
It’s been a little more than three weeks since the Pepperdine women’s sand volleyball team won the inaugural American Volleyball Coaches Association collegiate sand volleyball national championship on the beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama.
While a more formal celebration will occur in the fall, hugs and congratulatory gestures are still ever-present on campus after a historical accomplishment for Pepperdine athletics.
It was the 20th national title for Pepperdine, either by a team or an individual, but the first one captured by a women’s team.
Pepperdine Coach Nina Matthies smiled from ear to ear when she shared what it meant to the school, program and athletic department. “Pepperdine supported this program since day one. It has been an amazing experience,” Matthies said. “We’ve been training for three years on the beach in anticipation of this season. I wanted to be a leader in this sport, so it was important for us to come out strong out of the shoot. I told my kids all along that you could only be the ‘first first.’ They were so excited about playing this year.”
After rolling through its schedule in March and April without a blemish on its record, Pepperdine was invited to the championship final four along with Long Beach State, Florida State and the College of Charleston.
The Waves defeated the College of Charleston 5-0 on the first day of the four-team round robin tournament. In the semifinals, Pepperdine encountered the Long Beach State 49ers for the third time this season after having beaten them the previous two matches.
Pepperdine won 3-2, but the 49ers defeated Florida State in the elimination bracket and survived to face Pepperdine once again for the championship.
With five pairs of Pepperdine players playing matches simultaneously on five courts, the acttion was fast and furious. The Waves jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead behind the talented duo of Summer Ross and Caitlin Racich. They defeated Long Beach State’s number one team of Caitlin Ledoux and Tara Roenicke, 22-15, 21-11.
Ross, a freshman, is considered one of the best young sand players in the world having won the FIVB Youth and Junior World Championship in 2010. Racich, a junior, left the Waves’ indoor volleyball team and became the Waves’ first scholarship recipient for sand volleyball.
On another court, Pepperdine’s Victoria Adelhelm and Kellie Woolever sought revenge against Jocelyn Neely and Lauren Minkel of Long Beach State after losing in the semifinals. They did just that, knocking off the 49er pair 21-16, 21-8 in the finals.
The national title became official when the Waves’ Emily Cook and Michaela Christiaansen notched a 21-16, 22-20 decision versus Janisa Johnson and Tyler Jackson. It gave the Waves a 3-0 lead with only two matches left.
But the Waves didn’t stop there. Kim Hill and Lilla Frederick handily defeated their opponents, while Stevi Robinson and Kelley Larsen also prevailed.
The result was a 5-0 sweep of Long Beach State to claim the national title in the first ever season of beach volleyball in collegiate competition. And Pepperdine’ s name will forever be etched in history, as it finished the season with an undefeated record of 17-0.
“To see the girls have fun and be the first ones to win the title was something special,” said Matthies, with the championship trophy at her side. “We became a part of volleyball history and part of Pepperdine history. The girls put the time in and earned it. They literally dug in and understood what we were here for.”
There was even a successful postscript. The next day, Racich and Ross continued the winning ways for Pepperdine when they captured the first-ever pairs national championship. They rallied from an 11-14 deficit in the third set to win 14-21, 21-15, 16-14 in the finals against Ledoux and Roenicke.
“It feels great to be the first women’s team at Pepperdine to claim a national title,” Racich said. “It’s amazing knowing that we are competing for a bigger purpose than just for ourselves but for our school and the entire community. This whole experience has been a dream come true and a blessing.”