MALIBU, Calif. – The #3 Pepperdine beach volleyball team has a slew of matches this week, first hosting top-ranked and undefeated UCLA on Wednesday at Zuma Beach, before making the short trip to Manhattan Beach for the East Meets West Invitational on Saturday and Sunday where the Waves will take on #4 Florida State, #6 LSU, #9 FIU and #19 TCU.

DUAL 8 – Wednesday (March 6) at Zuma Beach in Malibu, Calif.: #3 Pepperdine vs. #1 UCLA at 12 p.m. PT
 
DUAL 9 – Saturday (March 9) at Manhattan Beach Pier in Manhattan Beach, Calif.: #3 Pepperdine vs. #4 Florida State at 11:30 a.m. PT.
 
DUAL 10 – Saturday (March 9) at Manhattan Beach Pier in Manhattan Beach, Calif.: #3 Pepperdine vs. #6 LSU at 3:30 a.m. PT.
 
DUAL 11 – Sunday (March 10) at Manhattan Beach Pier in Manhattan Beach, Calif.: #3 Pepperdine vs. #19 TCU at 11 a.m. PT.
 
DUAL 12 – Sunday (March 10) at Manhattan Beach Pier in Manhattan Beach, Calif.: #3 Pepperdine vs. #9 Florida International at 2 p.m. PT.
 
COVERAGE – 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.  The match on Wednesday will have commentary by Mike Dodd, Tim Hovland, Travis Merwhirter and Rob Espero.
 
For the East Meets West Invitational, no live scoring or streaming will be provided.  Any known information can be found on Twitter @WavesBeachVB and on www.PepperdineWaves.com.  
 
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 a 100% chance of precipitation for Zuma Beach on Wednesday morning, while it lowers to 60% in the afternoon.  Winds will range from 12 miles per hour in the morning to six miles per hour in the afternoon.  The temperature is listed as a high of 60º throughout the day.
In Manhattan Beach this weekend, both days look agreeable, with only a 20% chance of rain possible.  The temperature will be 58º throughout the weekend, while Saturday calls for a mostly sunny disposition and Sunday will be mostly cloudy.
 
LOOKING AHEAD – After this week, Pepperdine returns home to host TCU, Cal Poly and Loyola Marymount for the Waves' Invite on Wednesday, March 13.  The event begins at 11 a.m. with a Pepperdine vs. TCU matchup.
 
THE #3 WAVES – Pepperdine has gone 6-1 overall this season, dropping only to UCLA in the season-opening tournament in Hawai'i.  The Waves have gone 3-0 at home, 1-0 on the road and 2-1 on neutral sand, with a 3-1 output against ranked opponents.
 
Three Pepperdine pairs have amassed five wins apiece, including the Waves' No. 1 pair Heidi Dyer and Brook Bauer who have gone 5-1 together.  At No. 5, Nikki Lyons and Katie Gavin have also tallied a 5-1 output, while at the No. 4 slot, Maddie Dilfer and Alexis Filippone have gone 5-2 overall.  Dilfer and Filippone's losses came at the No. 2 or No. 3 slots, so the partnership is still undefeated at the No. 4 position.
 
Pepperdine has gone 24-10 (.706) for a pairs overall record this season thus far, while the Waves have also amassed a 52-23 (.693) output in sets played.
 
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 42-2 (.955) at home, while the team has gone 213-39 for individual all-time records at home for a .845 winning percentage.  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.  In individual court wins, the Waves have collected a 213-39 overall record at Zuma Beach for an .845 success rate.
 
OPPONENT NOTES – Pepperdine has played all five competitors previously. 
 
Against UCLA, the Waves have gone 6-5 all-time, dating back to 2013 when the Waves won the first three matches with sweeping results.  UCLA then won twice in 2016, before Pepperdine went on a two-match streak themselves through 2017.  In 2018, the Bruins went 2-1 against the Waves.  Earlier this season, UCLA won a 4-1 matchup in Hawai'i over Pepperdine.  This season, the Bruins are ranked atop the AVCA coaches poll and have gone undefeated at 9-0 thus far.
 
Against #4 Florida State, Pepperdine has posted a 9-1 all-time record against, including six-straight wins from 2013-17 to open.  FSU took the team's only win in the 2017 campaign with a 3-2 victory in Florida.  Pepperdine has won the last three matches against the Seminoles by 4-1 decision.  This season, FSU has gone 8-1 overall including a 3-2 loss to #6 LSU in the season-opener.
 
The Waves have gone 4-0 against the Tigers all-time, and all four matches have been played on neutral sand in 2018.  Pepperdine has only swept LSU once in those matches, the final one in the opening round of the 2018 NCAA Championships in Gulf Shores, Ala.  This season, LSU has gone 6-2 overall, collecting both a win and a loss against FSU and #9 South Carolina this season.
 
Lastly, Pepperdine has played TCU three times, sweeping on all occasions in 2015, 2017 and 2018.  This season, the Horned Frogs have gone 5-3 overall.
 
LAST WEEKEND – Pepperdine hosted the Zuma Classic in Malibu last Saturday, welcoming #8 Long Beach State, CSUN – a team receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll – and CSU Bakersfield.  The Waves opened the day with a 5-0 sweep over CSU Bakersfield, recording two-set wins on all five courts and seeing the No. 1 duo of Heidi Dyer and Brook Bauer taking the clinch.
 
Pepperdine then moved on to possibly the most exciting match of the day, falling behind as Long Beach State took first set wins on three courts.  Although the 49ers collected one win on court three, the Waves battled back on other courts to prevail.  First, Jenna Tunnell and Skylar Caputo took down their opponents in two sets and Dyer and Bauer followed suit on court one to put the Waves up 2-1. 
 
On court two, Deahna Kraft and Gigi Hernandez battled back from a 21-17 first set loss to win the second 21-19 and force a third.  The pair then dominated in the third set en route to a dual-clinching 15-11 final set win.  Nikki Lyons and Katie Gavin followed in their footsteps, rallying back from a 21-12 loss to win the second set 23-21.  In the third, the Waves' pair broke away towards a 15-8 set win to make the final 4-1 in the dual.
 
In the final match of the day, the Waves took care of business on four courts, winning the dual quickly.  Kraft and Hernandez moved up to No. 1 for the match and took down their opposition 21-7, 21-8.  On court three, Tunnell and Caputo bested their competition in two sets to put Pepperdine in a position to clinch.  The Waves would do just that as freshman pair Melanie Paul and Simone Priebe won their match on court five 21-14, 21-13 to clinch.  Gavin and Lyons also won in two sets on court four, while CSUN ended the day with a win on court two.
 
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.
 
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.
 
SKIES THE LIMIT – Many of the Waves participate in all that Southern California has to offer.  Skylar Caputo often competes in outrigging when not in season, along with surfing, paddle boarding and hiking any nearby mountains for fun.