The Waves begin conference play next week after registering wins over No. 13 UCSB and No. 24 Pacific
By Lindsey Besecker
Assistant Sports Editor
After two wins over top-ranked teams last week, the No. 7 Pepperdine women’s volleyball team will take on Harvard Friday at the Firestone Fieldhouse in its last match before West Coast Conference play begins.
Pepperdine first faced No. 13 University of California, Santa Barbara Wednesday night at the Fieldhouse. The Waves defeated the Gauchos in three games — 30-24, 30-21, 30-24 — and extended their winning streak to seven matches. The UCSB match marked their first home match since August.
“It’s nice to not have to deal with the hassle of traveling,” freshman middle-blocker Sophia Milo said. “It’s nice being on your own court … with your own fans.”
Senior outside hitter Katie Wilkins led the Waves with 14 kills and sophomore outside hitter Katy Daly recorded her fourth double-double this season with 13 kills and 13 digs.
Before the UCSB match, the Waves traveled to Stockton last weekend for the NIKE Invitational and won all three of their matches and the tournament title.
“I thought we stayed very competitive and very focused, and beat them soundly,” Head Coach Nina Matthies said. “It’s easy to play down to other team’s levels, but we haven’t done that yet.”
The weekend opened with a three-game win over Radford University — 30-11, 30-10, 30-18. In that match, Milo broke a school record for individual hitting percentage, completing nine of 10 kills and recording a .900 hitting percentage. The previous record, set in 1988 by Barbara Blizzard, was .857.
“I was really surprised,” Milo said. “I’m honored to make the record books.”
On Saturday, Pepperdine faced University of Pennsylvania and took the match in three games — 30-14, 30-15, 30-12. Daly recorded another double-double with 15 kills and 12 digs.
“I think we all have a confidence in our younger girls that they are going to come out and do great things for us,” senior middle blocker Lyndsey Hache said.
Later that night in a televised match against No. 24 University of Pacific, Pepperdine rallied after a loss in the first game to win the match — 32-34, 30-23, 30-20, 30-19.
“Everyone stepped up and did the things we asked them to do,” Matthies said. “I was very happy with the way we came back in games two, three and four. It was a good weekend for us, a good learning weekend.”
Wilkins had a career-high 32 kills in the match, bumping her up to No. 16 on the national kills list.
She was named the tournament’s “Most Valuable Player” for the second tournament in a row and was joined by Milo and sophomore setter Melissa Mehlhorn on the All-Tournament team.
After the Harvard match on Friday, the Waves start conference play and continue their five-game home stand.
“I think we’re totally ready for conference,” Hache said. “We’ve been looking forward to it … Our preseason has really prepared us.”
September 18, 2003