No. 2 Waves to Challenge No. 1 USC on Thursday
4/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Beach Volleyball
GAME NOTES
MALIBU, Calif. - The second-ranked Waves have a solo match to be played at now top-ranked USC at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday this week at Merle Norman Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif. The Waves have played the Trojans twice this season, winning the first contest and dropping the second.
The Waves won the first match at the Pepperdine Kick-Off, 3-2, in the beginning of March before the two programs faced again last Saturday at the USAV Hermosa Beach Tournament where USC downed Pepperdine with a 3-2 decision. The Waves boast a 15-2 overall record this season and have two pairs, Samantha Cash and Sarah Seiber and Anika Wilson and Madalyn Roh, who have a 16-1 record in the 2016 campaign.
DUAL 18 - Thursday, April 14 | No. 2 Pepperdine (15-2) at No. 1 USC (19-2) | 4:30 p.m. (PT) | Merle Norman Stadium in Los Angeles, Calif.
COVERAGE - The match will air on Pac-12 Los Angeles at 4:30 p.m. Also, 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 - The Waves dropped one spot to the number two ranking this week after falling to then-second ranked USC 3-2 last week in the USAV Hermosa Beach Tournament. USC (19-2) moved up to the top spot, while Florida State (20-1) stayed at number three and UCLA (14-4) and Hawai'i (10-6) closed out the top five. 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 Waves are ranked second in the AVCA Coaches Poll this week after amassing a 15-2 overall record throughout the 2016 campaign thus far. Pepperdine has charted a 7-2 record against nationally ranked opposition with wins over No. 1 USC, No. 3 Hawai'i, No. 4 Long Beach State, No. 6 UCLA, Arizona and LBSU and No. 8 Georgia State.
The Waves have gone 9-0 at home, 5-1 in a neutral setting and have an even 1-1 record on foreign sand. As pairs in the dual campaign, Pepperdine boasts a .859 win-loss percentage after winning 73 competitions and losing only 12.
Waves' four and five pairs, freshmen Anika Wilson and Madalyn Roh and senior Samantha Cash and junior Sarah Seiber, all lead the Waves with a 16-1 record this season. Kaity Bailey and Delaney Knudsen and Skylar Caputo and Corinne Quiggle each hold 14-3 records from the number two and three positions respectively. Heidi Dyer and Taylor Racich hold down a 13-4 record from the number one slot at this point in the season.
SCOUTING THE FIELD - The Waves hold an 8-5 overall record over the Trojans all-time, dating back to the first-ever match up in 2012. Pepperdine went on to win the first six consecutive matches with three matches taking place at home, two at a neutral site and one at USC. This season, the teams have already faced twice, with the Waves taking the first match-up at the Pepperdine Kick-Off in Malibu by 3-2 decision. The Trojans then sought revenge at the USAV Hermosa Beach Tournament as USC took the second match 3-2 to even the 2016 record.
Both the teams have sat on top of the AVCA Coaches Poll this season with Pepperdine keeping the top-spot for the first five weeks of competition and the Trojans ranking first in the preseason poll and for this current week. USC has a 19-2 record this season, including a 4-1 record at home, a 2-1 record on the road and a perfect 11-0 record on neutral sand. Before the week, the Trojans top pair, Kelly Claes and Sarah Hughes boasted an undefeated 19-0 record. As a team, USC pairs have gone 79-16 in dual play this season.
LOOKING BACK - Last week, Pepperdine competed in the team competition at the USAV Hermosa Beach Tournament in Hermosa Beach, Calif. The Waves first defeated sixth-ranked Long Beach State before falling 2-3 to then second-ranked USC to close the tournament on Saturday. In the match against Long Beach, the Waves dominated the sand en route to a 5-0 sweep, winning in two sets on courts two, three, four and five and three sets on court one. Then, the Waves fell 2-3 to the Trojans with losses on court one, three and four and two-set wins on courts two and five.
LOOKING AHEAD - Next, the Waves will close out the regular season push at sixth-ranked Long Beach State on April 19. The match will start at 1 p.m. in Long Beach.
WCC PAIR OF THE MONTH - Freshmen duo and Waves' number four pair, Anika Wilson and Madalyn Roh are the winners of the inaugural West Coast Conference pair of the month, as released by the conference office this Thursday afternoon. To earn the accolade, the duo helped Pepperdine defeat six nationally ranked opponents after going undefeated at 12-0 with nine of those victories being by two-set decisions throughout the month of March.
2015 AWARDS - Kelley Larsen and Kellie Woolever earned AVCA All-American status last season. At the USAV Collegiate Challenge in Hermosa Beach (4/12), Cash and Schroeder won the Copper Bracket. At the Rainbow Wahine Invitational, 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.
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.
