#5 Pepperdine to Travel to #9 LBSU; Compete at Arizona State Invitational

MALIBU, Calif. – As is tradition in the collegiate beach volleyball world, the #5 Pepperdine beach volleyball team has another full week on the docket, first traveling to #9 Long Beach State for a solo dual before trekking to Tempe, Ariz. for the Arizona State Invitational on Friday and Saturday to take on #2 USC, #6 Hawai'i and unranked tournament host ASU.

DUAL 17 – Wednesday (March 20) at LBSU Sand Courts in Long Beach, Calif.: #5 Pepperdine at #9 Long Beach State at 1 p.m.

DUAL 18 – Friday (March 22) at PERA Club in Tempe, Ariz.: #5 Pepperdine vs. #6 Hawai'i at 10 a.m. PT

DUAL 19 – Friday (March 22) at PERA Club in Tempe, Ariz.: #5 Pepperdine vs. #2 USC at 2 p.m. PT

DUAL 20 – Saturday (March 23) at PERA Club in Tempe, Ariz.: #5 Pepperdine at Arizona State at 12 p.m. PT

COVERAGE – The road matches at Long Beach State and Arizona State will not have live stream or results. Any possible information during and immediately after each match will be provided on Twitter @WavesBeachVB as soon as possible.

All matches at Zuma Beach will be live streamed courtesy of p1440 for the remainder of the season. 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 – Wednesday's forecast in Long Beach calls for a 50% chance of rain with a high of 64º. It will be cloudy with occasional rain showers and southeast winds at around 10 to 20 mph. On Friday and Saturday in Tempe, it will be partly cloudy and sunny with a high of 72º on Friday and 77º on Saturday. Winds will stay below 10 mph and there is 0% chance of rain indicated.

LOOKING AHEAD – Next, the Waves return home to host Stanford on Tuesday and USC on Saturday next week.

THE #5 WAVES – The Waves have gone 11-5 overall this season, including a 6-1 output at home, an even 1-1 record on the road and a 4-3 record on neutral sand. Pepperdine has gone 8-5 against ranked opponents, while gathering a 103-77 sets record this season.

Brook Bauer and Deahna Kraft have spent the most recent time in the No. 1 position with a 3-4 record overall, while Heidi Dyer and Gigi Hernandez have been playing in the No. 2 position and obtaining a 6-1 overall record. In the No. 3 position, Skylar Caputo and Alexis Filippone have put up a 6-1 record, while Maddie Dilfer and Nicole Lyons have gone 3-3 in the No. 4 slot. At No. 5, Simone Priebe and Katie Gavin have posted a 4-2 record since joining forces.

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.

Since 2012, Pepperdine has gone 45-3 (.955) at home. The Waves won 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. The Waves lost for the only the third time at Zuma Beach this season against the Bruins.

OPPONENT NOTES – The Waves have gone head-to-head against Long Beach State 22 times, collecting a 20-2 overall record against the 49ers since 2012. To open, Pepperdine collected eight-straight wins before the Beach took one of their own. The Waves then went on another four-match streak before being stopped. Currently, Pepperdine is on an eight-match winning streak against the 49ers since the 2016 campaign, including four sweeps. This season LBSU has gone 6-3 overall, including a 4-1 loss to Pepperdine in Malibu earlier this season, and ranks 9^th in the AVCA Coaches Poll this week.

The Waves have played Arizona State only once in 2017, winning with a 5-0 sweep at Zuma Beach. This season, the Sun Devils have posted a 10-4 overall record this season and are receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll.

Pepperdine holds a 12-11 overall record against USC all-time since 2012 when the Waves won the first match at Zuma Beach 3-2 and went on a six-match winning streak. The Trojans went on a streak of their own from 2016-17 when the opposition won six-straight. Last season, the Waves beat the Trojans four times, while falling just once to bow out of the NCAA tournament. This season, USC is ranked #2 in the coaches polls and has gone 13-2 overall with wins over Florida State, LSU and Florida International.

Pepperdine has gone 11-3 against Hawai'i since the 2012 season, collecting five-consecutive sweeps from 2012 to 2014 to open the history. The Rainbow Wahine won in 2015, but the Waves then went on another four-match streak before being beaten again. Last season, the teams played just once in the NCAA tournament with the opposition winning the match, but this season the Waves took a 3-2 win in Hawai'i off the Wahine.

LAST WEEK – Last week, the Waves went 3-1 overall, winning three matches at the Waves Invite in Malibu against #7 Cal Poly, #13 LMU and #20 TCU before trekking to take on top-ranked UCLA and falling.

In the first three events at home, the Waves opened with a sweep over TCU, with Brook Bauer and Deahna Kraft earning the clinch for their squad. Then in a battle against Cal Poly, Pepperdine collected wins on courts two, three and five for the victory, with Simone Priebe and Katie Gavin clinching in the No. 5 position. To close the day against PCH Cup rival LMU, the Waves collected another sweep with Skylar Caputo and Alexis Filippone picking up the clinch on three.

In the final match of the week in Westwood, Pepperdine was felled in all five positions against UCLA.

#5 Pepperdine to Travel to #9 LBSU; Compete at Arizona State Invitational

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Players Mentioned

Brook Bauer

Skylar Caputo

Maddie Dilfer

Heidi Dyer

Alexis Filippone

Katie Gavin

Gigi Hernandez

Deahna Kraft

Simone Priebe

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