After a record-setting tenure at Michigan, Carly Skjodt is heading to the West Coast.
The two-time All-American will take a fifth year with the Pepperdine beach volleyball team as a graduate transfer.
“We are really excited to be Carly’s and her family’s home for her last year in the collegiate level,” said Waves’ coach Marcio Sicoli in a release. “I can’t wait to add her skills, personality and work ethic to our team culture. She will be a fundamental piece on the quest to our national championship goal.”
Pepperdine, which finished last season ranked sixth in the national poll, figures to be in the thick of the race for next year’s national title. Adding Skjodt is a huge boost to an already strong crop of returning talent.
For Skjodt, the opportunity to spend her fifth year playing on sand provides a new challenge before wrapping up her volleyball career.
“I chose Pepperdine for the opportunity to challenge myself and grow,” Skjodt said, “in the classroom, in the sand and in everyday life.”
In 2018, Skjodt put the finishing touches on a memorable career in Ann Arbor by leading the Wolverines to the Sweet 16 for the second time. She averaged a team-high 4.20 kills per set on a career-best .256 attack percentage en route to a unanimous first team All-Big Ten selection. In the classroom, she became the program’s first two-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree.
Skjodt served as Michigan’s workhorse for most of the season, leading the Wolverines in kills in 24 of their 34 matches. She recorded 29 double-digit kill performances and eclipsed the 20-kill mark seven times.
During her high school career, Skjodt was ranked among the nation’s top prospects in the 2015 class. PrepVolleyball named her the National Senior Player of the Year, while she was also selected as the Gatorade Indiana Player of the Year and USA Today All-American after leading Carmel High School to a state championship.
With her indoor days now in the rearview mirror, Skjodt’s name is a staple throughout Michigan’s all-time record book. Her 1,395 career kills are good for seventh-most in program history, while her 4,102 attack attempts are third-best among any Wolverine.
When it mattered most, Skjodt’s presence made all the difference for Michigan. Her 108 postseason kills and seven aces are both third-most in program history as well.
Skjodt will presumably spend most, if not all, of next spring in the Waves’ starting lineup.