#1 Pepperdine Opens 2015 Season on Friday
3/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Beach Volleyball
March 4, 2015
MATTHIES - Nina Matthies' retired from coaching the indoor game following the 2013 season and finishes her 31-season run with a career record of 590-343 (.632). In the span, Matthies led the Waves to 10 conference championships and 20 NCAA Tournament appearances. She is by far the WCC's all-time winningest coach and is a 10-time WCC Coach of the Year. Matthies was among the world's top players and is a member of the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame. In 2009, Dig Magazine rated her and former partner Linda Hanley as the second-best women's beach team of all time. She won two AIAW national championships as a player at UCLA. In 2013, she was honored by her peers as the inaugural winner of the AVCA Sand Volleyball Coach of the Year award. She enters the 2014 sand season, her fourth at the helm, with a 52-2 record.
SICOLI - Marcio Sicoli is in his fourth season assisting Nina Matthies in the sand, after spending six season with her as assistant indoor volleyball coach. Sicoli is highly lauded for his approach to training and served as head coach for Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings during their gold-medal run at the 2012 London Olympics. Sicoli also served as the assistant coach for the Brazilian Olympic Women's Beach Volleyball Team from 2000 to 2004. In 2004, his team of Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede took home the silver medal in Athens. He currently serves as coach to 2016 Olympic hopefuls Walsh Jennings and April Ross.
DAZE - The Waves' volunteer assistant coach, Jon Daze, was recognized as one of the AVCA's 2013-14 Thirty Under 30 Award recipients. He was the only volunteer assistant coach honored this year and just the second in the history of the award. Established in 2009, the award honors emerging coaching talent younger than 30 years old at all levels of volleyball.
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.
MALIBU, Calif. - The #1-ranked Pepperdine sand volleyball opens the 2015 campaign in Honolulu withthe Rainbow Wahine Invitational on Friday and Saturday. The defending AVCA National Championship-winning Waves first play both Loyola Marymount and Hawaii in dual action, before engaging in a pairs championship that will span both days.
DUAL 1 - #1 Pepperdine (18-1 in 2014) vs. #6 Loyola Marymount (10-9 in 2014) | Friday, March 6 | 10 a.m./12 p.m. (HT/PT)| Honolulu, Hawaii
DUAL 2 - #1 Pepperdine at #4 Hawaii (20-4 in 2014) | Friday, March 6 | 11 a.m./1 p.m. (HT/PT)| Honolulu, Hawaii
COVERAGE - Scores and recaps will be published on PepperdineSports.com at the end of each day's action ... Available updates can be followed on Twitter @PeppSandVolley.
LOOKING AHEAD - Pepperdine hosts national runner-up Florida State and TCU next week Wednesday, March 11 on the home sand of Zuma Beach ... The Waves continue the week with the USAV Collegiate Challenge, held at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.
ROSTER - Pepperdine returns 11 members of the 2014 AVCA Championship-winning squad, including eight of its 10 lineup regulars ... The Waves welcome back all four All-Americans from last year, including seniors Lara Dykstra, Kelley Larsen and Kellie Woolever, as well as junior Becca Strehlow ... Pepperdine also brings back Emily Cook, Katie Messing, Sophie Asprey and Delaney Knudsen ... Taylor Racich and Samantha Cash are also back with ample playing experience, while Leanna Schroeder returns after redshirting in 2014 ... The Waves' newcomers include freshmen Corinne Quiggle and Celia Smith, graduate student transfer Chanel Brown and sophomore Jillian Bergeson, who is also a member of the indoor squad in Malibu.
A CLOSER LOOK - Armed with a #1 preseason ranking, and two national team titles to back it up, the Pepperdine sand volleyball team knows it has a target firmly placed on its back. Even with the pressure and expectations to bring home another AVCA National Championship at the end of the season in May, life for head coach Nina Matthies and the Waves is simply about hard work and enjoying a day at the beach.
Matthies, now in her fourth year with the sand team and 32nd overall at Pepperdine, has nothing but praise for her teams' work ethic this season. She even joked how her players often vocalize their disappointment when it comes time to wrap things up at practice for the day.
But when you train and play at Zuma Beach, one of Malibu's most picturesque spots, who can really blame the student-athletes for wanting to prolong the time spent on a beach that is nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Mountains?
With a three-season record of 52-2, the Waves know that other teams will be eager to add to their loss tally in 2015.
"I think there is always going to be a target on our back. It is human nature that other teams want to beat us," said Matthies. "We just have to keep our heads on. We can't live and die with every match, but we need to be consistent."
Matthies goes on to say her Waves remain humble, and stay focused on training hard, working hard and only worrying about themselves and the things they can control. The veteran coach is confident that her players are comfortable about where they are within themselves.
"Training has been great, simply fantastic," Matthies said. "They are all really happy to be here. As a group, they are focused and serious about playing well and getting better every day."
Part of Matthies group consists of Emily Cook (Huntington Beach, Calif./Murrieta Valley HS), Kelley Larsen (Jamul, Calif./Christian HS) and Kellie Woolever (Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson HS), who will graduate this spring as Pepperdine's first four-year letterwinners in sand volleyball. All three were integral to the success of the inaugural team in 2012, helping set the bar high for Pepperdine sand volleyball players for years to come.
All three began their careers in Malibu with the indoor team in 2010. Cook transitioned to a sand-only player following her 2012 indoor season, while Larsen and Woolever exhausted their indoor eligibility in 2013.
"Emily, Kellie and Kelley, as well as all the other student-athletes to come through the sand program, helped build something from scratch. They laid a foundation not just for Pepperdine, but for the country," said Matthies. "That's the part I hope they will be proud of."
Matthies' senior leadership is bolstered by returning seniors Lara Dykstra (Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union HS/Nebraska), Katie Messing (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands HS) and Samantha Cash (San Diego, Calif./Canyon Crest Academy). Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz./Valley Christian HS/Arizona) also joins Pepperdine's senior class as a graduate student transfer.
All seven have played both indoor volleyball and sand at the collegiate level.
"The seniors are all good leaders and their work ethic is second to none. I couldn't be prouder of them, all the seniors," praised Matthies. "I want them all to be proud of the work they've put in and what they've accomplished, regardless of what happens this year.
"I know I'm proud of what we've accomplished."
Matthies, assisted once again by Marcio Sicoli and Jon Daze, also welcomes back juniors Becca Strehlow (Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson HS/UCLA), Sophie Asprey (Southlake, Texas/Liberty Christian HS/Tulane) and Taylor Racich (Santa Barbara, Calif./Dos Pueblos HS), sophomores Delaney Knudsen (Valencia, Calif./Valencia HS) and Leanna Schroeder (Westlake Village, Calif./Oaks Christian HS), and freshmen Corinne Quiggle (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Ponte Vedra HS) and Celia Smith (Avon, Colo./Vail Christian HS). Jillian Bergeson (Friendswood, Texas/Friendswood HS), a sophomore on the indoor team but a rookie in the sand, rounds out the Waves' 15-person roster.
Dykstra, Larsen, Strehlow and Woolever were all AVCA All-Americans in 2014, while Asprey, Cook, Knudsen and Messing were all regulars in the 10-person dual lineup.
After nearly a 10 month off season, the Waves finally embark on the 2015 campaign on Friday, March 6 vs. both Loyola Marymount and Hawaii in Honolulu.
"Everyone is fired up and ready to go," commented Matthies. "Obviously the biggest part of starting the season is team chemistry. Competition brings out the best and worst of people because you only have one shot. We know what we look like in practice against each other, but now we finally get to play someone else. We've got to come out strong and be able to self-correct. I'm anxious to see who can translate practice into a match and how they handle that transition."
Matthies was not only quick to compliment her team's tireless work ethic, but also her support staff.
"Our staff is incredible," Matthies said. "Marcio is a genius. His mind just works in a creative, great way. He just sees things differently than I do, but in a complimentary way. We really are together on how to do things and our chemistry is great.
"Jon has been amazing and we are so blessed to have him as a volunteer. Matt Young (strength and conditioning coach) has been great, Kevin Wright (athletic trainer) has been great. Just a wonderful collaboration of great minds involved. The best of part of my job is who I get to work with day in a day out," Matthies closed.
SAND VOLLEYBALL HISTORY - The Pepperdine women's sand volleyball program has been at the forefront of the sport since it was introduced in 2012. The Waves went a perfect 14-0 in dual match play and won the inaugural AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Team Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala. Pepperdine's Caitlin Racich -- the program's first-ever scholarship recipient -- and partner Summer Ross took home the pairs national crown as well. In 2013, the Waves marched back to the national title match but fell 3-2 while playing shorthanded. The Waves returned with a vengeance in 2014, going 18-1 in route to the national championship title. The Waves boast a nation-best 12 AVCA All-Americans: Lara Dykstra (2013, 14), Lilla Frederick (2012, 13), Kim Hill (2012, 13), Kelley Larsen (2014), Racich (2012, 13), Ross (2012), Becca Strehlow (2014) and Kellie Woolever (2014). Hill stands as the first, and to date only, student-athlete to earn AVCA All-American first team honors in both indoor and sand volleyball in a single season. The Waves enter the 2015 season with a 52-2 record.
NCAA STATUS - Collegiate sand volleyball is in its fourth and final year as an "emerging sport." It was given 10 years to gain the minimum 40 sponsoring institutions for two years in a row to be considered an NCAA Championship sport. With requirements met in record time, sand volleyball was voted into NCAA Championship Sport status earlier this year. The NCAA will host its first sand volleyball national championship in 2016. The NCAA will host only a team championship, and not a pairs championship.
DUAL 1 - #1 Pepperdine (18-1 in 2014) vs. #6 Loyola Marymount (10-9 in 2014) | Friday, March 6 | 10 a.m./12 p.m. (HT/PT)| Honolulu, Hawaii
DUAL 2 - #1 Pepperdine at #4 Hawaii (20-4 in 2014) | Friday, March 6 | 11 a.m./1 p.m. (HT/PT)| Honolulu, Hawaii
COVERAGE - Scores and recaps will be published on PepperdineSports.com at the end of each day's action ... Available updates can be followed on Twitter @PeppSandVolley.
LOOKING AHEAD - Pepperdine hosts national runner-up Florida State and TCU next week Wednesday, March 11 on the home sand of Zuma Beach ... The Waves continue the week with the USAV Collegiate Challenge, held at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif.
ROSTER - Pepperdine returns 11 members of the 2014 AVCA Championship-winning squad, including eight of its 10 lineup regulars ... The Waves welcome back all four All-Americans from last year, including seniors Lara Dykstra, Kelley Larsen and Kellie Woolever, as well as junior Becca Strehlow ... Pepperdine also brings back Emily Cook, Katie Messing, Sophie Asprey and Delaney Knudsen ... Taylor Racich and Samantha Cash are also back with ample playing experience, while Leanna Schroeder returns after redshirting in 2014 ... The Waves' newcomers include freshmen Corinne Quiggle and Celia Smith, graduate student transfer Chanel Brown and sophomore Jillian Bergeson, who is also a member of the indoor squad in Malibu.
A CLOSER LOOK - Armed with a #1 preseason ranking, and two national team titles to back it up, the Pepperdine sand volleyball team knows it has a target firmly placed on its back. Even with the pressure and expectations to bring home another AVCA National Championship at the end of the season in May, life for head coach Nina Matthies and the Waves is simply about hard work and enjoying a day at the beach.
Matthies, now in her fourth year with the sand team and 32nd overall at Pepperdine, has nothing but praise for her teams' work ethic this season. She even joked how her players often vocalize their disappointment when it comes time to wrap things up at practice for the day.
But when you train and play at Zuma Beach, one of Malibu's most picturesque spots, who can really blame the student-athletes for wanting to prolong the time spent on a beach that is nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Mountains?
With a three-season record of 52-2, the Waves know that other teams will be eager to add to their loss tally in 2015.
"I think there is always going to be a target on our back. It is human nature that other teams want to beat us," said Matthies. "We just have to keep our heads on. We can't live and die with every match, but we need to be consistent."
Matthies goes on to say her Waves remain humble, and stay focused on training hard, working hard and only worrying about themselves and the things they can control. The veteran coach is confident that her players are comfortable about where they are within themselves.
"Training has been great, simply fantastic," Matthies said. "They are all really happy to be here. As a group, they are focused and serious about playing well and getting better every day."
Part of Matthies group consists of Emily Cook (Huntington Beach, Calif./Murrieta Valley HS), Kelley Larsen (Jamul, Calif./Christian HS) and Kellie Woolever (Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson HS), who will graduate this spring as Pepperdine's first four-year letterwinners in sand volleyball. All three were integral to the success of the inaugural team in 2012, helping set the bar high for Pepperdine sand volleyball players for years to come.
All three began their careers in Malibu with the indoor team in 2010. Cook transitioned to a sand-only player following her 2012 indoor season, while Larsen and Woolever exhausted their indoor eligibility in 2013.
"Emily, Kellie and Kelley, as well as all the other student-athletes to come through the sand program, helped build something from scratch. They laid a foundation not just for Pepperdine, but for the country," said Matthies. "That's the part I hope they will be proud of."
Matthies' senior leadership is bolstered by returning seniors Lara Dykstra (Redondo Beach, Calif./Redondo Union HS/Nebraska), Katie Messing (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands HS) and Samantha Cash (San Diego, Calif./Canyon Crest Academy). Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz./Valley Christian HS/Arizona) also joins Pepperdine's senior class as a graduate student transfer.
All seven have played both indoor volleyball and sand at the collegiate level.
"The seniors are all good leaders and their work ethic is second to none. I couldn't be prouder of them, all the seniors," praised Matthies. "I want them all to be proud of the work they've put in and what they've accomplished, regardless of what happens this year.
"I know I'm proud of what we've accomplished."
Matthies, assisted once again by Marcio Sicoli and Jon Daze, also welcomes back juniors Becca Strehlow (Long Beach, Calif./Woodrow Wilson HS/UCLA), Sophie Asprey (Southlake, Texas/Liberty Christian HS/Tulane) and Taylor Racich (Santa Barbara, Calif./Dos Pueblos HS), sophomores Delaney Knudsen (Valencia, Calif./Valencia HS) and Leanna Schroeder (Westlake Village, Calif./Oaks Christian HS), and freshmen Corinne Quiggle (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla./Ponte Vedra HS) and Celia Smith (Avon, Colo./Vail Christian HS). Jillian Bergeson (Friendswood, Texas/Friendswood HS), a sophomore on the indoor team but a rookie in the sand, rounds out the Waves' 15-person roster.
Dykstra, Larsen, Strehlow and Woolever were all AVCA All-Americans in 2014, while Asprey, Cook, Knudsen and Messing were all regulars in the 10-person dual lineup.
After nearly a 10 month off season, the Waves finally embark on the 2015 campaign on Friday, March 6 vs. both Loyola Marymount and Hawaii in Honolulu.
"Everyone is fired up and ready to go," commented Matthies. "Obviously the biggest part of starting the season is team chemistry. Competition brings out the best and worst of people because you only have one shot. We know what we look like in practice against each other, but now we finally get to play someone else. We've got to come out strong and be able to self-correct. I'm anxious to see who can translate practice into a match and how they handle that transition."
Matthies was not only quick to compliment her team's tireless work ethic, but also her support staff.
"Our staff is incredible," Matthies said. "Marcio is a genius. His mind just works in a creative, great way. He just sees things differently than I do, but in a complimentary way. We really are together on how to do things and our chemistry is great.
"Jon has been amazing and we are so blessed to have him as a volunteer. Matt Young (strength and conditioning coach) has been great, Kevin Wright (athletic trainer) has been great. Just a wonderful collaboration of great minds involved. The best of part of my job is who I get to work with day in a day out," Matthies closed.
SAND VOLLEYBALL HISTORY - The Pepperdine women's sand volleyball program has been at the forefront of the sport since it was introduced in 2012. The Waves went a perfect 14-0 in dual match play and won the inaugural AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Team Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala. Pepperdine's Caitlin Racich -- the program's first-ever scholarship recipient -- and partner Summer Ross took home the pairs national crown as well. In 2013, the Waves marched back to the national title match but fell 3-2 while playing shorthanded. The Waves returned with a vengeance in 2014, going 18-1 in route to the national championship title. The Waves boast a nation-best 12 AVCA All-Americans: Lara Dykstra (2013, 14), Lilla Frederick (2012, 13), Kim Hill (2012, 13), Kelley Larsen (2014), Racich (2012, 13), Ross (2012), Becca Strehlow (2014) and Kellie Woolever (2014). Hill stands as the first, and to date only, student-athlete to earn AVCA All-American first team honors in both indoor and sand volleyball in a single season. The Waves enter the 2015 season with a 52-2 record.
NCAA STATUS - Collegiate sand volleyball is in its fourth and final year as an "emerging sport." It was given 10 years to gain the minimum 40 sponsoring institutions for two years in a row to be considered an NCAA Championship sport. With requirements met in record time, sand volleyball was voted into NCAA Championship Sport status earlier this year. The NCAA will host its first sand volleyball national championship in 2016. The NCAA will host only a team championship, and not a pairs championship.
MATTHIES - Nina Matthies' retired from coaching the indoor game following the 2013 season and finishes her 31-season run with a career record of 590-343 (.632). In the span, Matthies led the Waves to 10 conference championships and 20 NCAA Tournament appearances. She is by far the WCC's all-time winningest coach and is a 10-time WCC Coach of the Year. Matthies was among the world's top players and is a member of the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame. In 2009, Dig Magazine rated her and former partner Linda Hanley as the second-best women's beach team of all time. She won two AIAW national championships as a player at UCLA. In 2013, she was honored by her peers as the inaugural winner of the AVCA Sand Volleyball Coach of the Year award. She enters the 2014 sand season, her fourth at the helm, with a 52-2 record.
SICOLI - Marcio Sicoli is in his fourth season assisting Nina Matthies in the sand, after spending six season with her as assistant indoor volleyball coach. Sicoli is highly lauded for his approach to training and served as head coach for Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings during their gold-medal run at the 2012 London Olympics. Sicoli also served as the assistant coach for the Brazilian Olympic Women's Beach Volleyball Team from 2000 to 2004. In 2004, his team of Adriana Behar and Shelda Bede took home the silver medal in Athens. He currently serves as coach to 2016 Olympic hopefuls Walsh Jennings and April Ross.
DAZE - The Waves' volunteer assistant coach, Jon Daze, was recognized as one of the AVCA's 2013-14 Thirty Under 30 Award recipients. He was the only volunteer assistant coach honored this year and just the second in the history of the award. Established in 2009, the award honors emerging coaching talent younger than 30 years old at all levels of volleyball.
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.
