RENO, Nev. ­Â— The #13/#24 Pepperdine women’s volleyball team claimed the championship of the Nevada AT&T Invitational on Saturday, good for its third tournament title in three weekends of play. The Waves defeated Missouri and the host Wolf Pack on Saturday and didn’t drop a set in their three wins over two days.
The Waves (9-0) defeated the Tigers (a 2007 NCAA Tournament team) by the score of 25-15, 25-23, 25-18 in the morning, then came back in the evening to beat the host Wolf Pack, 25-17, 25-23, 25-17. Pepperdine defeated UC Davis in three sets in the opener on Friday night.
Pepperdine’s nine-match winning streak to open the season ties the third-best start in school history. The Waves also opened 9-0 in 1977 and 2000, and went 13-0 in 1997 and 10-0 in 1976.
Senior outside hitter Julie Rubenstein (Camarillo, Calif./Oaks Christian HS) is now three-for-three when it comes to tournament MVP honors in 2008. She had a team-high 30 kills and hit .300 over the weekend. Junior setter Kiah Fiers (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Peninsula HS) and junior outside hitter Rachel Lumsden (Brea, Calif./Brea Olinda HS) also made an all-tournament team for the second weekend in a row.
Pepperdine had an exceptional weekend defensively, as each of the Waves’ three opponents finished with hitting percentages of less than .100.
“Special is a good word to describe what we did defensively this weekend,” Pepperdine assistant coach Tim Jensen said. “This was an all-around team effort. This team is really comfortable with each other and what they’re doing, and it’s showing. Julie was MVP of the tournament, but a lot of people helped. You have to give Kiah a lot of credit as the setter, she was distributing good, hittable balls. And everyone else was passing well.”
Freshman outside hitter Lilla Frederick (Huntington Beach, Calif./Cornelia Connelly HS) had a match-high 12 kills along with nine digs in the win over Missouri. Rubenstein had 10 kills and 10 digs for her second double-double of the season. Freshman libero Stevi Robinson (Hermosa Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) had a match-high 17 digs, Fiers had 29 assists and Lumsden had five service aces.
The Waves had a .287 to .069 hitting edge over the Tigers, which included a .706 (12-0-17) performance in the first set. Missouri finished 27 kills and 20 hitting errors, eight on Pepperdine blocks.
In the Nevada match, the Waves held the Wolf Pack to a negative hitting percentage in two of the three sets and to a miniscule .012 (21 kills and 20 errors) percentage for the match. Pepperdine had 11 blocks.
Freshman middle blocker Kim Hill (Portland, Ore./Portland Christian HS) had a season-high 12 kills and a .733 hitting percentage (12-1-15) with four blocks. Rubenstein also had 12 kills and four blocks. Robinson added a match-high 10 digs. Fiers had 37 assists and led Pepperdine to a team hitting percentage of .340, and no worse than .325 in any single set.
Pepperdine is ranked #13 by Molten/Volleyball Magazine and #24 by the AVCA.
The Waves finally play their 2008 home opener next weekend (Sept. 19-20) when they host the annual Pepperdine Asics Classic. Cal State Northridge, Texas State and UC Santa Barbara are the other participants.
