#2 Pepperdine Opens NCAA Championships Against #7 LSU
5/1/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Beach Volleyball
NOTES| NCAA TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
MALIBU, Calif. - The No. 2 Pepperdine beach volleyball team heads to Gulf Shores, Ala. this week for the NCAA Championships. The Waves earned the No. 2 seed and will open the tournament against No. 8-ranked and No. 7-seeded LSU on Friday.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS - Friday-Sunday, May 4-6 | NCAA Championships at Gulf Shores Public Beach in Gulf Shores, Ala. | Opening round vs. No. 7-seed LSU at 9 a.m. PT on Friday.
ESPN COVERAGE - The championships will be televised by ESPN. On Friday, all duals will air on ESPNU, while on Saturday, the matches will be live on ESPN2 from between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. On Championship Sunday, the semifinal dual will be live on ESPN2 at 8:30 a.m. and the final will be live on ESPN at 11 a.m. All times listed here are Pacific Standard Time.
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL - NCAA.com/BeachVolleyball
WAVES' MEDIA - Follow @WavesBeachVB and @PepperdineWaves on Instagram for a constant stream of the NCAA experience. Follow on Twitter and Facebook (@WavesBeachVB) for all updates before, during and after matches. Also, go to PepperdineWaves.com for updates, recaps and more.
LOOKING AHEAD - After the NCAA Championships, the 2018 USA Volleyball Collegiate Beach Championships will be held from May 9-12 in Hermosa Beach, Calif.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: A HISTORY - The tournament will be hosted for the third-consecutive year in Gulf Shores, Ala. by the City of Gulf Shores, University of Alabama at Birmingham and Orange Beach Sports Commission.
FIELD & FORMAT - The tournament hosts double-elimination format. The field was selected from the 69 NCAA institutions sponsoring the sport of beach volleyball. Three teams were selected from the East Region and three were selected from the West, while the two remaining teams were selected at-large from the teams across the nation. All eight teams were then seeded.
The three teams from the West include all three top-seeds, #1 UCLA, #2 Pepperdine and #3 Hawai'i. The three teams from the East were #4 Florida State, #6 South Carolina and #8 Florida International. The at-large selections were #5 USC and #7 LSU.
WAVES IN NCAA POSTSEASONS PAST - Pepperdine is one of just two programs nationally that have earned a bid to every single postseason tournament, including both AVCA and NCAA. The other program that has done so is Florida State.
Although this season marks the third that the NCAA Championships will be in action, the Waves have a solid postseason record with two AVCA National Championship crowns to the program's name from the 2012 and 2014 campaigns. The win in 2012 marked Pepperdine's first-ever national championship by one of its women's teams. Also in 2013, the Waves earned AVCA runner-up status and in 2015, the team advanced to the AVCA semifinals. Between 2012 and 2015, the Waves went 11-3 at the AVCA National Championship.
In the inaugural NCAA Championships in 2016, the Waves went 1-2 with a win over No. 6 Arizona and losses to No. 2 USC and No. 4 UCLA. In 2017, Pepperdine advanced to the NCAA Championship final against USC. The Waves made it a 2-2 match with the final court reaching a 13-13 tie in the third and final set before the Trojans picked up the win.
THE NO. 2 WAVES - Pepperdine finished the regular season ranked second in the AVCA coaches poll for the fourth week after producing a 24-3 overall record. The Waves won the third-consecutive WCC Championship title in Santa Monica on April 21 with a pair of wins over Saint Mary's. 20 of the Waves' overall wins this season have been over ranked teams, while the Waves have also posted a 8-2 record when facing top-five ranked programs and 14-2 against top-10 ranked squads. The Waves hold an 8-0 record at home, 5-1 on the road and have gone 11-2 on neutral sand. As pairs, the Waves have posted a 102-33 overall record and have gone 224-92 in sets played.
No. 1 & 2: Corinne Quiggle and Deahna Kraft have marked a 22-5 overall record this season. The pair currently plays in the top-spot and has gone 8-4 in that position, while also collecting a 14-1 record when playing in the No. 2 position. Brook Bauer and Madalyn Roh have gone 20-7 overall this season, with a 9-6 record when playing in the No. 1-slot and an 11-1 record when playing in their current No. 2 position. The No. 2 position has currently won 23-consecutive matches, including 19 by straight set decisions. Quiggle and Kraft won 14-straights matches, before switching spots for Roh and Bauer to win the next nine matches at the position.
No. 3, 4 & 5: Heidi Dyer and Gigi Hernandez have been in the No. 3 position throughout the whole season for Pepperdine, amassing a 20-7 overall record against opponents. The No. 4 position has been the most successful for the Waves this season, as Skylar Caputo and Alexis Filippone have amassed an impressive 25-2 record, adding a 51-12 record by sets as well. The duo has won 17 by straight sets and gritted out eight three-set battles this season. There have been four separate pairs playing in the No.5 position for the Waves. Maddie Dilfer and Nikki Lyons have paired up the most in that position, amassing a 12-5 record, including winning the last nine matches in with seven of them being won in straight-set fashion. The Waves collectively have gone 15-12 in the position this season.
LAST WEEK - Pepperdine took home their third-straight West Coast Conference Championship title with 5-0 sweeps over Pacific once and Saint Mary's twice. The Waves opened with a quick straight sweep over Pacific on Friday to advance. The team then downed Saint Mary's in the winner's bracket semifinal, dropping only one set in the sweep. In a rematch against the Gaels for the title, the Waves bested Saint Mary's once again with a 5-0 result, dropping only three sets in the process.
AVCA ACCOLADES - The Waves have had one pairing earn both AVCA and VolleyMob pair of the week accolades after Skylar Caputo and Alexis Filippone did so on March 6. Corinne Quiggle and Deahna Kraft also earned West Coast Conference Pair of the Month for the month of March.
WEST COAST CONFERENCE ALL-ACADEMIC - Five Waves garnered WCC All-Academic honors this season, with Maddie Dilfer, Corinne Quiggle and Madalyn Roh earning first team honors. Skylar Caputo and Heidi Dyer also picked up honorable mention acclaim.
LAST SEASON - The Waves went 27-5 overall last season and finished as NCAA Runner-up after a narrow loss in the finals. Pepperdine collected a 17-5 record against ranked opponents, while amassing a 9-1 record at Zuma Beach, a 6-2 record on the road and a 14-2 output on neutral sand. The Waves went 116-37 in sets played for a .758 set winning percentage.
BACK-TO-BACK-TO BACK WCC CHAMPS - The Waves have won back-to-back-to-back West Coast Conference Championship titles in 2016, 2017 adn 2018, with a series of three-straight wins en route to each title. In 2017, the Waves opened the tournament with a 5-0 sweep over Pacific. The team then defeated PCH Cup rivals Loyola Marymount with 4-1 decisions to earn the title. Last season, the Waves beat LMU once and Saint Mary's twice for the championship. This season, Pepperdine downed Pacific once and Saint Mary's twice for the crown.
SKIES THE LIMIT - Many of the Waves participate in all that southern California has to offer. Skylar Caputo often competes in paddle boarding when not in season, along with surfing and hiking any nearby mountains for fun. In 2016, she and fellow Wave Kaity Bailey hiked to the top of Mount Whitney with each of their fathers for a father-daughter backpacking trip.
THEY CAN DO IT ALL - Juniors Nikki Lyons and Heidi Dyer are the only two current Waves to be competing for both Pepperdine's indoor women's volleyball program and beach volleyball program at a competitive level. Lyons and Dyer are each starters on the indoor squad and have seen ample amounts on the beach with Dyer being a two-year starter and each Wave seeing time in the NCAA and WCC Championship tournaments last season.
Heidi Dyer, THE TITANIUM WOMAN - Junior Heidi Dyer had an interesting road to NCAA Division I athletics and AVCA Beach All-American status. When she was 12, a major scoliosis curve of over 60 percent forced her to get corrective surgery. She had two titanium rods fused to her spine to keep her back straight. Despite her parents being told she would never play volleyball again and may never walk again, she defied all odds and became one of Pepperdine beach and indoor volleyball student-athletes. During the 2016 NCAA Beach Volleyball National Championship season, TurnerSports and NCAA.com did a feature piece on her that streamed throughout the NCAA tournament and aired on TBS. It was voted one of the top-10 features on NCAA.com last season.
BEACH VOLLEYBALL HISTORY - The Pepperdine women's beach 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 made a run for the national crown in the Championship title bout against top-ranked USC in Gulf Shores. The Waves made it a 2-2 match with the final court reaching a 13-13 tie in the final set before the Trojans picked up the win.
MATTHIES - Nina Matthies' enters the 2018 beach season facing her seventh and final season at the helm of the Waves. At Zuma Beach in seven seasons, she led the Waves to a 42-2 record for a .955 winning percentage at home. She has collected a 112-18 record in the previous six seasons. She will be assisted this season once again by future leader of the Waves' program Marcio Sicoli and AVCA All-American and 2017 Pepperdine alumna Delaney Knudsen. Matthies retired from coaching the indoor game following the 2013 season and finished 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 and in 2015 was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame and earned the USA Volleyball's All-Time Great Female Beach Player award. 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.
SICOLI - Marcio Sicoli is in his seventh season assisting Nina Matthies in the sand, after spending six season with her as assistant indoor volleyball coach. He was recently named by Pepperdine to suceed Matthies at the helm of the Waves after her retirement at the end of the season. 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 as well as the Walsh Jennings and April Ross bronze medal run at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Olympica. 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 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 No. 50 overall on U.S. News and World Report's list of America's best colleges.
