By Lindsey Besecker
Assistant Sports Editor
The end of the preseason has come, and the No. 6 Pepperdine women’s volleyball team will take a two-week break before beginning West Coast Conference play in October with a match against San Francisco.
“I think our conference is as strong as it’s been maybe since the inception of the conference,” Head Coach Nina Matthies said. “San Francisco and St. Mary’s are much, much improved. If you’re not paying attention, they’re going to beat you.”
However, before the Waves could focus on conference play, they had one last match in their preseason. The team defeated Harvard in three games — 30-12, 30-10, 30-21 — on Friday night at Firestone Fieldhouse for its eighth-straight win.
“The kids played really well,” Matthies said. “Everybody got in the match, which is a rarity.”
Senior outside hitter Katie Wilkins paced the Waves with 20 kills. Senior middle blocker Lyndsey Hache added eight kills while registering no attack errors, while sophomore outside hitter Katy Daly contributed nine kills and seven digs.
“We were kind of on a high after (the win against UC Santa Barbara),” Daly said. “We were working on our side of the court against Harvard. We worked on little things as individuals (and) as a team.”
For the time being, Matthies said the next two weeks of practice will be focused on working on small individual things that the coaches saw during the matches. She said the practice time will be used to “re-evaluate and regroup.”
“I think (the preseason has) just been outstanding,” Matthies said. “I’m really pleased with how everything’s kind of shaking out.”
The team members look forward the break to get back into the swing of things.
“I think (the break) is kind of needed,” sophomore setter Melissa Mehlhorn said. “It’ll be good time for s to focus in.”
The players know the next two weeks will be focused on perfecting the little things in their games.
“We’re great right now,” Daly said. “We need to be even better.”
The Waves finished their preseason with a 10-2 record, dropping losses to No. 1 University of Southern California and No. 22 Arizona. However, in the process Pepperdine also defeated No. 20 University of Pacific, No. 17 Notre Dame, No. 15 UCSB and No. 23 Wisconsin.
However, the WCC matches will not be easy for the Waves. The WCC includes No. 16 Santa Clara and No. 24 Loyola Marymount.
”We’re excited for conference,” Daly said. “We just have to take one game at a time. We can’t underestimate our opponent.”
Match play aside, this season’s team has worked in a way that Matthies said she has not seen in other years. She said while in most teams there is a divide between the freshmen and the seniors, this year the team has unified under the leadership of the seniors — Wilkins, Hache and middle blocker Mia Arnborg.
“This year I’ve been very proud of my seniors and the leadership they have shown with camaraderie,” Matthies said. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and it’s not something you can tell someone to do.”
Matthies said the seniors make sure everyone is included in everything, making for a good working environment.
“We come in the gym (and) there’s no negativity anywhere in this group,” she said. “That’s why I think they’re going to do something special — because they’ve created a special environment for themselves to work in.”
The players agree that the team has good chemistry this season.
“I think our team’s pretty unique,” Mehlhorn said. “We have a lot of new people but I think they fit in pretty well.”
September 25, 2003