The Pepperdine University women’s volleyball team won the Nevada AT&T Invitational this weekend, marking the Waves’ third consecutive week winning a tournament. Pepperdine’s 9-0 record is the third best in school history.
The Waves defeated the Missouri Tigers (a 2007 NCAA Tournament team) by the score of 25-15, 25-23, 25-18 on Saturday morning, then came back in the evening to beat the host Nevada Wolf Pack, 25-17, 25-23, 25-17. Pepperdine defeated UC Davis in three sets in the opener on Friday night.
Senior outside hitter Julie Rubenstein won her third consecutive tournament MVP award. She had a team-high 30 kills and hit .300 over the weekend. Junior setter Kiah Fiers and junior outside hitter Rachel Lumsden also made an all-tournament team for the second weekend in a row.
“Special is a good word to describe what we did defensively this weekend,” Pepperdine assistant coach Tim Jensen said. “This was an all-around team effort. This team is really comfortable with each other and what they’re doing, and it’s showing. Julie was MVP of the tournament, but a lot of people helped. You have to give Kiah a lot of credit as the setter. She was distributing good, hittable balls. And everyone else was passing well.”
Pepperdine is ranked No. 13 by Molten/Volleyball Magazine and No. 24 by the AVCA.
The Waves host the annual Pepperdine Asics Classic on Friday and Saturday.
Cal State Northridge, Texas State and UC Santa Barbara are the other participants.