Wildcats Lose to Waves in Five Sets

Sunday, September 6

Omaha, Neb. / Wayne and Eileen Ryan Athletic Center and D.J. Sokol Arena

10:00 AM

University of Arizona

2-4,0-0Big 12

Pepperdine

4-2,0-0WCC

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Pepperdine	25	24	25	22	15	3
Arizona	17	26	19	25	11	2

Photo by: Marison Bilagody / Arizona Athletics

09/06/2026 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Arizona Athletics

OMAHA, Neb. – Arizona lost the final game of the Bluejay Invitational to Pepperdine in five sets (17-25, 26-24, 19-25, 25-22, 11-15) on Sunday in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Cats totaled a season high 15 blocks as a team, but the Waves recorded four aces and 94 digs to outlast Arizona. Journey Tucker has 10 blocks and Renee Jones recorded seven blocks, both season high marks, to lead the defense. Destiny Ndam-Simpson notched a season best 18 kills and Kennedy Osunsanmi followed with 11 kills.

Pepperdine won the opening set 25-17. Arizona had the lead early in the set but Pepperdine used an 8-0 run to take the lead and hold it the rest of the set. The Wildcats had two blocks in the set but the offense only hit .186. Ndam-Simpson totaled four kills while three other Cats had two kills each.

Arizona evened the match with a 26-24 win in the second set. The Wildcats used four blocks to hold the Waves to a .171 hitting percentage. Ndam-Simpson led the attack with five kills while Jones and Osunsanmi had four kills each. Tucker led the defense with three blocks to help Arizona win the set.

The Waves took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-19 win in the third set. Pepperdine's defense recorded six blocks to hold Arizona's attack to a .049 hitting percentage. Osunsanmi had three kills and Tucker had a pair of blocks but it wasn't enough to win the set.

Arizona won the fourth set 25-22 to force a fifth set. After six lead changes, the Wildcats used a late 6-0 run to win the set. Ndam-Simpson went off for six kills with a .500 clip while Carlie Cisneros and Jones had two kills each to help the Cats. Defensively, Arizona had six blocks and Tucker led the way with three blocks to hold Pepperdine to a .176 clip.

Pepperdine won the fifth set 15-11 to win the match. The Waves jumped out to a 7-4 lead and the Cats couldn't catch up. Arizona's defense had one block but Pepperdine hit .333 to control the set. Ndam-Simpson tallied three kills but it wasn't enough to combat Pepperdine's attack.

The Wildcats will head to USC next weekend to take on the Trojans and Oregon State beginning Friday, September 11 with a matchup against USC in Los Angeles.