Oct. 8, 2004

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Briefly...
Coming off its win over #13 UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday, Loyola Marymount volleyball plays its West Coast Conference home opener against local rival Pepperdine in Gersten Pavilion. Both teams enter tonight's match-up with 1-1 records in conference action. For LMU, tonight's match marks the end of a seven-match road swing, as the Lions will enjoy their first match in Gersten Pavilion since September 14.

The Word on the Waves...
Pepperdine saw its 43-match conference win streak come to an end last weekend at the hands of Saint Mary's after opening WCC play with a sweep of San Francisco. The Waves got a solid performance from Sophia Milo over the weekend as the 2003 Freshman of the Year recorded a team-leading .304 attack percentage, while recording 20 kills with nine blocks. Junior Katy Daly was held in check by the Gaels for the first time this season, but still led the team with 28 kills on the weekend. Senior Christina Hinds and sophomore Kekai Crabbe where solid on defense combining for 52 of the team's 118 total digs in the two matches.

LMU vs. Pepperdine All-Time Series...
Pepperdine leads the all-time series with the Lions 27-11, with LMU's last victory coming in Malibu in 2000. But last year's meetings between the two rivals were highly-contested, with the first match going four games in Malibu and the Lions taking the Waves to the full five games in Gersten Pavilion in the second match-up.

Lions Knock-Off #13 UC Santa Barbara...
The Lions defeated 13th-ranked UC Santa Barbara 3-1 Tuesday night in Santa Barbara. It was LMU's second straight win over the Gauchos (9-2), as senior Kelli Nerison led the Lions to the 31-29, 30-27, 17-30, 33-31 victory. Nerison tallied a career-high 24 kills, hitting .526. Freshman Heather Hughes added 18 kills and 12 digs, with nine kills in game one alone. Tuesday's contest gave the Lions back-to-back wins over a top-15-ranked UCSB, but it marked LMU's first victory in the Thunderdome since 1995.

Nerison Among Nation's Best...
Through last week's contests, senior middle blocker Kelli Nerison ranks seventh in the nation in blocks, averaging 1.73 blocks per game.

Oehlman First LMU/Enterprise Student-Athlete of the Month... With the competition in the month of September over, Loyola Marymount University Athletics has announced Nicole Oehlman and Endre Rex-Kiss as the September Enterprise Rent-A-Car/LMU Student-Athlete of the Month for their efforts in the field of play to start the 2004-05 school year. For the senior Oehlman of the women's volleyball team, it is her first Student-Athlete of the Month honor. For Rex-Kiss of the men's water polo team, it is his third. Oehlman has helped her team start the season at 8-4 while Rex-Kiss is one of the nation's leading scorers and has helped his team to a program best 8-2 start on the year. Oehlman was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Week on Sept. 13 as she helped the Lions climb back into the nation's top-20. She was the first Player of the Week of the 2004 season after receiving MVP honors at the LMU Furama Hotel Volleyball Invitational. Oehlman and Lions defeated Washington State to defend their tournament title. As the team's setter, Oehlman led the team to hit better than .275 five times, including one of the program's best all-time hitting percentage of .467 against San Diego State last week. Oehlman and the Lions will start conference play this weekend with 11-1 Saint Mary's on Friday and San Francisco on Saturday.

GlaxoSmithKline Classic...
Junior Krista Houseman earned her first collegiate all-tournament selection at North Carolina's GlaxoSmithKline Classic just after LMU dropped its final match of the tournament to Rice (8-3) 30-23, 30-21, 30-28. For the third straight match, Houseman led the Lions with 12 kills and three blocks. Freshman Heather Hughes was one dig shy of a double-double performance, posting 11 kills and nine digs. Senior Kelli Nerison had ten blocks on the night, as the Lions out-blocked Rice 12.0 to 9.0. The Lions went 0-3 at the tough GlaxoSmithKline Classic, but placed Houseman on the all-tournament team after she tallied 53 kills on the weekend. The accolade marked the first all-tournament selection for the junior outside hitter, who has equaled or passed her former career-high kill mark (12) in seven of LMU's 11 matches this season.

Oehlman Named WCC Player of the Week...
Senior Nicole Oehlman was named the WCC Player of the Week as LMU climbed back into the nation's top-20. Oehlman is LMU's first volleyball player of the week of the 2004 campaign after receiving MVP honors at the 2004 LMU Furama Hotel Volleyball Invitational where LMU defeated Washington State to defend its tournament title. The Lions' setter led the team to .327, .246, and .315 hitting percentages while collecting 130 assists on the weekend. Oehlman also added 17 kills, including seven in the title game against Washington State. She hit .714 against Miami in the opening match of the tournament and tallied seven blocks, 19 digs, and five service aces on the weekend to lead LMU to the title and a 4-0 run this week. This week's accolade marks the senior's third WCC Player of the Week selection.

LMU Wins Furama Hotel Invite...
LMU claimed the 2004 LMU Furama Hotel Invitational by defeating Washington State in Gersten Pavilion 26-30, 30-23, 30-21, 30-22. The Lions fought to win three straight games after WSU took game one. Setter Nicole Oehlman was named tournament MVP after her 50 assist, seven kill performance Saturday night. She also led the Lion offense to a .315 team attack percentage, including a .536 third game. Junior Dina DeBernardi and freshman Heather Hughes also represented LMU on the all-tournament team. Jennifer Todd (WSU), Kelly Rosin (WSU), Val Tipiana (Miami), and Rachel Torblaa (Cincinnati) rounded out the all-tournament selections.

LMU Falls to Tennessee in Title Game...
After a 2-0 start at the LMU/Four Points Sheraton Classic, No. 18 Loyola Marymount volleyball (2-1) dropped a tough 3-0 match to Tennesee (3-0) Saturday night in Gersten Pavilion. The Lady Vols hit .348 as a team en route to the tournament title. With both teams entering the match-up 2-0, the scheduled 7:30 p.m. match in the round robin served as the title game. LMU, the defending tournament champions, hit .325 in game one, but dropped off to .026 as Tennessee took advantage of the match momentum. Seniors Dina DeBernardi and Jacene Dimson represented LMU on the All-Tournament team, while Tennessee's Yuliya Stoyanova and Michelle Piantadosi shared the honors as well. Villanova and Duke, who played for third place in what turned out to be the tournament's consolation match, placed local product Celine Nguyen (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) and Ali Hausfeld on the team. Tournament MVP honors went to Tennessee's Kristen Andre (Kelseyville, Calif.), who hit .435 with 13 kills in the title game.

The Stratos Story...
Head Coach Steve Stratos completed his 14th campaign at the helm of the program with a 14th straight winning season. In his time at LMU, Stratos has led the Lions to nine 20-win seasons and nine postseason appearances, including four consecutive appearances from 1997-2000. Stratos has posted a career total of 298-135, the highest winning percentage in LMU volleyball history and second among current WCC coaches. In league action, he owns a record of 143-55. Posting 143 career conference victories, Stratos ranks second among current WCC coaches.