No. 1 Waves to Host Cal Poly, Nebraska at Zuma
3/22/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Beach Volleyball
GAME NOTES
MALIBU, Calif. - The top-ranked Pepperdine beach volleyball team will return to Zuma Beach this week to host both Cal Poly and Nebraska on Friday morning.
The Waves remained undefeated at 9-0 heading into the home competition. The five pairs boast a .911 overall win-loss percentage with a 41-4 record in dual play so far this season. As Pepperdine earned the College of Charleston Beach Invitational title, with a 4-1 win over eighth-ranked Georgia State, and sweeps over COC, Mercer, UAB and UNC Wilmington.
DUAL 10 - No. 1 Pepperdine (9-0) vs. Cal Poly (2-4) | Friday, March 25 | 10 a.m. (PT) | Zuma Beach - Malibu, Calif.
DUAL 11 - Pepperdine vs. Nebraska (2-3) | Friday, March 25 | 12:30 p.m. (PT) | Zuma Beach - Malibu, Calif.
COVERAGE - Follow @WavesBeachVB on Twitter for score updates throughout the 2016 campaign ... Scores and recaps will be published on PepperdineSports.com at the end of each day's action.
IN THE POLLS - After remaining undefeated throughout the weekend to extend the 2016 season's record to a perfect 9-0, the Pepperdine beach volleyball team remained at the top-spot on the AVCA Coaches Poll this week. The two-time national championship-winning program opened the 2016 season at the No. 2-spot on the AVCA Beach Volleyball Preseason Poll. The Waves also picked up the No. 2-ranking on the DiG Magazine preseason poll, but have since moved up to No. 1 as well. The Waves first opponents on Friday, Georgia State, moved up two spots and is currently ranked 8th on the polls this week.
2016 WAVES BEACH VOLLEYBALL - The top-ranked Waves boast a perfect 9-0 record after starting the 2016 campaign. In the first week of competition, the Waves took down then top-ranked USC 3-2, third-ranked Hawai'i 4-1, and fourth-ranked Long Beach State and sixth-ranked UCLA 5-0 to earn the Pepperdine Kick-Off title. Then in the following week, the Waves took down eighth-ranked Georgia State 4-1, before dropping College of Charleston, Mercer, UAB and UNC Wilmington with 5-0 sweeps to remain undefeated. As a team, the Waves boast a .911 win-loss percentage in dual play after posting 41 wins and only four losses. The number four and five teams, Anika Wilson and Madalyn Roh and Samantha Cash and Sarah Seiber, are still undefeated at 9-0 this season. Pepperdine's number one and three pairs, Heidi Dyer and Taylor Racich and Skylar Caputo and Corinne Quiggle, boast an 8-1 record so far this season. Also, the Waves number two pair, Kaity Bailey and Delaney Knudsen currently boast a 7-2 record this season.
LOOKING BACK - Last week, the Waves dominated the sand in Mount Pleasant, S.C., earning their second tournament title of the season after winning five consecutive matches, four of which were by 5-0 sweeps. At the COC Beach Invitational, the Waves first bested eighth-ranked Georgia State 4-1 and tournament hosts College of Charleston 5-0 to start the weekend. Then on day two, despite an early 5 a.m. start time, the Waves dropped both Mercer and Alabama Birmingham by 5-0 decisions. Pepperdine ended the weekend on Sunday after sweeping UNC Wilmington 5-0 as well.
SCOUTING THE FIELD - Cal Poly comes into the match unranked and holding a 2-4 record so far this season. This meeting will mark the first time the Mustangs and Waves have faced off all-time. Most recently, Cal Poly defeated San Jose State 3-2 and CSU Bakersfield 4-1, but earlier this season the Mustangs were defeated by Grand Canyon 5-0, Texas Christian 5-0, Loyola Marymount 4-1 and California 5-0.
Nebraska enters the match with a 2-3 record this season. Pepperdine has played the Huskers once previously in 2013 where the Waves dominated the result with a 5-0 sweep on the day. Most recently, Nebraska competed at the Queen's Beach tournament and the Hawai'i Invite. In the first tournament, the team gathered a 5-0 win over Missouri Baptist and two 5-0 exhibition wins over Hawai'i Pacific and Chaminade before falling 4-1 to third-ranked USC. The team then dropped 5-0 to USC two days later in the Hawai'i Invite before defeating Loyola Marymount 4-1 and losing 4-1 to fifth-ranked Hawai'i to end the week.
LOOKING AHEAD - Next week, the Waves will host the second home tournament of the 2016 campaign at Zuma Beach in Malibu with the Zuma Classic on April 2-3. CSU Bakersfield, Loyola Marymount and Arizona will all be in attendance to challenge the Waves.
2015 AWARDS - Kelley Larsen and Kellie Woolever earned AVCA All-American status last season. The pair also 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.
BEACH 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 14 AVCA All-Americans: Lara Dykstra (2013, 14), Lilla Frederick (2012, 13), Kim Hill (2012, 13), Kelley Larsen (2014, 15), Racich (2012, 13), Ross (2012), Becca Strehlow (2014) and Kellie Woolever (2014, 15). 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. Last season, the Waves worked for an appearance in the AVCA Championship semifinals, falling to Long Beach State to end the season. The Waves enter the 2016 season with a 65-8 record.
NCAA STATUS - This season marks the first season which beach volleyball will be an NCAA-sanctioned sport, with the inaugural NCAA Championships to be held in Gulf Shores, Ala. from May 6-8. Collegiate sand volleyball completed the fourth and final year as an "emerging sport" last season. 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 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 2016 sand season, her fifth at the helm, with a 65-8 record. She will be assisted this season once again by Marcio Sicoli, along with newcomer volunteer coach Gustavo Rocha.
SICOLI - Marcio Sicoli is in his fifth 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.
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.
#PURPOSE: Pepperdine Athletics officially launched its "Competing with Purpose" campaign during Waves Weekend 2013. The campaign highlights the commitment to our core values that student-athletes, coaches and staff dedicate themselves to daily. Competing with Purpose provides the foundation on which champions are built.
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.
