#3 Waves Host Zuma Classic on Saturday

MALIBU, Calif. – The #3 Pepperdine beach volleyball team hosts #8 Long Beach State, CSUN and CSU Bakersfield for the Zuma Classic on Saturday at Zuma Beach in Malibu for the team's home opening matches. Only extreme weather will impair the possibility of playing the matches.

DUAL 5 – Saturday (March 2) at Zuma Beach in Malibu, Calif.: #3 Pepperdine vs. CSU Bakersfield at 9 a.m. PT

DUAL 6 – Saturday (March 2) at Zuma Beach in Malibu, Calif.: #3 Pepperdine vs. #8 Long Beach State at 11 a.m. PT

DUAL 7 – Saturday (March 2) at Zuma Beach in Malibu, Calif.: #3 Pepperdine vs. CSUN at 1 p.m. PT

COVERAGE – The matches this weekend will not be live streamed. Future matches at Zuma will be streamed by p1440. Links available on www.PepperdineWaves.com/WavesBeachVB. Follow on Twitter and Facebook (@WavesBeachVB) for all updates before, during and after matches. Also, go to PepperdineWaves.com for updates, recaps and more.

WAVES WEATHER – There is an 100% chance of rain on the forecast for Zuma Beach on Saturday, with 13 mile per hour winds on the docket. The weather calls for a cloudy disposition with a temperature of 60º.

LOOKING AHEAD – Next, the Waves will stay in Malibu on Wednesday, March 6 as Pepperdine hosts a grudge match against top-ranked UCLA at Zuma Beach.

THE #3 WAVES – Pepperdine opened the 2019 campaign with a 3-1 output at the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic last week, defeating #5 Hawai'i, #11 Stanford and WCC opponent Saint Mary's, before falling to top-ranked UCLA.

Maddie Dilfer and Alexis Filippone remained unbeaten after the first week of competition, going 4-0 overall with an uncontested 8-0 sets record throughout the weekend at the No. 4 position. The Waves No. 1 and No. 5 pairs, Brook Bauer, Heidi Dyer and Nikki Lyons, Katie Gavin respectively went 3-1 in the opening tournament, falling only to UCLA's pairs.

Lyons and Gavin, Dilfer and Filippone and Deahna Kraft and Gigi Hernandez have all collected match clinching-wins as well.

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. All-time, the Waves have gone 42-2 overall for a .955 winning output at Zuma Beach, while the team has gone 200-37 for individual all-time records at home for a .844 winning percentage.

Since 2012, Pepperdine has gone 42-2 (.955) at home, winning 13-straight matches from 2012 through 2014. The Waves went 3-1 in 2015, and 9-1 in 2017, but had uncontested home seasons with a 9-0 output in 2016 and an 8-0 record in 2018. In individual court wins, the Waves have collected a 200-37 overall record at Zuma Beach for an .844 success rate.

OPPONENT NOTES – Cal State Bakersfield has gone 2-0 this season, with wins over Cal State LA and Vanguard. All-time, the Waves have collected a perfect 5-0 record against CSUB, dating back to 2014. Since then, all five wins have been sweeps.

CSUN, a team receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll has posted an 0-1 record this season, falling to fellow WCC opponent and PCH Cup rival #11 Loyola Marymount 5-0 at home. The team has also won four exhibition matches this season. All-time, Pepperdine has gone 2-0 against the Matadors, taking sweeps in 2014 and 2017.

#8 Long Beach State has gone 2-0 this season, collecting sweeps over Cal State LA and Long Beach City College. All-time, the Waves have gone 19-2 against the 49ers, winning the first eight-matches from 2012-2013 before the opposition took a 3-2 win in 2013. The Waves then went on another four-match winning streak, before LBSU had an edge in 2015, but Pepperdine continued to defeat the 49ers with seven-consecutive wins from 2016-2018, including four sweeps.

LAST WEEKEND – On day one of the Hawai'i tournament, Pepperdine took 3-2 wins over #11 Stanford and #5 Hawai'i to open the 2019 season. Against Stanford in the opener, Alexis Filippone and Maddie Dilfer opened with the first Waves' win of the season, taking down their opponents in two sets on court four, while Brook Bauer and Heidi Dyer followed up with a two-set win in the No. 1 position to put the Waves in a position to clinch. Nikki Lyons and Katie Gavin gave the Waves the overall win after downing their opponents on court five.

In the grudge match against the team that defeated the Waves in the NCAA second round last season, #5 Hawai'I, the Waves went down two sets to none to open the match. Pepperdine would not roll over, however, as Lyons and Gavin followed up with a two-set win of their own to get on the board. Then, Bauer and Dyer won on court one to tie the overall match and put all eyes on court four. After winning the first set, Dilfer and Filippone made quick work of their opponents in the No. 4 position to win the exciting matchup.

Against fellow WCC opponent Saint Mary's, all five Waves pairings dominated the opposition. Lyons and Gavin, Dilfer and Filippone won matches to give the Waves an option to clinch, and Gigi Hernandez and Deahna Kraft finished the job with a two-set win on court two. Bauer and Dyer continued with another win on court one, while Jenna Tunnell and Skylar Caputo finished with a three-set victory for the Waves first sweep of the season.

In the final matchup of the tournament, Pepperdine faced off with defending national champions and top-ranked UCLA. After falling on court five, Dilfer and Filippone answered to tie the match with a court four win. UCLA then clinched the overall victory after taking wins on courts two and three, but the No. 1's would go to a third set in an absolute battle. Bauer and Dyer won the first set 21-17 over Nicole and Megan McNamara, but the twins came back late in the second to win 24-22. In the final set of the tournament, both sides reached the 15-point mark and beyond, but the Bruins would take the eventual 24-22 extra points win to finish the match 4-1.

WEST COAST CONFERENCE PRESEASON ACCOLADES - The Waves were tabbed to finish atop the West Coast Conference for the fourth-straight season, as voted by the league's seven head coaches in the WCC Preseason Poll and released on February 20.

In addition, Brook Bauer, Deahna Kraft and Heidi Dyer earned a spot on the Preseason All-WCC squad. All three earned a plethora of honors last season, including WCC Freshman of the Year Bauer, Defensive Player of the Year Kraft and All-WCC first teamer Dyer.
Following the Waves to round out the top three are Saint Mary's (30) and PCH Cup rival LMU (27). The rest of the WCC follows: San Francisco (18), Pacific (17), Portland (11) and Santa Clara (8)
THREEPEAT: WCC CHAMPS - The Waves have won back-to-back-to-back West Coast Conference Championship titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018, with a series of three-straight wins en route to each title. In 2018, the Waves won all three matches in the tournament with sweeps, defeating Portland in the opening round before downing Saint Mary's twice for the crown.

THEY CAN DO IT ALL — Seniors Nikki Lyons, Heidi Dyer and Jenna Tunnell are the only three 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 three-year starter and each Wave seeing time in the NCAA and WCC Championship tournaments last season. Tunnell took some time off from the beach to focus on her indoor career, but returned this spring to aid the Waves' efforts.

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Players Mentioned

Brook Bauer

Skylar Caputo

Maddie Dilfer

Heidi Dyer

Alexis Filippone

Katie Gavin

Gigi Hernandez

Deahna Kraft

Nikki Lyons

Jenna Tunnell

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