Pepperdine University Athletics

Jon Daze returned to the sidelines of the Pepperdine beach volleyball program as an assistant coach in 2018, and will begin his third season on the sidelines in 2021.

The 2020 campaign was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  In the season, the Waves collected a 2-5 output, though were on the rise with a pair of wins under the squad’s belt heading into the second home tournament of the season.  No national or conference postseason awards were given, apart from a record 10 players earning WCC All-Academic recognition, including Hannah Frohling, Peyton Lewis and Simone Priebe to first team.
 
In his second season as Pepperdine’s assistant coach on the beach in 2019, he helped lead the squad to a 20-11 (.645) record.  The Waves put up a pair of hard-fought battles in the tournament, but were felled by LSU and USC and forced to bow out of the tournament.  That wasn’t the end to the season, however, as several Waves hit the sand to compete at the USA Collegiate Beach Championships.  After three grueling days of competition, Pepperdine’s top pair, Brook Bauer and Deahna Kraft, finished with silver in the tournament.  Along the way to the title match against LSU’s Clair Coppola and Kristen Nuss, the Waves bested Florida State’s Brooke Kuhlman and Avery Poppinga and PCH Cup rival LMU’s pair of Savannah Slattery and Emma Doud.
 
After the season, Bauer and Heidi Dyer were named AVCA and Volleyball Magazine All-Americans.  The pair, along with Kraft, also earned DiG All-American honors after the season.  Bauer also tabbed West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, while six Waves picked up All-Conference acclaim, including Bauer, Dyer and Kraft to first team, Skylar Caputo and Gigi Hernandez to second team and Simone Priebe to the All-Freshman squad.
 
In 2018, the team finished with a 25-5 overall record and a No. 4 final AVCA national ranking.  Corinne Quiggle and Deahna Kraft became the 13^th and 14^th Pepperdine beach volleyball players to earn AVCA All-American honors and the two along with Brook Bauer garnered WCC Player, Defender and Freshman of the Year honors.  A total of eight Waves also earned 10 other All-American honors from either VolleyMob.com or VolleyballMag.com. 
 
Since 2013, Dazé has been coaching with USA Beach Volleyball and since 2001 he has been coaching at either the club, collegiate or professional level for both indoor and beach volleyball.  In 2016, he served as an assistant coach to Sicoli for the duo of Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross, helping coach the pair to a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games. 
 
Prior to his stint on the professional and Team U.S.A. side of things, Dazé served as Pepperdine beach volleyball team’s volunteer assistant from 2012-15, helping lead the program to the second AVCA National Championship title along 2013 AVCA National finalist and 2015 AVCA Final Four finishes. 
 
Most recently in 2018, he was the assistant coach for Kerri Walsh Jennings and Nicole Branaugh and the head coach for Bill Kolinske and Miles Evans.  In 2017, he was the head coach for April Ross and Lauren Fendrick, helping coach the pair to a silver medal finishes at the World Championships in Vienna, Austria and the FIVB Long Beach World Series, while also helping led the team to AVP New York Champion status. 
 
On the men’s side in 2017, he served as the head coach to Billy Allen and Stafford Slick, helping the pair to an AVP Seattle Championship and finals appearances at the AVP New York and San Francisco tournaments.
 
While also coaching at the professional beach level, Dazé also coached at the high school and club levels, acting as the Varsity Head Coach and Program Directory at Marlborough School for the girls indoor volleyball team from 2017-18.  He acted in different facets at the club or high school level as either head coach or director capacities at Sports Academy, Actyve Volleyball Club and Laguna Beach Volleyball Club from 2001-18.
 
He coached in brief stints at Santa Monica College for the men’s indoor squad helping the team to a State Tournament Final Four appearance for the 2015-16 season.  From 2011-12, he was the assistant coach for Irvine Valley College men’s indoor team and from 2009-11, he served as either the Associate Head Coach of Interim Head Coach for Concordia University, Irvine’s women’s indoor squad. 
 
Dazé earned a Master’s Degree in Education Psychology from Pepperdine in 2015 and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Human Development from UC San Diego in 2007.