Freshman Taylor Racich became yet another family member to join a university sports team in Southern California.
Waves volleyball player Racich is no stranger to sports. She, along with her other siblings, all grew up in the sports community. “It was so much fun growing up in a healthy, competitive family,” Racich said.
A family full of athletes can be intimidating, to say the least, but Racich says she never felt any tension between her brother or her sister. “My siblings mean everything to me. It’s such a blessing to have them always there and supporting me, no matter how we do in sports.”
In turn, Racich supported her siblings in all that they did, and continues to try to attend as many of their sporting events as she can. She began her volleyball career in fifth grade, playing for a non-traveling team sponsored by a local smoothie restaurant called Blenders. Racich recalls this as a “fun learning experience.”
Racich and her twin sister Tristan both graduated in 2012 from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, Calif., where they played varsity volleyball for the Chargers. Along with being named Most Valuable Player in her senior year, Racich continued to play club volleyball with a team in Santa Barbara. After winning the 2009 Junior Olympics in Miami, Fla., Racich was chosen to be on the All-Tournament team in the Open Division. She also played in the 2011 Women’s Volleyball Junior National Championship where she was also named Most Valuable Player.
After graduating, Racich became the fourth child in her family to continue their sports career in college.
“Pepperdine is my dream school,” Racich admits. “It was very easy deciding to go here.” Racich recalls watching her older sister Caitlin play sand volleyball.
“I saw them play a match in Zuma. It was so much fun.” Her sister’s presence in the Waves’ athletic community made it even easier for Racich also to join the Pepperdine volleyball team.
Playing on a sports team and experiencing your first year in college is no easy task.
“The hardest thing is prioritizing,” Racich said. “Trying to mix social life with volleyball and school can be difficult.” Slowly but surely, she says she has begun to figure out how to balance the two. Racich has learned that sometimes you have to read on bus trips to away-games rather than talking with your friends, even though “it can be really hard sometimes.”
The Racich siblings’ close relationship has remained strong in spite of their relocations. Taylor admits that she will try to see as many of Tristan’s volleyball games in Azusa, Calif. as possible.
“I haven’t been able to see any of her matches [this season], but I got to visit her last weekend.” Because it is unsusual for the twins to be separated, they Skype frequently and Racich says it’s “as if she’s here with me.”
When the Racich family isn’t consumed by a sport’s season, they like to visit the Channel Islands. Racich says, “My favorite thing to do is go out to surf, hike and snorkel.”
The Waves volleyball team just finished an undefeated weekend at the Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup in Houston, Texas. The team swept both Florida State and Ohio State on Friday, Sept. 14, before crushing Houston on Saturday Sept. 15 in three sets. Now that the pre-conference season is over, the Waves will begin their in-conference matches with the first game against Brigham Young University tonight, Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. in Utah. Their first in-conference home match will be Saturday, Sept. 22 against the University of Portland in the Firestone Fieldhouse.
