Oct. 11, 2014 Final Stats
MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine women's volleyball team hit over .300 as a squad, but could not overcome #25-ranked Loyola Marymount on Saturday afternoon in West Coast Conference action. The Waves fell in straight, albeit closely contested sets: 25-21, 26-24, 25-23.
Pepperdine produced its best hitting percentage against a league opponent to date and third highest of the season, swinging at a .324 (44 kills, 11 errors, 102 attempts) clip. Despite the impressive offensive performance, LMU trumped it with a .337 (49-15-101) success rate.
Katie Messing (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands HS) led the offensive charge with 16 kills while hitting at a season-high .452 (16-2-31) hitting percentage. She also tallied five digs and a block.
Gaby Palmeri (Davis, Calif./St. Francis HS) and Olivia Okoro (Carrollton, Texas/Hebron HS/Tennessee) followed with eight kills apiece.
Managing the offense was Becca Strehlow (Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson HS), who dished 39 assists while collecting a team-high seven digs.
Although the Waves (7-11, 2-4 WCC) challenged LMU in every set, the Lions (16-2, 4-2 WCC) earned the breaks they needed to stay just out of reach. The visitors out-dug the home team, 40-26, which helped provide valuable opportunities for the offense.
Loyola Marymount led for most of the opening frame, but the Waves only trailed by just a point or two throughout. LMU found some separation late and went ahead 21-16 following back-to-back Litara Keil kills. Pepperdine cut the lead to two points, but Keil continued to sideout for the Lions to help put the set away, 25-21.
Set two played out even closer, as the two sides battled through 18 tie scores and nine lead changes. Tied at 23-23, Messing terminated a ball to give the Waves set point, but Caitlin DeWitt killed a ball of her own for the sideout. After a Pepperdine attack error, Sarah Sponcil capitalized on the opportunity with a kill to clinch the stanza 26-24.
The Waves swung at a marginally better hitting percentage in the set, but six serving errors proved costly in the end. Palmeri paced the offense with five kills, followed by Messing with four. Okoro helped the cause with three put aways and pair of blocks.
Trying to dig out of a two-set deficit, Pepperdine continued to battle and challenged LMU from start to finish in the third. The lead was once again exchanged several times, and tied as late as 22-22. Keil then took over, producing two more kills to settle the match at 25-23.
Keil would end the day with 16 kills while hitting .556 (16-1-27).
Samantha Cash (San Diego, Calif./Canyon Crest Academy) tallied a pair of blocks to bring her career total to 394. She entered the match tied for third place in Pepperdine program history with Carrie Romer (1993-96), but now stands alone at the No. 3 spot. Cash is now chasing former teammate Victoria Adelhelm, who sits in second place all-time with 455 career roofs.
Messing hit career kill No. 900 today with her fourth put away of the match. She could become the program's 17th student-athlete to reach the 1,000 kills career milestone by season's end.
The Waves remain at home next week for matches versus Santa Clara (Oct. 16) and San Francisco (Oct. 18).
