Waves to Play PCH Cup Match at Loyola Marymount
11/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
GAME NOTES
MALIBU, Calif. -- The Pepperdine women's volleyball team will head into the first of two final regular season competitions on Saturday as the Waves make the short trek to take on PCH Cup-rivals Loyola Marymount (20-8, 11-5 WCC) in Los Angeles, Calif. The Waves are 17-12 overall and an even 8-8 in WCC play heading in to the last competitions.
MATCH #30 -- Saturday (November 21) at the Gersten Pavilion - Los Angeles, Calif.: Pepperdine (17-12, 8-8 WCC) vs. Loyola Marymount (20-8, 11-5 WCC) at 12 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.
WELLS FARGO PCH CUP -- An annual all-sport competition between two local rivals that are separated by just 19.1 miles of scenic coastline, the Wells Fargo PCH Cup is in its seventh season of existence. Pepperdine won the first five cups. A home win is worth one point, a road victory is worth 1.5 points. Pepperdine won the first volleyball cup match earlier this season in September in a five-set showdown.
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT -- The Lions are currently 20-8 overall and 11-5 within West Coast Conference play. The team is coming off a split weekend after falling in straight sets to Santa Clara and defeating San Francisco in three sets. As a team, LMU posts 14.2 kill/set, 13.4 assists/set, 1.2 aces/set, 14.1 digs/set and 2.2 blocks/set so far this season, to earn the No. 4 spot on the WCC standings. Sarah Sponcil leads the team with 390 kills and boasts a .268 hitting percentage with 128 errors in 977 attempts. She also leads the Lions with 30 aces and 3.0 digs/set (323 digs). Rachelle Suaava is also a big impact player for Loyola Marymoutn with a team-high 129 total blocks this season, averaging 1.2 block/set. She also helps the effort with 323 kills and a .283 hitting percentage. Hannah Tedrow leads the team in playmaker duties, averaging 11.7 assists/set this season. She has also posted 2.0 digs/set, 0.2 aces/set, 0.6 assists/set and 0.8 blocks/set.
LAST MEETING -- The last time the Waves and Lions faced off, Pepperdine earned the PCH Cup-bragging rights after a hard-fought 3-2 victory at home (25-17, 18-25, 25-16, 16-25, 15-12). Gaby Palmeri led the Waves' effort with 14 kills, and with only two errors in 25 attempts, posted a .480 success rate on the attack. Becca Strehlow also performed well with 39 assists, 12 digs, three blocks and seven kills, as well as boasting a .538 hitting percentage for the Waves. Olivia Okoro and Tarah Wylie each had eight kills, and Lara Dykstra tabbed 24 digs on the night.
LAST WEEK -- Last week, the Waves split two WCC matches, first defeating San Francisco in four sets, before falling to Santa Clara in three sets. Against USF, the Waves defeated the Dons 25-18, 25-14, 22-25, 25-21 for the win. Five players hit for double figures with Tarah Wylie leading the effort with 13 kills and nine blocks along with a .370 hitting percentage. Brooke Honeycutt, Heidi Dyer, Nikki Lyons and Jenna Tunnell all had 11 kills apiece. Becca Strehlow led the offense with 51 assists and the defense with 21. Then against Santa Clara, Tunnell led the attack with nine kills and a career-high .350 hitting percentage. Wylie posted eight kills and four blocks and Dykstra led the team with 13 digs. Strehlow was good for 27 digs as well.
FRESHMEN -- The freshmen play a big impact in the Waves' offensive this season, with Nikki Lyons, Heidi Dyer and Tarah Wylie all leading the effort. Lyons leads the team with 2.9 kills/set and 291 total kills this season. She has also helped out with 1.9 digs/set and 0.3 blocks/set. Dyer posts an all-around great effort and leads tthe team with 1,000 total attack attempts this season. She averages 2.7 kills/set (283 kills-103 errors), 0.2 assists/set (21), 0.1 aces/set (15), 2.2 digs/set (231) and 0.4 blocks/set (41). Wylie rounds out the top three attackers with 271 total kills this season. She ranks second in the WCC with a .338 hitting percentage and leads the team with 122 total blocks, averaging 1.3 blocks/set for Pepperdine. Also making an impact late in the season for the Waves has been Jenna Tunnell, who now averages 1.6 kills/set after posting 76 kills and 42 errors in 253 attempts. She also has tabbed 0.6 blocks/set after amassing 30 total blocks this season.
ROSTER -- Seniors Becca Strehlow and Lara Dykstra are more than instrumental this season for the Waves. Strehlow acts as primary playmaker for the offense and leads with 10.3 assists/set (1110). She has also tabbed 21 total aces, 130 kills, 366 digs and 96 blocks for the Waves in an all-around effort. Dykstra leads the team with 4.3 digs/set and 465 total digs. She has also posted 1.1 assists/set after tabbign 119 total digs this season. Gaby Palmeri and Brooke Honeycutt also play a part for the Waves, with Palmeri tabbing 167 kills and averaging 1.9 kills/set. Honeycutt is good for 1.4 kills/set and has tallied 113 kills and 31 assists in 275 attempts for a .298 hitting percentage. She has also added 65 total blocks this season.
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 17-12 overall record and 8-8 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.
