The sun beat down onto Santa Monica Beach last Friday, April 25, at the beach volleyball West Coast Conference (WCC) Championships as the LMU beach volleyball team accomplished a now familiar goal for the program: winning the conference championship. The team won their semifinal and final matches against Pepperdine University and Santa Clara University, respectively, in dominant fashion and clinched their sixth consecutive victory at the championships. The Lions have also earned the No. 4 seed for the upcoming NCAA Tournament, where they will face No. 13 Florida Atlantic University in the first round
“Everyone was really excited to play and for me … it was my first time playing [in the WCC championships] because I transferred,” said beach volleyball player Magdalena Rabitsch. “Of course, everyone was expecting [to win] but still everyone was excited, and I think it was really positive vibes the whole week before.”
While the Lions had anticipated a win at the championships after a controlling regular season that finished with an astonishing 35-6 record, they made sure not to underestimate their opponents coming into Friday. “I think those teams are always the most scrappy ones — if you go against UCLA [University of California, Los Angeles] or USC [University of Southern California] you know what you are going to expect, but sometimes going against the lower ranked schools … they have nothing to lose, but I think we were all prepared,” said Rabitsch.
The Lions opened their tournament with a match against Santa Clara University on Thursday, which they won 5-0. They then moved on to the semifinals where they faced Pepperdine University, a team who they have seen and beaten once before the tournament.
“Pepperdine is usually pretty good, especially when we go to the beach and the wind starts picking up,” explained beach volleyball player Isabelle Reffel. “We knew both teams were going to use the wind to their advantage, and we game-planned knowing that they’d do that. We knew they’d hit into the wind or serve towards the wind, so we made sure to shift over to that side.”
With solid 3-0 wins over both No. 2 Pepperdine and No. 4 Santa Clara, the Lions appear more prepared than ever for the main event this upcoming weekend — their first-round matchup against Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in the NCAA Tournament on Friday, May 2. FAU and LMU did not play each other in the regular season, but have faced off in the NCAA tournament four times, with LMU holding a 4-0 record against FAU.
“This year is such a special year — we know we can go all the way … we haven’t played Florida this year, but any team that’s in the tournament is going to be a good team,” said Reffel. “It’s a fun year to be a part of the tournament — I think any of the top 10 teams could win it, and the strongest team will come out and win it.”
This year, the parity across the top teams in the tournament is especially notable, and it looks like it’s bound to be an exciting postseason. The Lions have been looking towards the nation’s biggest beach volleyball tournament in Gulf Shores, Alabama, since the beginning of the season, and now the time is here.
“I’m super excited. I think [any of the] top 5 schools could win it,” echoed Rabitsch. “Today, we talked in practice about how there’s just no room for negativity this entire week. I think if we approach it like that, we can only win and I think we know that.”
Catch the Lions in action on Friday, May 2 at 6 a.m. PT on ESPN2 or ESPN+.
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