Oct. 14, 2005

Pepperdine - 3
Loyola Marymount - 0

MALIBU, Calif. - Pepperdine's week-long efforts to be consistent in its serving and passing paid huge dividends Friday night at Firestone Fieldhouse as the Waves improved to 10-7 (3-2 West Coast Conference) with a dominating sweep (30-20, 30-27, 30-21) over cross-town rival Loyola Marymount in WCC action.

Pepperdine never trailed in the match after opening the night scoring the first three points of the contest. The Waves would push their lead to 6-1 as Melissa Mehlhorn and Lecca Roberts teamed up to block LMU's (12-6, 1-4 WCC) Dina DeBernardi. The Pepperdine lead would stay around five until with the score 11-7 a Julie Rubenstein kill sent the Waves on a 4-0 run.

Katy Daly was on from the service line forcing the Lions to set the outside and Pepperdine took advantage all night with several runs with Daly toeing the line. LMU would close the gap back down to five, 23-18, only to see a Rubenstein kill cap off a 7-2 run to close out game one. WCC Player of the Year candidate Sophia Milo continued her torrid hitting with 17 kills on 22 swings for a .682 hitting percentage. It marked the third time in WCC play the Portland, Ore., native has hit at least .600 for a match. Rubenstein chipped in with her 15th double-digit kill total of the season at 15. As a team, Pepperdine hit .302 and logged 12.0 blocks, led by Rubenstein's four solo.

"We really stressed serving and defense this week in practice," commented head coach Nina Matthies. "I was very happy to see us being able to execute what we worked on all week. I feel like our serving kept them from running their offense and our digging and passing really opened things up for us to have options on offense."

LMU kept things much tighter in the second frame as one of Christianna Reneau's team-leading 12 kills evened the game at 7-all. Consecutive points by Pepperdine started a 5-1 spurt by the Waves. The Lions would battle back to within one, 15-14, and trial by two, 18-16, when an Erin Downey service error started another Pepperdine run. After a Milo kill, the Waves led by six, 22-16. LMU pulled back to within one at 25-24 and 26-25, only to see Pepperdine close out the comeback try and take a 2-0 lead into the intermission.

Emily Day was the only other Lion to reach double-digits with 10 kills on the night. Katie Glomb logged 13 digs from the libero position, while Reneau tacked on 10.

With the Waves leading by two, 8-6, in game three, Pepperdine used an 8-2 run to put the match out of reach. Back-to-back Milo kills, a Daly ace and a LMU attack error pushed Pepperdine ahead by 11, 27-16. The Lions started to make a late run at the Waves but consecutive kills from Rubenstein sealed the Lions' fate.

With the victory, Pepperdine equals its win total of a year ago. There will be little time to celebrate the victory as the Waves return to the hardwood for a mid-week match against UC Santa Barbara. The 7 p.m. (PT) first serve on Tuesday will be the first of three home matches for Pepperdine next week as Portland and Gonzaga head to Malibu over the weekend.

Saint Mary's - 3
Portland - 0

The University of Portland's women's volleyball team put together a solid outing against No. 25 Saint Mary's, but dropped three straight games to a strong Gael squad.

"There's 250 teams in the country that we would have beaten today," Pilots head coach Doug Sparks said after the match. "We talk about putting together a complete match, and that's as close as we've come in a long time. We just didn't dig enough balls to win."

Portland libero Murphy McClenahan flashed her defensive prowess once again during the match, recording 18 digs to improve her West Coast Conference-leadingper game average to 5.18.

The Pilots hit at an impressive .274 clip during the match against one of the best blocking teams in the nation. Ashley Grayson and Jennifer Sheedy, the Pilots' two freshman middles, combined offensively for 17 kills and a .438 hitting percentage. 10 of those kills belonged to Grayson, setting a new career high.

The seesaw first game featured nine tie scores and five lead changes. Portland had the game tied as late as 15, but the Gaels pulled ahead for good with a four-point run and won 30-26. Saint Mary's Missie Stidham had seven attacks during the game, while Grayson had five for the Pilots. Both teams hit well during the first game, with the Gaels hitting for .444 and the Pilots countering with a .419 percentage.

Saint Mary's pulled out to a quick 8-3 lead in game two, but the Pilots kept the game within reach and pulled to within one at 25-24 after consecutive attack errors by the Gaels. The Gaels recovered after calling a timeout and scored the last five points to record a 30-24 win. Portland outside hitter Nicole Thometz led all players with five kills in the game. Portland continued its strong play well into game three, forcing six tie scores and five lead changes. Stidham put her offense into high gear during the game, recording nine kills to help the Gaels to a .450 hitting percentage. Saint Mary's held off the Pilots to win the match with its second consecutive 30-24 victory.

Saint Mary's entered the match ranked No. 2 in the NCAA in blocks, averaging just under four per game, but only managed to stuff the Pilots seven times during the match. Portland had 46 digs to the Gaels' 39. Stidham led all players with 20 kills during the match. The Gaels' Cassandra Kolkka and Christina Kirk both recorded a match-high four total blocks, and Kolkka also had a match high .611 hitting percentage.

The win improves Saint Mary's record to 13-3 and an unblemished 4-0 in WCC action. The Pilots fall to 3-14 and 0-5 in conference play.

With their brief homestand now complete, the Pilots will hit the road once again with a two-game road swing to California. Portland will square off with Pepperdine (10-7, 3-2 WCC) on Oct. 21 and will play Loyola Marymount (12-6, 1-4 WCC) on Oct. 22.

San Francisco - 3
Gonzaga - 2

SPOKANE, Wash. - For the second consecutive home match the Gonzaga University volleyball team treated the fans to an exciting five-game match. Unfortunately the Bulldogs (9-11, 1-3 WCC) were on the losing end this time as the University of San Francisco rallied to win the contest in five games. USF (15-6, 2-3 WCC) won 14-30, 30-28, 18-30, 37-35, 15-8 to knock off Gonzaga for the sixth straight time. Gonzaga returns to action on Saturday night when they host No. 25 Saint Mary's College at 7 p.m. All fans will be admitted to the game for only $1 as the Bulldogs continue their Fan Appreciation weekend.

Gonzaga dominated play in two of the first three games as the Bulldogs controlled play at the net and on the serve. Jessica Herrera dropped in five service aces over the first three games as the Bulldogs had 9 in the first three games and zero over the remaining two games. Sophomore's Briawna Mueller and Kelly Steinhaus helped control the play at the net with a combined 17 blocks. Mueller had 12 on the night including five solo blocks. The 12 blocks ranks as the seventh best blocking performance in school history as Mueller ties her 12 block total set last season against Portland State University.

Despite the solid effort in two of the first three games Gonzaga could not put the Dons away. Spokane native KeLicia Shorts kept USF in the match as she collected a match-high 23 kills on 40 attacks for a .450 attack percentage. The Dons as a team only registered a .090 attack percentage as the Bulldogs were able to contain the remainder of the USF players. Shorts was also a factor at the net with a career-high 12 blocks, four of them solo blocks.

Momentum swung both ways during game four as there were 13 ties and 6 leads changes before USF could finally pull out the 37-35 win. Kristin Hasselberg helped pace the Dons in that game as she finished with 17 kills. Freshman Michelle Boevers and senior Lacey Bell were almost equal to the task for the Bulldogs as they combined for 13 kills in the game. The game four left USF with the additional momentum to win game four. Hasselberg and Shorts combined for four kills as USF had its best hitting game of the match in the 15-8 win.

"We had some great chances to win this match and we just could not find a way to put San Francisco away," stated GU head coach Kip Yoshimura following the setback. "We have been working on winning these types of close matches all season and I think we treated the crowd to a great match. Hopefully we can get this same type of support tomorrow night when we play Saint Mary's."

Boevers led the Bulldogs with 20 kills while Bell added 12. Sophomore Becky Jones finished with her 11th double-double of the season with 17 kills and 23 digs. Herrera also had 15 digs to go along with her 5 aces. Jencie Lejeune added 14 for USF while Brynn Maurer was the top Dons player with 19 digs.