Noah Godwin
Assistant Sports Editor
It is good to be a Pepperdine women’s volleyball player these days.
The team will travel to Hawaii this weekend to play two matches against No. 7 University of Hawaii.
The matches, though, will be yet another difficult test for a young, injured Pepperdine squad that is now 2-5 on the season after two losses last weekend.
“We haven’t lost to a bad team yet,” Head Coach Nina Matthies said. “We’re just really not healthy right now, and it might be some time before we can say we are.”
Colorado State University beat the Waves last Friday 3-1 in the opening game of the University Park Classic in Fort Collins, Colo. Sophomore middle blocker Kristen McClune paced the Waves with a hitting percentage of .450 with 12 kills and only three errors in 20 attempts.
Junior outside hitter Katy Daly and freshman middle blocker Lecca Roberts led the Waves with 13 kills each. Five Pepperdine players recorded double-digit kill performances in the match.
“We’re getting great contributions from the freshmen, but they’re being put in a tough situation,” Matthies said. “Lecca Roberts has been especially impressive when considering she only got 10 days of practice due to an injury.”
Daly added 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the season.
Junior setter Melissa Mehlhorn notched her fourth double-double of the year with 44 assists and 10 digs.
Junior libero Christina Hinds led the Waves with 13 digs, but Matthies said Hinds might be moved to outside hitter to accommodate the possible return of injured junior Breegan Mulligan.
The turning point in the match came following a 28-28 tie in the second game. Colorado State called a timeout following a 4-1 Waves run and won the next two points to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
Matthies called a timeout early in game three after watching Colorado State jump out to a 7-3 lead.
Pepperdine came back and eventually tied the game at 22, but Colorado State won four of the next five points to lead 27-23.
The following timeout by Matthies spurred the Waves on to the 33-31 victory in game three.
The Waves followed the loss to Colorado State with a 3-1 loss to University of Ohio on Saturday.
Sophomore middle blocker Sophia Milo and Daly each had 11 kills to pace the Waves, but those performances were not enough to overcome an aggressive Ohio squad that now boasts an 8-2 record.
Ohio had a 63-47 advantage in kills to go along with its 24-15 advantage in blocks.
Pepperdine lost game one 30-13 but responded in game two with a 36-34 victory.
Mehlhorn tied Daly for the team lead in double-doubles by recording her fifth of the season. She had 34 assists and 14 digs against Ohio. Hinds added 20 digs.
The Bobcats stormed back in games three and four to win 30-20 and 30-25. The Waves hit a minus .011 for the match, which was easily its worst hitting performance of the season.
Stephanie Blackburn had a match-high 19 kills for Ohio, and she also added 15 digs for a double-double. The Bobcats’ Ashley Elliott dominated the net with 14 blocks.
“We’re going to remain positive throughout this entire process,” Matthies said. “The only thing we can do is keep moving forward and working hard to make sure we improve every day.”
09-23-2004