Pepperdine Women's Volleyball: League Rivals Face Off Inside Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday
To Watch Loyola-Marymount Preview with Head Coach Nina Matthies, click here:
http://pepperdinesports.cstv.com/allaccess/?media=207242
November 3, 2010
League Rivals Face Off Inside Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday
Women's Volleyball Hosts Loyola Marymount to Wrap Three-Match Home Stand
MALIBU, Calif. - The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team (16-7, 6-2 West Coast Conference) welcome Loyola Marymount (14-10, 6-3 WCC) to the Firestone Fieldhouse on Sat., Nov. 6 for a 7 p.m. match. The contest counts towards the standings in the Pacific Coast Highway Challenge. The Waves won the first meeting of the season with the Lions, 3-0, on the road to add 1.5 points to their overall score in the annual competition.
LOOKING BACK - The Waves won a pair of home matches last week versus Santa Clara and San Francisco. Pepperdine made short work of the Broncos, defeating them 3-0 in less than and hour and a half last Thursday night. The Dons suffered the same demise on Saturday afternoon.
LOOKING AHEAD - Pepperdine travels to Portland and Gonzaga next week for its final road contests of the regular season. The Waves square off with the Pilots at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 11 before a noon contest on Saturday, Nov. 13 versus the Bulldogs.
ON THE WEB — This week’s match will be broadcasted live and for free via Wave Casts. Live stats will also be available through GameTracker and can be accessed at www.PepperdineSports.com, where you can also find links to available media for Pepperdine road contests.
PCH CHALLENGE — Separated by 19.1 miles of scenic coastline, longtime crosstown adversaries Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine have come together in an effort to boost their decades-long rivalry with the creation of the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) Challenge. The series serves as an annual scorecard for the NCAA-sponsored athletic contests between the Lions and Waves, and challenges each institution to rise above the other within the West Coast Conference. After a series Pepperdine-LMU water polo, cross country, soccer and volleyball contests, the Lions lead 4.0-3.0.
SCOUTING THE LIONS - LMU is 14-10 (6-3 WCC) ... Pepperdine defeated the Lions 3-0 on the road earlier this season ... The Waves lead the all-time series against the Lions 47-16 and are 24-5 versus LMU when playing at home ... Loyola Marymount sits in fourth place in the WCC standings after being picked to finish last in the preseason poll ... LMU ranks first in the WCC with 1.71 service aces/set ... As a team they hit a .224 attack percentage to rank fourth in the league ... The Lions are led by Jasmine Rankins who averages 3.63 kills/set and Felicia Arriola who touts 2.79 kills/set ... Laura DeGranmont and Arriola protect the back court with 2.92 and 2.45 digs/set, respectively.
FIRST AND 20 - Junior outside hitter Lilla Frederick nailed down a career-best 20 kills versus the Gaels on Oct. 20. It was the first time any Wave has eclipsed the 20-kill plateau this season, and the first time since Kim Hill achieved the feat during the season closer versus USF on Nov. 21, 2009.
WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK, OCT. 18 - After averaging a blazing 5.33 kills/set and her third season double-double (kills-digs) Lilla Frederick was honored as the WCC Player of the Week. This was the first time the junior outside hitter earned the weekly honor.
IT COULD HAPPEN - With two more digs, Stevi Robinson will move into third place in the Pepperdine all-time totals list. She currently has tallied 1,245 digs in her two-plus seasons in a Wave uniform ... Victoria Adelhelm is 12 kills away from reaching the 400 career kills plateau ... Emily Cooks first kill of the match will be her 200th of the season ... Kellie Woolever is 12 assists away from reaching 900 total this season.
STREAKING - Victoria Adelhelm has denied at least one attack in the last 10 matches including four or more in the last five-consecutive matches ... Lilla Frederick has eclipsed double-digit kill totals in five of the last six contests and has recorded an ace in five-straight matches ... Stevi Robinson has surpassed 10 digs in the last six matches including a pair of 20+ digs contests ... Kim Hill has recorded at least one block in all 23 matches this season and has eclipsed double-digit kills total in 17 contests during the 2010 campaign.
WCC Overall RANKS - Pepperdine continues to tout the best hitting percentage in the WCC with a .271 (1113-382-2699) clip ... The Waves holds opponents to a league-best .166 attack percentage ... The Waves rank second with 13.29 assists per set and 2.67 blocks per set ... Pepperdine has the second-best kill average (14.27) and third-best service ace average (1.49) ... The Waves rank sixth with 14.00 digs per set ... Victoria Adelhelm has the second-best hitting percentage in the league with .367 ... Kellie Woolever averages 11.38 assists per set to rank second ... Brittney Clark, Adelhelm and Hill rank No. 2, 4 and 8 with 1.26, 1.05, and .94 blocks per set, respectively ... Stevi Robinson ranks third in the WCC with a 4.18 digs per set average.
WCC Only RANKS - Pepperdine also ranks high when considering only matches against league opponents ... Brittney Clark hits .402 against league opponents to rank second, while Victoria Adelhelm boasts a hitting percentage of .365 to rank second ... Lilla Frederick ranks fourth with 3.63 kps ... Kellie Woolever averages 11.77 assists per set in league action to rank second ... Kim Hill has the number four service ace per set average with .43 and the eighth-best kills average (3.07 kps) ... Emily Cook ranks seventh with 3.07 kps ... Brittney Clark and Adelhelm average 1.27 and 1.17 blocks/set to rank fifth and sixth, respectively ... The Waves are first in overall hitting percentage (.301), and second in assists (14.27 aps), blocks (2.70 bps), kills (15.30 kps), and opponent hitting percentage (.152) and third with 1.67 service aces per set.
WCC PLAYER OF THE MONTH, SEPTEMBER - Victoria Adelhelm was named WCC Co-Player of the Month for her performance in September. During that month, she led the team with a .343 hitting percentage and 42 total blocks to help the Waves to a 6-3 record.
WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK, SEPTEMBER 6 - Victoria Adelhelm was named WCC Co-Player of the Week on Sept. 6 after hitting a team-best .520 (30-4-50) attack percentage, while denying attackers on defense on 12 occasions. This is the first weekly award for the sophomore, and the first for the Waves during the 2010 season.
RETURN TO SENDER - Brittney Clark kept UC Santa Barbara attackers at bay, tallying a career-best 12 blocks versus the Gauchos on Oct. 6. The total ranks tied for second in the single match Pepperdine record books (rally scoring era only) Victoria Adelhelm returned 10 attacks to the New Mexico State side of the net on Sept. 17 to also rank top-five in the single match record books along with Clark.
TOURNAMENT SEASON RECAP - Pepperdine went 8-4 in its four tournaments this fall. The Waves won the UNLV Invitational, and took second at the Arizona Invitational and the Asics Classic. Kim Hill received all-tournament team honors at MCM Elegante Lobo Classic, the UNLV Invitational, and the Arizona Invitational. Victoria Adelhelm and Lilla Frederick both earned recognition at the Asics Classic and the UNLV Invitational. Emily Cook was named to her first all-tournament team of the season at the Arizona Invitational.
1K CLUB - Stevi Robinson tallied 52 digs during the Asics Classic including a season-best 27 versus Missouri. Her 26th dig of the match gave the junior her 1,000 career dig. She currently ranks first in the Pepperdine history books with a career average of 4.57 dps.
FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING - Known for her offensive prowess, Kim Hill showed her versatility on Sept. 3 against Rice at the Asics Classic, recording a career-high 10 digs. Coupled with her 12 kills, the junior registered her first-ever double double.
RANKINGS — Pepperdine received 10 votes on the latest installment of the AVCA Top-25 Coaches Poll.
8/17 8/30 9/6 9/13 9/20 9/27 10/4 10/11 10/18 10/25 11/1 11/8 11/15 11/22 11/29
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AVCA TOP-25 - Pepperdine routinely faces some of the top opponents in the county. The Waves, who received votes in the latest AVCA Coaches Polls, have faced #4 Stanford, #13 UCLA and #19 San Diego already this season. Since the ranking system was established in 1982, Pepperdine has amassed 84 victories over top-25 squads.
PRESEASON WCC COACHES’ POLL - The Waves were voted to finished third in the West Coast Conference in the coaches’ preseason poll. San Diego was picked as the favorite with six first-place votes, while 2009 WCC Champion Saint Mary’s was predicted to finish in second.
PRESEASON ALL-WCC - Kim Hill was voted to the Preseason All-WCC Team. Last season Hill led the conference with .425 hitting percentage and was awarded All-WCC first team honors. In addition, she was named an honorable mention All-American by the AVCA.
NINA MATTHIES — Now in her 28th season as head coach of the Waves, Nina Matthies enters the 2010 season with a career record of 526-312 (.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. Matthies was among the world’s top players and is a member of the Beach Volleyball Hall of Fame. In 2009, 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 2009 squad. Twelve returners (11 letterwinners and one redshirt) are joined by three newcomers (all true freshmen) to bring the squad total to 15. What was once considered a young team has given way to experienced veteran status as the squad breakdown includes two seniors, four juniors, five sophomores, and four freshmen in terms of eligibility.
2009 RECAP — It was another solid year for the Pepperdine women’s volleyball team. Kim Hill earned AVCA All-American honorable mention honors. She led the conference with a .425 attack percentage and ranked fifth in the NCAA. The Waves finished the league in third place after posting a 9-5 record and finished with an overall record of 16-11. Kiah Fiers, Rachel Grochmal and Hill claimed All-WCC first team honors, while Victoria Adelhelm and Stevi Robinson were named to the All-WCC honorable mention squad.
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.
PEPPERDINE TWEETS — To receive all the latest up-to-date information on the Waves, follow the Pepperdine Athletics Twitter at www.twitter.com/peppsports
VOLLEYBALL HISTORY — The Pepperdine women’s volleyball program is synonymous with the word excellence, as the Waves are a perennial national power. The Waves have advanced to postseason play 25 times in 35 seasons, including 11 trips to the NCAA Championships in the last 13 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).
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.
-Pepperdine-Dena Meiste
