By Kyle Jorrey
Sports Editor
Sometimes when a team starts winning, they feel like it’s never going to stop. And the Waves might not have, if not for their cross-town rival University of Southern California.
The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team had blown its way through conference competition for the second straight year, capturing the WCC title with a perfect record of 14-0 and finishing with an impressive 23-6 overall record. The team had won 14 matches in a row and was seeded ninth in this year’s NCAA tournament.
Facing what was arguably the tournament’s toughest regional bracket, the Waves pushed their winning streak to 17 matches, defeating Cal Poly and UCLA at home in rounds one and two, then knocking off No.8 UC Santa Barbara on the road for the second time this season.
The wins assured the team of its first visit to the Elite Eight, completing a goal the team had made four months earlier.
But all the confidence and momentum in the world would not be enough to defeat USC (31-1). The women of Troy juggernaut came into their fourth- round match with Pepperdine after trouncing their first three tournament opponents (San Diego, Texas A&M, Michigan State) without dropping a single game.
In a match played in front of television cameras and thousands of USC fans, Pepperdine would lose its second match of the season to the eventual national champions, in three straight games, 30-24, 30-20 and 30-17.
An experienced USC squad, no stranger to big games, used its quick defense and strong digging to frustrate the potent, but young, Wave attack, led by junior outside hitter Katie Wilkins and junior middle blocker Lyndsey Haché.
“They are just an amazing team,” Haché said. “They are strong everywhere. We were giving them everything we had, hitting as hard as we could, but they were there, digging balls, blocking balls … it kind of deflated us a bit. It’s so frustrating to keep swinging and swinging and keep getting dug.”
Wilkins led the team with 15 kills in a match that the Waves felt confident they could win.
“Every night these girls play they expect to win, and this was no different,” Assistant Coach Tim Jensen said. “We were not afraid of S.C., there was no intimidation whatsoever.”
Haché agreed, but admitted the pressure of playing in an Elite Eight game might have had an affect on a team filled with underclassmen.
“As much as you’d like to treat it like any other game, it’s not, it never will be,” Haché said. “You’re playing for a chance to go to the Final Four. No matter how you try and tune that out, it doesn’t work.”
The Waves (26-7) finished the season ranked No. 6 in the USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association final poll. This was the team’s highest final ranking in history, two spots above where it finished the year before.
In addition, Pepperdine brought home a number of individual honors as well. Wilkins, who lead the team in total kills (521) and kills per game (4.61) was named a second-team All-American for the second year in a row. She was also named All-Pacific Region and selected as the WCC’s “Player of the Year.”
Haché, who lead the Waves with a .392 hitting percentage and 107 total blocks, was also named to the All-Pacific Region team.
Matthies was chosen as the WCC’s coach of the year for the eighth time in her career, after leading her team into the regional semifinals for the fourth time in five years.
The USC match was the final for senior setter Paola Rodriguez and senior middle blocker Stacey Rouwenhorst, both of whom enjoyed successful volleyball careers. Despite the difficult final loss, Rodriquez said the season was one she’ll never forget.
“I had a lot of fun playing the last few weeks, the team was getting better and better … it was emotional, we were just getting to that point where we knew we were going to do well,” Rodriguez said.
“We didn’t necessarily have our best game against USC, but we were playing our best volleyball at the end of the season, and that’s all you can ask for.”
Rodriquez says her most memorable game was her final one at home versus UCLA, in which the team handily defeated the traditional powerhouse for the second time in one season.
“The crowd was so loud, there were so many people there. It was one of the funnest games we’ve ever played in,” she said.
For Rouwenhorst, the final game of her successful Pepperdine career was a difficult one.
“I wasn’t disappointed that we lost, but I was more disappointed for myself personally, that I was done playing at Pepperdine, and I was never going to play with that team again,” Rouwenhorst said.
“We were as close as a team can get,” she added. “We had problems at the beginning of the season that brought us really close. In the end we played as a team, not caring about ourselves as much as the team.”
Despite the loss of the two talented seniors, the future of Pepperdine women’s volleyball is looking very good.
Freshman setter Melissa Mehlhorn, who saw a lot of action this season, is expected to step in for the loss of Rodriquez, and Sophia Milo, a 6’4” high school senior from Portland, will fill in for Rouwenhorst.
Freshmen Breegan Mulligan and Katy Daly, who also saw a lot of action for the Waves this year, will also be bright spots.
According to coaches Matthies and Jensen, the only place left for this team to go is the Final Four.
“You set the bar higher simply because you exceeded something you hadn’t before,” Jensen said. “And the next year you definitely don’t want to take a step back, and you’d really like to take that next step forward.”
January 16, 2003
