Matthies Earns Spot in AVCA Hall of Fame
8/4/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
MALIBU, Calif. " Nina Matthies will soon add another tremendous accolade to her list of honors, as the long-time Pepperdine coach will be inducted into the American Volleyball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame this fall.
The AVCA's 13th annual Hall of Fame ceremony will take place in December at the AVCA Convention in Omaha, Neb. Matthies will be joined by Terry Condon, Peter Hanson and Stephanie Schleuder, bringing the organization's total number of inductees to 70.
Matthies spent 31 seasons coaching Pepperdine's women's indoor volleyball team (1983-2013), leading the Waves to 11 West Coast Conference titles and 20 NCAA Tournament appearances. She retired as the WCC's all-time winningest coach with a career record of 590-343 (.632). She was the WCC's Coach of the Year 10 times as Pepperdine finished with 14 AVCA top-25 rankings and reached the 2002 and 2011 NCAA Regional finals.
Matthies retirement as Pepperdine's indoor coach didn't end her coaching career, however. She still serves as the head coach of the Waves' highly successful beach volleyball squad, which captured AVCA national championships in 2012 and 2014. Pepperdine also placed second in 2013 and third in 2015. Matthies was the AVCA's National Coach of the Year in 2013.
She was one of the leading proponents for the sport as it originally received "emerging sport" status from the NCAA prior to the inaugural season of 2012. Beach volleyball's record-setting growth will see it become an NCAA Championship sport in 2016. Matthies has been part of both the AVCA sand volleyball and NCAA beach volleyball national committees.
Matthies was an outstanding beach volleyball player in her own right. She won 43 titles and earned sports in the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame and on the Manhattan Beach Volleyball Walk of Fame. Volleyball Magazine named Matthies one of the "Most Influential People in the First 100 Years of Volleyball" and in 2014 she was named to the 75th Anniversary All-Era Team by USA Volleyball.
Mattthies was inducted into the Pepperdine Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.
Pepperdine's Marv Dunphy was named to the AVCA Hall of Fame in 2009.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY — 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 #54 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
