MALIBU, Calif. – Two more top junior players have signed letters-of-intent to join the Pepperdine women’s golf program, head coach Laurie Gibbs announced today. The three junior players that signed last November as a group made up the nation’s fourth-ranked recruiting class, according to Golfweek.com, and with the newest additions, the 2008-09 freshman class is now even stronger.

In 2008-09, the Waves will add newly signed Lisa McCloskey (Montgomery, Texas/Montgomery HS) and Kaitlin Drolson (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif./Torrey Pines HS) together with the three early signees, Ayaka Kaneko (Honolulu, Hawaii), Jessica Wallace (Langley, B.C., Canada) and Kiara Hayashida (Lima, Peru).

“We are very excited to have five top recruits and wonderful young ladies attend Pepperdine and continue our tradition of success as a top 10-ranked program,” Gibbs said. “Throughout our roster we will be very strong and competitive.”

The April 20, 2008, Golfweek Junior Rankings for the 2008 recruits has Kaneko #2, McCloskey #9, Wallace #17, Drolson #27 and Hayashida #36.

“These five recruits would be a competitive top 25-ranked team by themselves,” Gibbs said. “Because we also are bringing back junior Jayvie Agojo, a 2006-07 All-American, and freshmen Taylore Karle and Martine de Gannes, we will have a very young, talented group with very ambitious goals.”

McCloskey qualified for match play at the 2007 U.S. Women's Amateur and the 2005 and 2006 U.S. Girls Junior Championship. She was honored as a 2005, 2006 and 2007 Rolex Junior All-American. McCloskey won the 2007 Texas 4A individual championship and has more than a dozen top 10 finishes in AJGA tournaments.

“Lisa is an excellent student that has worked hard to graduate early and start Pepperdine in the fall,” Gibbs said. “She will be an important part of the program's success over the next four years.”

Drolson qualified for match play at the 2007 U.S. Women's Amateur and had a number of top finishes in 2007. She began to focus solely on golf in 2006 and has become a very consistent player, according to Gibbs.

“Kaitlin is going to surprise a lot of people next year and throughout her college career,” Gibbs said. “She is the complete student-athlete that will be very competitive on the course and in the classroom.”

The Waves are currently ranked #17 by Golfweek/Sagarin, #17 by Golf World/NGCA and #18 by Golfstat. They recently won their sixth consecutive WCC Championships. They are now awaiting the announcement of NCAA Regional selections on Monday (April 28).