Pepperdine Waves student athletes from 12 of the university sports teams picked up All-Academic honors last month.
Members of the Waves baseball, beach volleyball, men’s cross country, men’s golf, men’s volleyball, men’s tennis, women’s cross country, women’s volleyball, women’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, women’s basketball, and women’s tennis squads were bestowed the recognition.
Additionally, members of the water polo squad were recognized for their athletic achievements in March.
Fourteen swimmers and divers won Pacific Collegiate Swim and Dive Academic All-Conference awards early in June. Senior Sammie Slater and juniors Sophia Anderson, Haley Bergthold, Audrey Camarillo and Paulina Holmberg were named to the first team. Sophomores Jenna Sanchez Caroline Anderson, Paige Tattersall and Jasmine Williams were also named to the team.
Juniors Allison Cho and Olivia Kayye were named to the second team, and senior Paige Brackett and sophomores Emily Morton and Olivia Stotz were honorable mentions.
The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association of America also gave the swimming and diving squad Scholar All-American honors. The team had an overall GPA of 3.56.
CSCAA Executive Director Greg Earhart said in a June 22 statement that Waves coach Ellie Monobe showed that success in the pool and classroom go hand in hand.
“These are some of the best ambassadors of Pepperdine and Athletic Director (Steve) Potts, President (Jim) Gash and Faculty Athletic Rep Dr. Don Shores can and should be proud of these 24 women,” he said.
A dozen members of the Pepperdine men’s volleyball team garnered Mountain Pacific Sports Federation All-Academic honors including redshirt senior outside hitter Noah Dyer for the fourth time and senior outside hitter Spencer Wickens for the third time. Senior outside hitter Alex Gettinger was tapped for the honor for the second time as were redshirt sophomores JT Ardell, a middle blocker, and Jacob Steele, an opposite.
Redshirt freshman Mike Scott, a middle blocker; Auden McCaw, an opposite and setter; and Akin Akinwumi, an outside hitter and opposite, were first-time honorees. So were senior libero Zac Norvid, junior outside hitter Ben Weinberg, senior outside hitter JT Martin and redshirt senior middle blocker Austin Wilmot.
Ten members of the women’s soccer team received academic acclaim from the WCC. Senior midfielder Madi Cook and senior defender Erin Sinai were named to the first team. The rest of the honored Waves received honorable mention status. They were senior forward Joelle Anderson, senior defender Laura Ishikawa, senior defender Emily Sample, redshirt junior goalkeeper Zoe Cleveley, redshirt junior defender and midfielder Kelsey Hill, junior defender Trinity Watson, redshirt sophomore Kinsey Ehmann, and sophomore Alex Hobbs.
Seven members of the Pepperdine baseball team garnered West Coast Conference All-Academic honorable mention status. They were senior catcher Joe Caparis, junior pitcher Cooper Chandler, senior outfielder Billy Cook, senior pitcher Trevor Franklin, junior pitcher Gunnar Groen, senior pitcher Michael Mahony and senior infielder Aharon Modlin.
Six members of the women’s volleyball team received WCC academic honors. Senior outside hitter Shannon Scully, junior libero Madison Shields and sophomore setter and opposite Isabel Zelaya were named to the first team. Honorable mention status receivers on the squad were senior middle blocker Alli O’Harra, junior outside hitter and opposite Rachel Ahrens, and sophomore outside hitter Kayleigh Hames.
Beach volleyball players graduate student Carly Skjodt, senior Brook Bauer and junior Simone Priebe received WCC All-Academic first team honors. Their teammates seniors Alexis Fillippone and Katie Gavin, junior Melanie Paul, and sophomores Sutton Mactavish and Mary Sinclair received honorable mention status.
Eight tennis players—five women’s team members and three from the men’s roster—were named to WCC All-Academic teams.
Senior women’s tennis player Ashley Lahey, the 2021 WCC Mike Gilleran Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, made the first team for the fourth time. Senior Jessica Failla and sophomores Lisa Zaar and Astrid Olsen also made the first team. Graduate student Shiori Fukuda received honorable mention status.
Men’s tennis players Daniel De Jonge, Tim Zeitvogel and Pietro Fellin also received academic acclaim from the WCC. De Jonge and Zeitvogel, both juniors, were named to the first team. Sophomore Fellin was named to the honorable mention list.
A quartet of women’s basketball players received WCC academic awards. Center Tara Dusharm, a graduate senior, senior forward Monique Andriuolo and twin sisters and redshirt sophomore guards Jayla Ruffus-Milner and Jayda Ruffus-Milner all garnered honorable mention acclaim.
Men’s golfer Dylan Menate, the WCC Player of the Year, was named to the conference’s All-Academic first team. The sophomore’s teammates, junior Derek Hitchner and senior RJ Manke, received honorable mention status.
Nine cross country runners—six from the women’s bunch and three from the men’s group—won WCC All-Academic honors.
The six honorees on the women’s team is the most the Waves have had since 2015. Juniors Annelies Ondersma, Key Pearsonwq21q and Riley Wright received honorable mention status for the second. Senior Cassidy Aberson, and sophomores Skyler Danley and Olivia Miller also were placed on the honorable mention list.
Men’s cross country runner Karl Winter was one of two runners in the conference who had a 4.0 GPA. He was tapped for the WCC All-Academic First Team. His teammates, senior Preston Gromer and junior Kyle McCabe, were honorable mention selections.
Nine members of the men’s water polo team were named to the Golden Coast Conference All-Academic team in the spring. They were sophomore utility player Zach Arthur, freshman utility player Rocco Cuttone, junior attacker Sean Ferrari, junior attacker Nicholas Fichmann, junior attacker Balazs Kosa, redshirt junior goalkeeper Kyle McKenney, sophomore center forward Austin Smit, junior center forward and attacker Max Sprute, and junior goalkeeper Spencer Tybur.
