MALIBU, Calif. – Pepperdine women’s swimming and diving plays host to its first and only dual meet of the season Saturday at noon vs. regional rival Cal State Northridge.

 

For Waves’ head coach Nick Rodionoff, the dual represents the beginning of the end of the 2008-09 season and his student-athletes need to boost their performances from two weeks ago if they hope to beat the Matadors, and later have a strong showing at the mid-February PCSC Championships.

 

“This meet is a big deal since the conference championships are not far away,” Rodionoff said. “I know it’s kind of early, but we need to start approximating our best times and get in that high performance mode. Northridge is going to give us a dog fight.”

 

Rodionoff noted CSUN is strong in the distance events as well as the 200 breaststroke and individual medley, which will present Waves Madison Krall (Pueblo, Colo./Pueblo Centennial HS), Dani Kimmel (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake HS), Kayleen Hicks (Chico, Calif./Chico HS) and Haley Wilson (Carpinteria, Calif./Santa Barbara HS) with a number of major challenges.

 

Overall, the all-time dual series record between these two SoCal schools is about 50/50.

 

Pepperdine’s last competition was at the two-day UC Irvine Invitational, which not only served as its first meet of 2009, but provided a degree of shock therapy for some competitors who spent Christmas Break away from campus.

 

On the second day of competition, Rodionoff had many of his swimmers compete in close to 10 events each. And while the likes of Hicks (200 breast, 2:23.99) and others posted some good swims, there weren’t as many great performances as he was expecting.

 

“Those student-athletes who stayed here around the pool, mostly our upperclassmen and in-state people, they didn’t lose anything,” Rodionoff said. “But some were shell shocked in going up against those top-10 or 20 teams from Nebraska, BYU and Wyoming. It was a real workout for everyone.”

 

The women’s-only dual is expected to last two hours, allowing fans to walk right over to Heritage Hall afterwards in time for the women’s basketball contest with West Coast Conference rival Saint Mary’s College. The Waves and Gaels tip off at 2 p.m.

 

- Copy by Chris Macaluso (Pepperdine sports information)