Waves to Play at San Francisco, Santa Clara
11/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's volleyball squad has just four matches left in the 2015 regular season. The Waves will play the first two this weekend in the 8th week of West Coast Conference competition. First, the team will trek to San Francisco to challenge the Dons (16-10, 3-10) on Thursday. Then, the Waves will end the weekend with the Broncos of Santa Clara (19-6, 10-3), a team currently ranked third in the WCC standings. Pepperdine enters the weekend 16-11 overall and an even 7-7 in West Coast Conference play.
MATCH #28 — Thursday (November 9) at War Memorial Gym in San Francisco, Calif.: Pepperdine (16-11, 7-7 WCC) vs. San Francisco (16-10, 3-10 WCC) at 7 p.m.
MATCH #29 — Saturday (November 11) at The Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif.: Pepperdine vs. Santa Clara (19-6, 10-3 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.
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco enters the match ranked No. 9 in the West Coast Conference standings after amassing a 16-10 overall record and 3-10 record within WCC play. As a team, the Dons average 13.6 kills/set, 12.6 assists/set, 1.3 aces/set, 13.6 digs/set and 2.4 blocks/set, while adding a .245 collecting hitting percentage (1233-478-3080) on the season. Katarina Pilepic leads the team with 3.8 kills/set after posting a .268 success rate on the attack (345-132-796). Madison Murtagh is next on the offensive with 2.3 kills/set, while leading the team with 16 block solos and 90 block assists this season. Kiara McKibben and Jurja Vlasic share the playmaker duties with 6.5 and 4.8 assists/set each so far this season.
SANTA CLARA — Santa Clara enters the match-up ranked No. 3 in the WCC standings this week after putting up a 19-6 overall record and 10-3 record within conference competition. As a team, the Broncos average 13.5 kills/set, 12.7 assists/set, 1.7 aces/set, 15.0 digs/set and 2.5 blocks/set this season. Nikki Hess leads the team with 4.0 kills/set, while amassing a .219 hitting percentage (354-145-953). Kirsten Mead leads the team in setting duties with 11.0 assists/set after tabbing 966 set-ups, and is second on the team with 34 service aces. Jensen Cunningham is top of the Broncos stats with 10 block solos and 90 total block assists this season as well.
LAST WEEK— Last week, the Waves celebrated seniors Lara Dykstra, Olivia Okoro and Becca Strehlow against Portland, and split the weekend 1-1 overall. In the five-set thrilling victory over Gonzaga, Strehlow posted one of the best performances of her career with a triple-double after tallying 48 assists, 19 digs and 10 block assists, along with four kills for the Waves. Freshmen Heidi Dyer, Nikki Lyons and Tarah Wylie also put up double-figure kills with 16, 14 and 12 respectively. Dyer added 12 digs and a .302 hitting percentage, Lyons was good for seven digs and Wylie ended with three aces, five blocks, six digs and a .318 hitting percentage on the night. Then, in the five-set heart-breaking loss to Portland, Strehlow outdid herself again with 52 assists and a career-high 30 digs, while adding four kills and one ace. Jenna Tunnell and Brooke Honeycutt led the attack with 14 and 13 kills respectively. Tunnell added five digs and Honeycutt finished with a .480 success rate on the attack. Dyer and Wylie also collected 12 kills apiece. Dyer picking up a career-high 21 digs and her 5th double-dobule of the season and Wylie added a .296 hitting percentage.
FRESHMEN — Freshmen have made quite the impact on the squad this season, with Nikki Lyons, Heidi Dyer and Tarah Wylie leading the team on the attack. Lyons is on top with 2.9 kill/set after posting 278 kills and 150 errors in 752 attempts. She has also tabbed 1.8 digs/set and 13 service aces for the Waves this season. Dyer is next in line with 2.7 kills/set after tallying 265 kills and 97 errors in 930 attempts for the Waves. She has also tallied 2.2 digs/set, 0.4 blocks/set and 15 total aces for the team thus far. Wylie is an all-around impacting player for Pepperdine after putting up 2.5 kills/set, 1.1 blocks/set, and 0.3 aces/set so far this season. In 517 attack attempts, she has amassed 250 kills and only 75 errors for an impressive .338 hitting percentage that ranks 2nd in the WCC. She has also put up 28 total aces for the Waves.
ROSTER — The senior presence of Becca Strehlow and Lara Dykstra has been evident on the court all season. Strehlow is a standout in all facets of the game, tallying 10.2 assists/set, 3.4 digs/set, 1.2 kills/set, 0.9 blocks/set and 0.2 aces/set for the Waves. She has amassed a .333 hitting percentage (122-27-285), 19 aces and 88 total blocks for her team. Dykstra leads the team and is second in the WCC with 4.3 digs/set after posting 435 digs this season. She leads the team with 29 total aces and is second for the Waves with 114 total assists, averaging 1.1 assists/set.
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 15-10 overall record and 6-6 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.
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 25 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 No. 52 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
