Pepperdine women’s volleyball team closes season with 25-7 record - Volleyball
The Waves of Pepperdine University ended up the 2011 season with a defeat at the hands of University of Southern California (USC). The two teams clashed at the regional Final round of the 2011 NCAA tournament in Honolulu, Hawaii. USC Trojans worked out a
great performance and claimed victory in a five-set thriller, 3-2 (25-16, 26-28, 19-25, 25-19, 15-10). The match was played on Saturday, December 10, which left the Pepperdine with an overall record of 25-7.
Due to the loss of the influential match, the Number 8 Pepperdine dropped their chances of qualifying for the final-four of the NCAA Tournament. It was just the second time in Pepperdine’s school history that they reached this level and found a place among
the Elite Eight of the NCAA campaign.
Key Contributors
Four of the Pepperdine players displayed good action on court and went into double-digit kills. Hill, Samantha Cash, Llla Frederick, and Victoria Adelhelm proved to be the fantastic four for the Waves. Hill and Cash contributed 17 kills apiece, while Frederick
and Adelhelm added 13 and 10 kills, respectively. On the defence side, Robinson and Kellie Woolever put up a huge effort. They picked up 29 and 26 digs in the match and saved many crucial points.
On the other side, Trojans’ Alex Jupiter had an impressive game. She notched 17 kills and also had 29 digs against Pepperdine. She was named the Most Outstanding Player of Tournament. Natalie Hagglund, the libero of USC, quite efficiently picked up 32 digs
and led her team to victory.
Match summary
The opening set of the match was a tight affair as both sides played with great accuracy and committed very few mistakes. Gradually, the hosts set the pace with a 6-2 lead. USC called a timeout and discussed the prospects of the game. The vital timeout proved
fruitful and Trojans scored many points in a row. They stopped the Waves right away and sealed first-set win, 25-16.
Pepperdine followed a different strategy in set two and went up by taking advantage of their opponents’ errors. Although the Pepperdine led most of the set, USC would not go away quietly and hit the equaliser at 21-all. The Waves’ Head Coach called a timeout,
while Hill tipped over a kill to lead her team second set win (28-26).
The next two sets were a see-saw battle as Pepperdine extended its lead by winning third set before USC equalled the game score after capturing fourth set.
Nonetheless, USC closed the match by winning final set and announced match victory.
Post-match
The match was followed by a press conference, which featured the question and answer session. The head coach of Waves, Nina Matthies, shared her thoughts after the loss. She stated: “It's hard to compare from year to year, but this is by far one of the
best teams I've ever coached in my 29 years here," s "I've been surrounded by a lot of fantastic support this season. It's hard to put it into words, but I'm just so proud of the girls."
Likewise, the top players of Waves Kim Hill had the similar feeling about the match. She was proud of the accomplishment that her team clawed its way to this stage of the tournament. Despite losing the match, she had great sense of achievement.
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