Beach Volleyball Signs Three to NLI
11/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Beach Volleyball
MALIBU, Calif. — Head Coach Nina Matthies has announced the signing of three national letters of intent for the Pepperdine beach volleyball team, bringing in Brook Bauer, Alexis Filippone and Shannon Murphy to help the Waves compete once again on the national level in the 2017-18 season.
"All three incoming freshmen are amazing athletes and superior students," said Matthies. "They are all 'A' students and very experienced beach players. They bring in height - all over six-feet tall - have great ball control and offensively will be a force. We are so excited to have them all as this group embodies Pepperdine beach volleyball."
Brook Bauer, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will graduate St. Thomas Aquinas High School in 2017. She comes from the same indoor program as current beach and indoor volleyball sophomore Nikki Lyons. Bauer has been a standout on the court and in the sand, giving standout performances for high school, club and USA teams. For St. Thomas Aquinas HS, Bauer earned 2016-17 Under Armour All-America second team honors in her senior campaign, while also garnering Broward County Player of the Year honors, Miami Herald first team, Max Preps All-American, Most Valuable Player and was ranked one of the top 40 high school junior outside hitters in the country. She was a team captain in her junior and senior campaigns, and led her team to two state champion titles. As solid in the classroom as on the court, she amassed a weighted 4.9 grade point average, was a member of the National Honor Society and earned Principals Honor Roll status every quarter of high school.
"We had Brook in camp when she was a freshman in high school and she has that unique quality of smoothness and self-control, all packaged with tremendous physical strength and power," Matthies said. "I have waited four years for her."
At other levels, Bauers played for USA A2 beach national team in 2015 and the A1 beach national team in 2016. She finished 2nd at High Performance Championships in 2015 and 4th in both 2016 and 2014. She played club for Tribe for two seasons, earning first in the Florida State Championships in 2014, 2015 and 2016. She finished 1st at the NCCA Juniors Tournament in Gulf Shores, Ala. and qualified for the main draw of the AVP, finishing 9th as one of the youngest teams ever to play in the New Orleans AVP. She also finished 1st at the Junior Olympics in 2015 and 2nd in 2016, while adding a 1st-place finish in the Florida region USA Championship in 2015. She also finished 3rd at AAU Best of the Beach in 2015 and at AAU Nationals in 2016.
"I chose Pepperdine because it captures everything I imagined in a college," said Bauer. "It is situated in such a beautiful location in Malibu and holds strong religious, academic and athletic standards."
Originally from San Diego, Calif., Alexis Filippone will graduate Torrey Pines High School in 2017. She led the indoor team in kills with 266 in her senior campaign and ranked 2nd in kills in the San Diego Division I volleyball standings. She earned All-Tournament team honors for two consecutive years at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, was a captain for four years and garnered the San Diego Union Tribune Scholar Athlete Award all four seasons at TPHS. She also played for WAVE indoor volleyball club for six seasons from U11 to U16 as an outside hitter, middle and opposite. The team placed 3rd in the nation at the Junior Olympics in her U15s campaign.
"We have watched Alexis mature and grow into a competitive national and international player," said Matthies. "She will bring her wonderful smile, incredible athleticism and enthusiasm for playing this game. She will be an awesome teammate and we cannot wait to work with her full time."
Filippone also competed as a member of the USA Junior National team as a member of the U19 team in 2016. The team ranked No. 1 in the age division and finished 2nd at the U19 High Performance championships. She helped the team win the U19 international trials to be the No. 1 U19 representative in the World Championships and placed 5th in the world at the U19 World Championships in Lamaca, Cyprus.
She also played for the San Diego Beach Volleyball Club for six years, helping the team to win the AAU Power League club and individual tournament for two consecutive years. The club ranked 2nd in the Best Volleyball Clubs of America polls in 2015 and earned 1st place in 2016. The team finished 3rd in the CBVA Cal Cup Championships and at the AAU Best of the Beach Tournament in 2015. Also in 2015, the squad finished 1st at the USAV Tournament in Hermosa Beach and at the AAU tournament in Long Beach to earn bids to the Junior Olympics and Pan Pacific in 2016. In 2016, the team finished 1st at the CBVA Huntington Beach Tour, earning a bid to the Cal Cup.
"I chose Pepperdine because it is the perfect fit for me with the Christian values, culture and location, and I can strive academically and athletically," said Filippone. "I cannot wait to be a part of one of the top ranked beach volleyball programs with the best coaches and love that is a smaller campus. I already feel like a part of the Pepp family."
The third and final NLI signee at this time, Shannon Murphy will graduate Friendswood High School in Friendswood Texas in 2017. At FHS, she was named to the Vype Magazine Houston Fab 50, Under Armour All-American Watch List and All-Texas preseason team and was a Houston Chronicle Athlete of the Week in 2015. She led Friendswood as the Texas 6A leader in attacking with 513 kills to average 4.7 kills/set and a .311 hitting percentage and serving with 81 total aces to average 0.70 aces/set. She also ranked 2nd in the Texas 6A division in aces and 5th in attack performance in 2016. In 2015, Murphy earned Texas Association of Sports Writers All-State award and in multiple seasons garnered All-District, All-County, All-Tournament honors, along with Offensive Player of the Year. In the classroom, she was a member of the Academic All-District team in 2014.
"Perhaps Shannon is the late bloomer of the group," said Matthies. "But I watched her throw her face into a pole while going after a ball at our beach camp and knew that she would definitely fit into our program here at Pepperdine. She has a fun personality mixed with the desire to work hard and is a great fit for us athletically and academically."
Murphy also played for multiple clubs, most recently Tamarack Beach Volleyball Club. Some accomplishments include leading the 18U team to 2016 Volley America Junior National Champion status in 2016, a 16U Get Noticed Championship in 2015, and a 16U and 14U ESPN/Yahoo Sports SunFest Championship in 2014 and 2013. For four-consecutive years, she was an AAU and USAV National Qualifier from 2013-16 and was a USAV High Performance Beach A2 participant in 2015 and nominee in 2016. She had numerous top-three finishes in juniors and women's tournaments across the county and was an indoor USAV High Performance Indoor A2 2015 nominee.
"Pepperdine is an incredible school for furthering my education as well as my dreams for a beach volleyball career," said Murphy.
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