GAME NOTES

MALIBU, Calif. - The top-ranked beach volleyball team travels to Hermosa Beach this week to compete in the USAV Hermosa Beach Tournament on Saturday to challenge seventh-ranked Long Beach State and second-ranked USC.

Other schools competing in the event along with the Waves, 49ers and Trojans include Concordia, Loyola Marymount, San Francisco and UCLA. After taking the team's first loss on Wednesday at fifth-ranked UCLA, the Waves swept CSU Bakersfield and Loyola Marymount and bested sixth-ranked Arizona 3-2 in the Zuma Classic over the weekend. Freshman duo Anika Wilson and Madalyn Roh remained undefeated as a partnership with four wins throughout the week and now boast a perfect 15-0 record together.

DUAL 16 - Saturday, April 9 | No. 1 Pepperdine (14-1) vs. No. 7 Long Beach State (8-6) | 9:30 a.m. (PT) | USAV Hermosa Beach Tournament in Hermosa Beach, Calif.

DUAL 17 - Saturday, April 9 | No. 1 Pepperdine (14-1) vs. No. 2 USC (17-2) | 12 p.m. (PT) | USAV Hermosa Beach Tournament in Hermosa Beach, 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 - The Waves remained on top of the AVCA Coaches Poll this week, after sporting a 14-1 overall record this season. USC (17-2) still comes in at the number two spot, while east coast Florida State (16-1) is ranked third. UCLA and Hawai'i close 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 - Pepperdine heads into the weekend ranked number one in the AVCA Coaches Poll after sporting a 14-1 overall record this season thus far. The Waves remained untarnished at 9-0 at home and 4-0 in a neutral setting. The team's four's pair, Anika Wilson and Madalyn Roh are still undefeated as a duo this season, with a perfect 15-0 record for the Waves. Samantha Cash and Sarah Seiber, the number five duo, boasts a 14-1 record. As a program, the Waves own a .880 win-loss percentage this season after securing 66 wins and only nine losses as pairs in the dual campaign. The team has defeated six nationally ranked opponents including, then-top-ranked USC (3-2), third-ranked Hawai'i (4-1), fourth-ranked Long Beach State (5-0), sixth-ranked UCLA (5-0), sixth-ranked Arizona (3-2) and eighth-ranked Georgia State (4-1).

LOOKING BACK - Last week, the Waves went 3-1 overall. After dropping the first match of the 2016 campaign, the Waves returned to Malibu to close out home play at the Zuma Classic on Zuma Beach. Pepperdine took down CSU Bakersfield, Loyola Marymount and sixth-ranked Arizona to earn the Zuma Classic title.

On day one, the Waves swept both CSUB and LMU with five straight-set victories to head into day two. Pepperdine then entered the match-up with Arizona on day two to close out the tournament. The Waves' undefeated freshmen duo Anika Wilson and Madalyn Roh continued winning ways with a 21-10, 21-8 victory over Mia Mason and Kalei Mau. Pepperdine's three's pair Skylar Caputo and Corinne Quiggle then downed Olivia MacDonald and Sam Manley with a 21-18, 21-13 decision to put the Waves up 2-0 on the day, before Arizona's one's pair bested the Waves to close the gap to a one-point deficit. Shortly after, Pepperdine's two's duo Kaity Bailey and Delaney Knudsen defeated Jianna Bonomi and Kat Schulz with a pair of 21-18 and 21-17 sets that would eventually clinch the 3-2 Waves' victory.

SCOUTING THE FIELD - The Waves hold a 13-2 overall record against Long Beach State, dating back to the first time the two teams faced in 2012. Pepperdine opened the first eight competitions with wins before losing for the first time at the end of the 2013 campaign. This season, Pepperdine bested LBSU with a 5-0 sweep at the Pepperdine Kick-Off to open the season. The 49ers are currently ranked sixth in the AVCA Coaches Poll with an 8-6 overall record. The pairs own a .554 win-loss percentage as a program this season after posting 36 wins and 29 losses throughout the 2016 campaign thus far.

Pepperdine has an 8-4 all-time record against USC, dating back to the first match in 2012 when the Waves defeated the Trojans 3-2. In the first years, Pepperdine won the first six consecutive matches before losing for the first time on the road in the 2014 season. Earlier this year, Pepperdine put down USC in the season-opening weekend at the Pepperdine Kick-Off. At the time, the Trojans were ranked in the top spot and the Waves held down the number two-spot. USC is now ranked number two in the AVCA Coaches Poll and has a 17-2 overall record, including an 11-0 record on neutral ground and 2-1 record in an away setting. Most recently, the Trojans defeated Florida International and Florida Atlantic with a pair of 5-0 sweeps. As a team, the Trojans have a 96-20 overall record as pairs, including a 79-16 record in dual campaigns. The number one's pair, Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes remain undefeated at 19-0 for USC at this point in time.

LOOKING AHEAD - Next, the Waves will close out the regular season at USC on April 14 in Los Angeles and Long Beach State on April 19 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 inaugral West Coast Conference pair of the month, as released by the conference office this Thursday afternoon. The duo has helped Pepperdine defeat six nationally ranked opponents after going undefeated so far this season at 15-0 with 12 of those victories being by two-set decisions.
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.