Week 8: Pepperdine Waves Women's College Volleyball Team News
Pepperdine Women's Volleyball Hosts LMU on Saturday Night
For a video interview with Pepperdine assistant coach Marcio Sicoli, please click the following link:
http://www.pepperdinesports.
October 15, 2009
THE FACTS — The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team hosts rival Loyola Marymount on Saturday night, looking to keep pace in the West Coast Conference standings and to earn a point in the PCH Challenge. This begins a three-match homestand for the Waves, who then must play five of their final seven on the road.
MATCH #18 — Saturday (Oct. 17) at Firestone Fieldhouse: Pepperdine (10-7, 3-1 WCC, tied for second place) vs. Loyola Marymount (9-9, 0-4 WCC, eighth place) at 7 p.m.
PCH CHALLENGE — The newly created PCH Challenge is a season-long competition between local rivals Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. The overall score is tied 1.5-1.5 heading into Saturday’s match. A home win is worth one point, while a road victory is valued at 1 1/2 points.
ON THE WEB — Live video of all home matches are available to Wave Casts subscribers at www.pepperdinesports.com. Live statistics will be available for all home matches free of charge, and links are provided to the home team’s website when the Waves are on the road. Go to the “Wave Casts” link toward the top of the home page for more information.
TICKETS — Single-match tickets to all home women’s volleyball games are $8 for adults, $5 for students and seniors and free to all Pepperdine students and faculty with a university ID.
RANKINGS — After being ranked as high as #19 in the AVCA poll on Sept. 7, the Waves have been in the “others receiving votes” category the past four weeks.
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OPPONENT — Pepperdine is 44-16 all-time against Loyola Marymount and has won five in a row, eight of the last nine and 14 of the last 16. Pepperdine is 23-5 in matches played in Malibu and has won eight in a row, last losing in 2000. The Lions enter Saturday on a six-match losing streak.
LAST WEEKEND — Pepperdine defeated Gonzaga for the 25th straight time and Portland for the 29th consecutive time as the Waves swept both matches on their Northwest road swing. The Waves beat the Bulldogs 25-22, 25-23, 29-26 and the Pilots 25-23, 25-19, 25-14. Over the six sets, Rachel Grochmal averaged 4.83 kills, Kiah Fiers averaged 12.17 assists and 4.50 digs and Kim Hill hit .581 with 3.50 kills.
ON TUESDAY — Kim Hill had a career-high 19 kills, but Pepperdine lost a hard-fought non-conference match at UC Santa Barbara in four sets (25-23, 25-23, 28-30, 25-17) on Tuesday night (Oct. 13). Pepperdine’s three-match win streak came to an end as the Gauchos had advantages of .232-.194 in hitting, 11-6 in blocks and 8-3 in service aces. Hill hit .562 (19-1-32), Rachel Grochmal had 18 kills and 17 digs for her fifth double-double of the season and Stevi Robinson (28) and Krista Friedman (13) both had season highs for digs.
WCC STATS — (Prior to the UCSB match) Pepperdine is second in digs (14.96), opponent hitting percentage (.196) and service aces (1.38), fourth in hitting percentage (.229) and fifth in blocks (1.96) ... Stevi Robinson is first in service aces (0.48) and second in digs (4.81) ... Kiah Fiers is second in assists (10.29) ... Rachel Grochmal is fifth in service aces (0.31) and points (3.71) ... Kim Hill is third in hitting percentage (.354) ... Lilla Frederick is sixth in points (3.44) and seventh in kills (3.13).
NATIONAL STATS — According to the NCAA, Stevi Robinson ranks 25th in the nation in service aces (0.48) and 40th in digs (4.81).
2009 HONORS — Kiah Fiers and Kim Hill were named to the preseason All-WCC team ... Fiers was named Tournament MVP at the Colorado State Asics Classic and was joined on the all-tournament team by Lilla Frederick and Rachel Grochmal ... Fiers was also named WCC Player of the Week on 8/31 following the Colorado State event ... Stevi Robinsonwas named WCC Player of the Week on 9/7 after the Pepperdine-USC Tournament ... Robinson and Frederick made the all-tournament team for the Pepperdine-USC Tournament ... Robinson was the Tournament MVP at the Pepperdine Asics Classic andKristen Seaton also made the all-tournament team.
FIERS — The leader of Pepperdine’s attack is senior setter Kiah Fiers (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Peninsula HS), who is averaging 10.50 assists per set. She is a three-time All-WCC selection (once on the first team, twice on honorable mention). She has 3,901 career assists, which is #4 on Pepperdine’s all-time list.
GROCHMAL — Pepperdine’s other senior starter is outside hitter Rachel Grochmal (Brea, Calif./Brea Olinda HS). Formerly Rachel Lumsden, she got married this past summer. She is a two-time All-WCC honorable mention selection and began the season as Pepperdine’s all-time leader in service aces per set. In 2009, she is averaging a team-best 3.25 kills along with 2.85 digs.
ROBINSON — Possibly one of the best liberos in the country, sophomore Stevi Robinson(Hermosa Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) was the WCC Defensive Player of the Year in 2008 after averaging a WCC-leading 4.81 digs per set. She’s been even better in 2009 at 4.96 digs and 0.45 service aces per set.
FREDERICK — Sophomore Lilla Frederick (Huntington Beach, Calif./Cornelia Connelly HS) is contributing 3.07 kills per set. She made the WCC All-Freshman team last season and played on the USA Junior National Team the past two summers.
HILL — After earning WCC Freshman of the Year honors last season, sophomore middle blocker Kim Hill (Portland, Ore./Portland Christian HS) is shouldering an even bigger load in 2009. She is hitting .377 and is averaging 2.54 kills and 0.72 blocks.
SEATON — Back in the rotation after redshirting 2008 due to a foot injury, sophomoreKristen Seaton (Terre Haute, Ind./South Vigo HS) is expected to be a potent force at opposite. She is averaging 1.98 kills and 0.70 blocks.
FRIEDMAN — An occasional starter in the back row, junior Krista Friedman (La Verne, Calif./St. Lucy’s Priory HS) has carved out a role as a defensive specialist. She is averaging 1.68 digs per set.
ADELHELM — Of Pepperdine’s seven newcomers, only one has been asked to step into the regular starting lineup, and that’s freshman middle blocker Victoria Adelhelm (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif./Santa Fe Christian HS). She has made a nice transition to Division I volleyball, averaging 1.67 kills and 0.83 blocks.
MORE NEWCOMERS — Among the other six newcomers, freshmen Brittney Clark (San Jose, Calif./Presentation HS) and Caitlin Racich (Santa Barbara, Calif./Dos Pueblos HS) have seen the most playing time. Clark has averaged 0.78 kills and 0.72 blocks as a middle blocker or opposite. Racich has averaged 1.47 kills as an outside hitter. Three other newcomers are also true freshmen. Justine Hunter (Hollister, Calif./San Benito HS) is the backup at setter, Ashley Broadwell (Bothell, Wash./Archbishop Murphy HS) is an outside hitter and Kelli Branning (Menlo Park, Calif./Menlo-Atherton HS) is a libero. Redshirt sophomore Janea Rosell (Los Angeles, Calif./Bishop Montgomery HS), a transfer from Arizona State, is competing at middle blocker. The website prepvolleyball.com rated Pepperdine’s recruiting class as #12 in the country and listed Racich at #70 and Adelhelm at #85 on its Senior Aces list.
NINA MATTHIES — Now in her 27th season as head coach of the Waves, Nina Matthiesentered the 2009 season with a career record of 494-294 (.627), which includes 10 conference championships and 18 NCAA Tournament appearances. She is by far the WCC’s all-time winningest coach and is a nine-time WCC Coach of the Year. On Sept. 11, 2009, she won the 500th match of her career with a victory over Seattle. Matthies was among the world’s top players and is a member of the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame. Earlier this fall, 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.
ROSTER — The Waves return four starters plus the libero and lost only two starters from the 2008 squad. Seven returners (six letterwinners and one redshirt) are joined by seven newcomers (six true freshmen and one transfer) to bring the squad total to 14. It’s a fairly young team, as the eligibility breakdown is two seniors, one junior, five sophomores and six freshmen.
DIG PINK — The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team’s home match against San Francisco on Thursday, Oct. 22, will be the annual fundraising effort in the battle against breast cancer. Now known as “Dig Pink”, fans are asked to make pledges to help the cause. More information can be found at www.pepperdinesports.com.
ESPNU MATCH — The Pepperdine-San Diego match at the Jenny Craig Pavilion set for Wednesday, Oct. 28, will be shown live on ESPNU at 7 p.m.
WCC PRESEASON POLL — San Diego received seven of the eight first-place votes and was picked to win the title. Pepperdine was second, followed by Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Loyola Marymount, and then Gonzaga and Portland tied for seventh place. Kiah Fiers and Kim Hill were named to the All-WCC preseason first team.
VOLLEYBALL HISTORY — The Pepperdine women’s volleyball program is synonymous with the word excellence, as the Waves are a perennial power. The Waves have advanced to postseason play 25 times in 34 seasons, including 11 trips to the NCAA Championships in the last 12 seasons. Pepperdine’s best finishes in recent years came when the team made the regional final of the 2002 NCAAs, and then in 2003 when the Waves posted 27 victories (most in the Nina Matthies era).
2008 RECAP — It was another solid year for the Pepperdine women’s volleyball team. Julie Rubenstein earned AVCA All-American third team honors and became Pepperdine’s first All-American since 2003. She led the conference in kills and points. The Waves advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row but suffered a first-round loss to Long Beach State. There was a school-record-tying 13-0 start, and though they tied for fourth in the WCC with an 8-6 record, the Waves finished 20-8 overall, the 17th 20-win season in program history. Kim Hill earned WCC Freshman of the Year honors and Stevi Robinson was the WCC Defensive Player of the Year.
ABOUT PEPPERDINE — Pepperdine boasts a one-of-a-kind athletic department with unprecedented success for a school of its size. The Waves have won a total of nine NCAA championships in five different men’s sports — one of just 14 schools to have accomplished this feat. Of the 14, Pepperdine is the only non-BCS school and has by far the smallest enrollment. The majority of Pepperdine’s teams are ranked nationally year after year and compete for conference and national titles.
