Waves to Host No. 12 BYU and San Diego
10/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Game Notes
MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team enters week nine of competition and week five of West Coast Conference play this week. Possible the Waves toughest week yet, Pepperdine will begin with nationally ranked-No. 12 BYU on Thursday and end with San Diego, a team receiving votes on the AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll, on Saturday. Last weekend, the Waves picked up a four-set victory over San Francisco to improve the overall record to 13-8 and WCC record to 4-4.
MATCH #22 — Thursday (October 22) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (13-8, 4-4 WCC) vs. BYU (17-2, 7-1 WCC) at 7 p.m.
MATCH #23 — Saturday (October 24) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine vs. San Francisco (13-6, 7-1 WCC) at 1 p.m.
LIVE — Both matches will be streamed live on TheW.tv. Live statistics will also be available on PepperdineSports.com
SOCIAL MEDIA — Follow @WavesVolleyball on Twitter for updates and check out PepperdineSports.com and Facebook (/WavesVolleyball) for releases and more information.
TICKETS — Each match costs $8 for adults and $5 for alumni, children, seniors and non-Pepperdine students. Tickets are free for Pepperdine students, faculty and staff with a valid Pepperdine ID. Purchase tickets in advance at 866-WAVE-TIX or at the ticket office on game day.
PINK GAME — The match will honor breast cancer awareness with a pink-theme. Pepperdine Colleges Against Cancer (PCAC) will be attendance and have a table set up in the lobby selling pink shirts, collecting donations and giving out pink cookies and pink lemonade for fans. During the match, there will be Pepperdine Pink aluminum water bottles and other giveaways available to a few lucky fans.
OPPONENTS — No. 12 BYU comes into the match-up with a 17-2 overall record and tied in the West Coast Conferece top spot along with Saturday competiton San Diego with a 7-1 record. The Cougars hold a 7-2 record on the road and all-time lead the Waves with an 18-7 record against. The team is currently on a six-match winning streak after taking down Gonzaga and Portland in straight sets last week. BYU averages 13.4 kills/set, 12.5 assists/set, 1.5 aces/set, 13.5 digs/set and 2.9 blocks/set as a team this season. Alexa Gray leads the team with 4.5 kills/set after posting 289 kills and 86 errors in 748 attempts for a .271 hitting percentage. Camry Willardson and Alohi Robins-Hardy each average 8.94 and 8.24 assists/set respectively and Amy Boswell leads the team with 1.5 blocks/set after amassing 86 total block assists and eight block solos. San Diego, a team receiving votes on the AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll, enters the match with a 13-6 overall record and 7-1 record within conference play. The Waves hold a 29-26 all-time record against the Toreros, but the USD has the edge on 2015 after defeating Pepperdine in a close five-set bout earlier this season. Lisa Kramer leads the team with 4.3 kills/set and in 682 total attempts, has put down 308 kills and 118 errors for a .279 success rate on the attack. Kristen Gengenbacher leads the team with 633 total assists to average 9.0 assists/set for San Diego and Lauren Schad leads the team with 1.0 blocks/set after sending 63 block assists and nine block solos back over the net.
LAST WEEK— Last week, the Waves split to hold an even 4-4 WCC record after falling in three sets to Santa Clara and putting down San Francisco in a come-back fasion four-set win. First, against Santa Clara, Gaby Pameri and Nikki Lyons led the team with 10 and eight kills respectively. Lyons posted a .353 hitting percentage, five digs and 11 serve receptions on the day as well. Becca Strehlow led Pepperdine with 27 assists and three blocks while also posting eight digs. Lara Dykstra posted a team-high 14 digs, while helping the effort with four assists. Then, against San Francisco, Lyons led with 17 kills, while posting a .282 hitting percentage, six digs, two blocks and one ace. Heidi Dyer was next in line with 15 kills, while also tabbing five blocks and three digs. Strehlow led the effort with her 10th double-double of the 2015 campaign after posting a team-high 41 assists and 18 idgs. Tarah Wylie also did work for the Waves with eight kills and a team-high seven blocks and three aces on the day.
FRESHMEN — Freshman have been playing an instrumental part of the 2015 attack effort with Nikki Lyons, Heidi Dyer and Tarah Wylie leading the Waves with 2.86, 2.83 and 2.53 kills/set respectively. Lyons has posted 212 kills on the season, while also tallying 13 aces and 1.8 digs/set (132). Dyer leads the team with 215 kills, and with 72 errors in 717 attempts, puts up a .199 hitting percentage. She has also tabbed eight aces, 2.0 digs/set (155) and 34 total blocks for the Waves this season. Wylie leads the team with 1.1 blocks/set after posting six soolos and 79 block assists. She has also added an impressive 20 service aces, averaging 0.3 aces/set, and a team-high .340 hitting percentage after amassing 197 kills and only 60 errors in 403 attempts.
ROSTER — Seniors Becca Strehlow and Lara Dykstra are also key to Pepperdine's success on the court. Strehlow averages 10.4 assists/set (812), 3.1 digs/set (245), 0.2 aces/set (14) and 0.8 blocks/set (2 solo-63 assists) for the Waves. Dykstra is good for 4.4 digs/set on average this season, while also posting 27 total service aces, averaging 0.4 aces/set this season. The libero also adds 1.1 assists/set for the Waves after tabbing 89 total assists this season thus far. Also making an impact for the Waves are Gaby Palmeri, Olivia Okoro and Brooke Honeycutt. Palmeri posts 2.0 kills/set (150), 0.5 digs/set (36) and 0.5 blocks/set (2 solo-35 assists), Okoro tabs 1.5 kills/set (73) and 0.8 blocks/set (1 solo-37 assists), and Honeycutt is good for 1.1 kills/set (56) and 0.7 blocks/set (1 solo-34 assists) for the Waves.
HONORS — In the first four weeks of competition, setter Becca Strehlow earned a spot on the All-Tournament team, most recently for her performance in the Wyoming Invitational. Also at the USC Invitational, Strehlow alongside middle blocker Tarah Wylie received All-Tournament accolades. At the Lipscomb Invitational, Strehlow and libero Lara Dykstra tabbed All-Tournament honors. After Strehlow's performance setting up the Waves' offense in week one, she earned the season's first WCC Player of the Week honors. She was also named to the Preseason All-WCC team and returns to the court for her senior season after garnering All-American honorable mention status after the 2013 campaign. Also, the 2015 recruiting class ranked No. 22 in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com.
WCC — Pepperdine currently boasts a 11-6 overall record and 2-2 West Coast Conference record. Along with Strehlow's preseason honors, the Waves were picked to finish seventh this season in the WCC Preseason Coaches Poll. BYU tabbed the top spot with 79 points and seven first-place votes and Santa Clara picked up 69 points and three first-place votes for the two-spot. San Diego, Gonzaga and Loyola Marymount round out the top five heading into 2015.
Scott Wong — Pepperdine alum Scott Wong was named head coach in December 2014, becoming the fifth head coach in program history. In his first outing on the sidelines for the Waves last weekend, Wong led the team to their first 4-0 undefeated start since the 2009 season, as well as an Asics Classic victory. Wong was an assistant with the Waves' men's program from 2005-09 (and was part of the 2005 NCAA championship-winning team) before moving back to his home state of Hawaii and serving as associate coach with the Rainbows' women's squad for five seasons. He was also Hawaii's sand volleyball head coach. Wong was a three-time All-American with the Waves between 1998-01.
2014 SEASON — In Troy Tanner's only season as head coach (he resigned following the season for family reasons), the Waves went 12-18 and finished seventh in the WCC with a 7-11 mark. Samantha Cash, Katie Messing and Becca Strehlow each made the All-WCC honorable mention team.
ALL-TIME DIVISION I TOP 25 RANKINGS — PrepVolleyball.com recently ranked the All-Time Top 25 Division I Programs for women's volleyball and Pepperdine ranked No. 21. Since the first Waves season in 1975, the program has finished in the top 25 rankings 19 total times, including 16 final top 25 rankings on the AVCA coaches poll which began in 1981. The program has finished ranked top 10 on eight separate occasions.
INDOOR VOLLEYBALL HISTORY — The Pepperdine women's volleyball program is synonymous with the word excellence, as the Waves are a perennial national power. The Waves have advanced to postseason play 27 times in 40 seasons, including 13 trips to the NCAA Championships in the last 18 seasons. Pepperdine's best finishes in recent years came when the team made the regional final of the NCAA Tournament in 2002 and again in 2011. Ten players have earned AVCA or Volleyball Magazine All-American honors a combined 19 times, while six players have been dubbed the WCC Player of the Year nine total times. Nina Matthies, who stepped down after the 2013 season, will be inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame this December.
