. Despite Pepperdine recording seven blocks compared to San Diego’s three, the Waves could not contain the Toreros’ offense.
Maggie Beauer was Pepperdine’s top scorer with 14 kills. Ella Piskorz, recently named West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Week, led defensively with five blocks and also added nine kills. Chloe Pravednikov contributed seven kills and Vanessa Polk had six. Freshman setter Tristen Raymond recorded her twelfth double-double of the season with 25 assists and 14 digs. Laine Briggs finished just one dig short of tying her career high at 23.
In the opening set, both teams kept it close until San Diego pulled ahead with a mid-set run that proved decisive for a 25-19 win. The second set remained tight until another scoring surge from San Diego put them up by double digits; they eventually took it 25-18. In the third set, Pepperdine started strong but surrendered momentum during a lengthy Toreros run. Although Pepperdine managed to tie late in the set at 23 points apiece, San Diego closed out both the set and match at 25-23.
Pepperdine (18-8, 12-3 WCC) will next travel to Los Angeles for an away game against LMU scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. Fans can follow schedule updates on pepperdinewaves.com.
According to program history information provided by Pepperdine Athletics, the women’s volleyball team has appeared in NCAA Tournaments more than two dozen times since its founding in 1981 and has produced multiple Olympians over its history.
“The opponent came out firing on all cylinders and despite some nice attempts to fight back, we never were able to find our aggressive style of play,” said Scott Wong.
