Pepperdine University
University of Portland
Waves Beat Pilots for 29th Straight Time
10/10/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Pepperdine-Portland Box Score 
PORTLAND, Ore. - Senior outside hitter Rachel Grochmal and sophomore middle blocker Kim Hill had 10 kills apiece to lead the Pepperdine women's volleyball team to its 29th consecutive win over Portland, 25-23, 25-19, 25-14, in West Coast Conference play on Saturday.
The Waves (10-6, 3-1 WCC) haven't lost to the Pilots (5-13, 1-2) since 1994 and had a .279-.157 edge in hitting. Pepperdine has now won three in a row since ending a four-match losing streak. The Waves also swept Gonzaga on Thursday night to go unscathed during their Northwest swing.
Heading back to her hometown, Hill (Portland, Ore./Portland Christian HS) hit .625 and didn't have an error on 16 swings, while adding three blocks. Grochmal (Brea, Calif./Brea Olinda HS) also had 10 digs, good for her fourth double-double of the season.
Senior setter Kiah Fiers (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Peninsula HS) also recorded her fourth double-double with 34 assists and 11 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Lilla Frederick (Huntington Beach, Calif./Cornelia Connelly HS) added nine kills and eight digs.
"We played well," Pepperdine assistant coach Tim Jensen said. "When you play on the road in the WCC and the home team can get it going, the crowd gets a little loud and things are a little frantic. But we stayed calm in both matches this weekend. Every time Gonzaga got close on Thursday, we understood what it took to win. Today, we were a little flat to open the match, but we picked it up and scratched and clawed to get the win in the first set, and then we were calm and in control the rest of the way. They couldn't stop our middles today so when our serving and passing settled down it was fun to watch."
The Waves needed to make an impressive comeback to win the first set. Portland went ahead by five at 11-6 and would go up by as many as six, first at 13-7 and last at 17-11. The Pilots still led 22-18 when the Waves turned things around. Pepperdine scored four straight points to tie it up, with the help of two kills by Frederick and one by Grochmal. After the Pilots scored to go back up 23-22, the Waves scored the final three points of the set on a kill by Grochmal and ball-handling and attack errors by the Pilots.
The second was set was close for the first half. Leading 15-14, Pepperdine then went on a 4-0 run that included a kill by Hill, a service ace by junior Krista Friedman (La Verne, Calif./St. Lucy's Priory HS) and two Portland attack errors. The Waves maintained their lead the rest of the way and Hill ended things with a kill.
Portland scored four of the first five points of the third set, but that wouldn't matter as Pepperdine went on a 5-0 run, which included two kills and a block by Grochmal. Later, with a 9-7 lead, the Waves scored six straight points due in large part to Hill, who had three kills and two block assists with Fiers. Pepperdine eventually closed out the match with the final four points, including kills by freshman outside hitter Caitlin Racich (Santa Barbara, Calif./Dos Pueblos HS), Fiers and Hill before a ball-handling error by Portland ended it.
The Waves play their final non-conference match on Tuesday (Oct. 13) at UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m. before returning to Firestone Fieldhouse to take on Loyola Marymount on Saturday (Oct. 17) at 7 p.m. A point will be up for grabs in the newly created PCH Challenge, a season-long competition between the two rival schools.
