Sand Volleyball Opens National Championships on Friday
4/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Beach Volleyball
MALIBU, Calif. - The culminating event for the Pepperdine sand volleyball team has arrived: the 2015 AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Championships. The Waves, winners of the national title in 2012 and 2014, open action against Georgia State on Friday, May 1. The championships continue through May 3.
DUAL 15 - #4 Pepperdine (10-4) vs. #7 Georgia State (18-1) | Friday, May 1 | 10 a.m. CT | Gulf Shores, Ala.
THE TEAM BRACKET - Eight teams will battle for the team title at the 2015 AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Championship. USC is the top seed followed by 2. Hawaii, 3. FIU, 4. Pepperdine, 5. Georgia State, 6. Florida State, 7. Long Beach State and 8. Stetson ... The tournament will feature a double-elimination format, with a winner-take-all final ... Win or lose in the first round, the Waves will face either USC or Stetson ... A win advances the Waves to the quarterfinal, while a loss would drop Pepperdine into the elimination bracket ... A full bracket can be found on page four of the match notes PDF.
COVERAGE - Follow @PeppSandVolley on Twitter for score updates throughout the championships ... Scores and recaps will be published on PepperdineSports.com at the end of each day's action.
THE PAIRS BRACKET - After the team championship, an individual pairs championship will take center stage on Sunday ... The No. 1 pairs from each of the eight teams at the national championship will be entered into the 16-pair draw ... The No. 2 duos from the team finalists will also earn a spot ... Pairs reaching the quarterfinals of the draw will earn AVCA All-American status ... Pepperdine's top-two pairs are Kelley Larsen/Kellie Woolever and Lara Dykstra/Becca Strehlow.
LOOKING BACK - The Waves shut out Long Beach State by a 5-0 tally in their home finale on April 8 at Zuma Beach ... Pepperdine then played its final two regular-season duals at the USAV Collegiate Challenge in Hermosa Beach ... The Waves blanked both Concordia and San Francisco ... In the pairs championship, Becca Strehlow and Lara Dykstra finished runner-up in the Gold Bracket, Kellie Woolever and Kelley Larsen won the Silver Bracket, and Samantha Cash and Leanna Schroeder were crowned winners of the Copper Bracket.
SCOUTING THE FIELD - Georgia State is 18-1, with its only loss coming against FIU at 3-2 ... USC is 24-0 with wins over Florida State (4-1), Hawaii (5-0) and Pepperdine (3-2 x2) ... The Waves are the only team to score more than a point vs. the Trojans in 2015 ... FIU is 18-1 after splitting the series vs. Stetson ... Hawaii is 17-1 ... Florida State is 13-4 ... Long Beach State is 14-5 ... Stetson is 21-4 ... The eight tournament-bound teams have only suffered losses to other national championship contenders in 2015.
LOOKING AHEAD - Head coach Nina Matthies signed four players to a National Letter of Intent last November including Kaity Bailey, Skylar Caputo, Madalyn Roh and Anika Wilson ... Additionally, several members of the indoor signing class are expected to make an impact on the sand squad as well.
LOOKING FURTHER BACK - Pepperdine suffered its first-ever loss at Zuma Beach with a 3-2 setback vs. #1 USC on April 4. Becca Strehlow and Lara Dykstra won once again vs. the Trojan's Sophie Bukovec/Alexa Strange at No. 2, as they did in Los Angeles the week prior ... Emily Cook and Delaney Knudsen avenged their loss on March 24 in LA to Eve Ettinger/Meg Norton, winning in straight sets at Zuma Beach on April 4 ... USC won at No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5 to take the dual.
AWARDS - Kelley Larsen and Kellie Woolever won the Gold Bracket, Katie Messing and Corinne Quiggle won the Silver Bracket, and Samantha Cash and Leanna Schroeder won the Bronze Bracket at the Rainbow Wahine Invitational (3/7) ... Larsen and Woolever took top honors at the USAV Collegiate Challenge for the second-straight season (3/15) ... Becca Strehlow and Lara Dykstra won their first pairs title with a first-place finish in the Gold Bracket at the Palmetto Invitational ... The duo finished runner-up at the USAV Collegiate Challenge in Chula Vista ... Larsen and Woolever won the Silver Bracket at the USAV Collegiate Challenge in Hermosa Beach (4/12), while Cash and Schroeder won the Copper Bracket ... Messing earned the "Best Blocker" award at the Rainbow Wahine Invitational, while Sophie Asprey was given the "Aloha Spirit" award.
IN THE POLLS - Pepperdine topped both the AVCA and DiG Magazine preseason polls ... The Waves come in at #4 in the latest AVCA and DiG polls
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.
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.
ZUMA BEACH - The Waves call Zuma Beach "home," practicing and hosting all home events at one of Malibu's most picturesque locations. Courts are located just west of Point Dume, between Towers 2 & 3 or at the 29800 block of the Pacific Coast Highway.
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.
