Following the conclusion of the 2018 beach season, Pepperdine’s Nina Matthies has announced her decision to retire. In her career with the Wave, Matthies has accumulated over 700 collective wins from the indoor and beach squads.
Since the 2012 season, Matthies has led the beach squad, stepping away from the indoor side of the sport after the 2013 season. With the beach team, she has posted a 112-18 record prior to the start of the 2018 season. In all 6 seasons on the beach, Matthies led the Wave to the postseason, with two AVCA championship titles in 2012 and 2014 while also finishing as the 2017 NCAA runner-up.
With the indoor team, Matthies led the squad from 1983 to 2013, where she helped the Wave to a 590-343 record and 30 NCAA Tournament appearances.
Matthies was a huge proponent of getting beach volleyball jumpstarted in collegiate sports. With a committee of coaches and AVCA members, Matthies began campaigning for the sport to become NCAA sanctioned with Pepperdine adding sand volleyball to their lineup of sports in August 2011. Prior to the 2016 season, the sport began to take off after a rebranding to name the sport beach volleyball. In the inaugural AVCA season, Matthies earned AVCA Sand Volleyball Coach of the Year and has been twice named the West Coast Conference Beach Volleyball Coach of the Year in 2016 and 2017.
Replacing Matties will be long-time assistant, Marcio Sicoli following the conclusion of the season. Sicoli joined the Wave in 2008 with the indoor team and began helping with both the indoor and beach teams in 2012, shifting his focus to the beach in 2014. A bright spot on Sicoli’s resume was coaching Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor during the 2012 London Olympic Games as the went on to win the gold medal. He also coached Walsh Jennings and April Ross at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games where the pairing won bronze.
Last season, the Wave went on to post a 27-5 record for the year losing the USC in a tight 3-2 decision. This year, Pepperdine will face a tough schedule, starting out with the Grand Canyon Tournament on February 23-24.
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