Waves Face LMU on the Road on Saturday
11/5/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
MALIBU, Calif. - After earning two shutout victories last week at home, the Pepperdine women's volleyball team looks to keep the momentum rolling this week with a road match at Wells Fargo PCH Cup rival Loyola Marymount. The contest, scheduled for a 12 p.m. start on Saturday, Nov. 8, can be watched live online.
Match 25: Pepperdine (9-15, 4-8 WCC) at Loyola Marymount (19-5, 7-5 WCC) | November 8 | 12 p.m. | Gersten Pavilion | Los Angeles, Calif.
COVERAGE: Watch Saturday's contest at Loyola Marymount for free at LMULions.com ... Live stats will be also be available ... Links to all coverage can be found by clicking on a particular match on the Pepperdine women's volleyball team's schedule page at PepperdineSports.com ... Follow @PepperdineWVB for addition score updates on Twitter.
LOOKING BACK: The Waves earned two shutout victories against Portland and Gonzaga last week at home, led by Katie Messing's 5.00 kills/set ... Messing earned career kill No. 1,000 last week Saturday against Gonzaga ... Fellow senior Samantha Cash also had a phenomenal week, charting 2.67 kills/set while hitting .484, six aces (1.00 per set) and 1.50 blocks/set ... It was the second time this season Pepperdine has posted back-to-back sweeps.
LOOKING FURTHER BACK: Despite returning from the San Diego-BYU road trip without a win, Pepperdine produced many positive results against two of the conference's top teams ... The Waves are now just one of three teams (joining #2 Washington and San Francisco) to win a set against nationally ranked BYU inside Smith Fieldhouse in 2014 after a hard-fought 3-1 loss ... Katie Messing sent down a career-high 23 kills in the match ... The Waves have been on the upswing since the BYU match and have out-killed opponents 14.70-12.50 since then.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Waves continue life on the road next week with matches at San Francisco and Santa Clara ... Pepperdine concludes the regular season inside Firestone Fieldhouse, playing Pacific (Nov. 20), Saint Mary's (Nov. 22) and San Diego (Nov. 25) ... Senior Day, celebrating the careers of Chanel Brown, Samantha Cash, Katie Messing and Jazmine Orozco, will be celebrated on Saturday, Nov. 22.
CHECK THE RECORD: Katie Messing became the 17th Wave in program history, dating back to 1975, to become a member of the 1,000 Kill Club on Nov. 1 with her fifth kill of the match against Gonzaga ... She enters the match with 1,008 kills and is just 11 away from overtaking Carrie Romer (1993-96) for 16th place ... 1999 AVCA All-American Jaime Hill sits in 15th place with 1,023 career kills ... Samantha Cash continues to move up the ladder, and now ranks third in Pepperdine program history with 420 career blocks ... She began the season in 10th place ... Victoria Adelhelm (2009-12) sits in second place with 455 career blocks ... She surpassed the 400 career blocks milestone with her first rejection against San Francisco (10/18).
NOTING THE WAVES: In its 40th season as a program, Pepperdine is 766-460-2 all-time ... The Waves are 324-98 all-time in their 30th season of WCC play ... Pepperdine is 337-125 when playing inside Firestone Fieldhouse.
OPPONENT NOTES: LMU blazed through the nonconference season with a 12-0 record, and has been in and out of the AVCA Top-25 rankings this season ... The Lions are currently 19-5 overall and 7-5 in league action ... Tom Black, who also serves as an assistant coach to the U.S. Women's National Team, is head coach for LMU's indoor and sand squads ... Last week, the Lions outlasted Gonzaga 20-18 at home in the fifth to escape with the victory before sweeping Portland ... Caitlin DeWitt leads LMU with 3.76 kills/set followed by Litara Keil with a 3.46 average.
TRIPLE THREAT: Junior setter Becca Strehlow has been doing a little bit of everything for the Waves ... Strehlow began setting all the way around in the 5-1 offense vs. Portland (Oct. 4) ... Prior to that, the Waves ran a 6-2 with Strehlow setting from the back row and hitting from the front row ... She has three kills-digs-assists triple-doubles to her credit this season, after charting a blocks-digs-assists triple-double in 2013 ... She averaged 6.07 assists/set in the 6-2 offense and is averaging 11.11 in the 5-1 ... The junior leads Pepperdine in digs (3.49 d/s) ... Strehlow was an AVCA All-American honorable mention in indoor last season, and a first-team All-American in sand volleyball.
MESSING: Since returning to the starting lineup vs. BYU (9/30), Katie Messing has led the Waves with 4.37 kills/set ... She is averaging 3.42 kills/set on the season ... Over the last three matches, Messing has put down 5.30 kills/set ... On the defensive side, she averages 2.21 digs/set and boasts five kills-digs double-doubles in 2014 ... On serve receive, Messing boasts the best success rate with just 14 errors through 272 attempts (.949) ... The 6-foot-4 outside hitter led Pepperdine in kills as a junior with a 3.54 kills/set average ... She set a new career high in kills with 23 against BYU (10/25) ... Prior to that, Messing had twice sent 20 kills to the floor in a single match.
COUNT ON CASH: Samantha Cash has turned her offensive output up a notch as of late, and has surpassed double figures in kills in four of the last eight matches ... Cash hit for a season-high .733 hitting percentage against Portland last week, terminating 11 kills off of 15 errorless swings ... She's hit over .600 three times this season and over .400 on seven occasions ... From the service line, she leads the Waves with 33 aces ... Cash has been credited with at least two blocks in all but two matches this season and has earned four or more roofs in 13 contests.
SWINGING SOPHOMORES: Sophomore outside hitters Jillian Bergeson and Gaby Palmeri have emerged as offensive leaders after playing different roles last season ... Bergeson ranks second in Pepperdine's offense with a 2.73 kills/set average after serving as the starting libero in 2013 ... The Texas native has also shined from the service line with 31 aces in 2014 ... She tallied 12 aces at the UC Irvine Tournament alone ... Palmeri, in her first season as an on-court regular, has also impressed ... She ranks third behind Bergeson and Messing with 2.47 kills/set ... The sophomore pegged down a then career-high 15 kills off of 30 errorless swings for an impressive .500 hitting percentage vs. Oral Roberts ... She went 9-for-17 with no errors against Gonzaga last week ... Palmeri led Pepperdine at the Bluejay Invitational with 3.64 kills/set.
THE ROTATION: Pepperdine has run a 5-1 offense run by Becca Strehlow for the last eight matches beginning with Portland (10/4) ... The Waves ran a 6-2 prior to that with Strehlow and Chanel Brown sharing setting duties ... Strehlow played all the way around, serving as a hitter while in the front row ... Jillian Bergeson, Gaby Palmeri and Katie Messing have held down the three pin hitting positions, with Brown currently serving as a backup ... Brown also provides serving support ... Allie Loitz has also offered support on the outside, but currently starts from the libero position .. Samantha Cash has started every match at middle blocker, while Olivia Okoro and Emma Fuzie share time as the second middle blocker ... Ashley Morgan has made her way into the lineup as a defensive specialist for Palmeri in the back row ... Katie Lespier has also earned the start as libero.
FIVB WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS - Kim Hill, an indoor volleyball standout from 2008-11, made history on Oct. 12, winning the FIVB World Championship gold medal alongside the U.S. Women's National Team in Italy ... Hill paced the team with 20 points and was named the championship's Most Valuable Player ... Team USA had never before won a major tournament title, including at the World Championships, World Cup and Olympic Games ... Hill was also dubbed a "Best Spiker" ... Hill has been suiting up as an outside hitter for the Red, White and Blue since 2013 after a stellar open tryout ... Assistant coach Alex Dunphy actually had to convince Hill to attend the tryout ... Hill will play professionally in Italy this year after playing in Poland last season ... She was a three-time All-American for Pepperdine, and led the Waves to the 2011 NCAA Tournament regional final ... She was also a two-time All-American on the sand volleyball team, and on the inaugural national championship squad in 2012 ... Pepperdine men's volleyball coaches Marv Dunphy and David Hunt were both overseas with the team serving on Karch Kiraly's coaching staff.
SENIOR CLASS: Senior middle blocker Samantha Cash was announced as a top-30 candidate for the prestigious Senior CLASS Award on Sept. 9 ... To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence - community, classroom, character and competition ... An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities ... Cash did not make the top-10 finalist cut.
TOURNAMENT SEASON RECAP: The Waves concluded tournament play with a 5-7 record ... Pepperdine placed second at its own Asics Classic to start the season ... The Waves swept South Alabama to open the year, giving head coach Troy Tanner a win in his Pepperdine coaching debut ... All three of his predecessors, Patti Bright, Gary Sato and Nina Matthies won in their Firestone Fieldhouse debuts ... Gaby Palmeri charted her first career double-double with 16 kills and 13 digs in a 3-1 loss vs. tournament host Creighton at the Bluejay Invitational ... Allie Loitz had a breakout performance in a dominant 25-15, 25-14, 25-15 triumph over Bowling Green, putting down 10 kills off of 17 errorless swings ... Becca Strehlow charted two triple-doubles at the UC Irvine Tournament ... Jillian Bergeson delivered two kills-digs double-doubles and averaged a team-high 3.67 kills at the Residence Inn Invitational.
Troy Tanner: Pepperdine men's volleyball alum Troy Tanner enters his first season with the Waves in 2014 ... Tanner was a three-time All-American as a player, and helped lead the 1985 and 1986 Waves to the NCAA championship titles ... Tanner went on to win a gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul as part of the U.S. Men's National Team ... Prior to coaching at Pepperdine, Tanner served coaching stints at TStreet Volleyball Club and BYU.
2014 HALL OF FAME: Three volleyball players were enshrined in the 2014 Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony to take place on Oct. 19 ... Three-time WCC Player of the Year and three-time All-American Katie Kimmich-Wilkins (2000-13), Sean Rooney (2002-05), and Brad Keenan (2000-03) were inducted.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE: Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won NCAA Division I championships in five different men's sports — one of just 17 schools to have accomplished this feat — and nine overall. Of this elite group, Pepperdine has the smallest undergraduate enrollment, is the only school without football and is the only university that has not been affiliated with a "major" conference. The Waves have won a total of 23 team or individual national championships in their history. Pepperdine has also earned the Division I-AAA All-Sports Trophy, an award based on postseason success that's given to the top non-football school, three times (most recently in 2011-12). Located in scenic Malibu, Calif., the university overlooks the Pacific Ocean and its campus and athletic facilities are regularly voted among the nation's most beautiful. Pepperdine, which is affiliated with the Church of Christ, ranks #54 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
