Pepperdine-Portland Box Score 
MALIBU, Calif. - Dominating performances by middle blockers Victoria Adelhelm and Kim Hill lifted the Pepperdine women's volleyball team to a 25-13, 21-25, 25-14, 25-13 victory over Portland in West Coast Conference play at Firestone Fieldhouse on Thursday evening.
Hill (Portland, Ore./Portland Christian HS) had a match-high 17 kills while hitting .560 (17-3-25), and Adelhelm (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif./Santa Fe Christian HS) had career highs of 16 kills and a .652 hitting percentage (16-1-23) while adding six blocks. The duo helped Pepperdine to a season-high .383 team hitting percentage.
Pepperdine (13-10, 6-4 WCC) kept Portland (5-19, 1-8) winless in Firestone Fieldhouse, where the Pilots are now 0-for-23 all-time. The Waves are 44-2 all-time against Portland.
Senior outside hitter Rachel Grochmal (Brea, Calif./Brea Olinda HS) added 12 kills, nine digs and six blocks. Senior setter Kiah Fiers (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Peninsula HS) had 51 assists and 11 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Lilla Frederick (Huntington Beach, Calif./Cornelia Connelly HS) recorded nine kills and nine digs.
Freshman outside hitter Caitlin Racich (Santa Barbara, Calif./Dos Pueblos HS) contributed five kills and 10 digs and sophomore libero Stevi Robinson (Hermosa Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) posted a team-high 15 digs.
"In the first set we served well and made very few errors," Pepperdine Coach Nina Matthies said. "When we do that, our hitting percentage is high, our sideout percentage is high and we're doing well. But in the second set we had more hitting and service errors, and basically gave up 10 points. In a game to 25, anything can happen when you do that. We work all week on eliminating errors, making the other team play, blocking and playing defense. We lost our concentration in the second set, but Portland served very well and got us out of system. We settled down and took charge in games three and four. The middles were great tonight, just unbelievable. Our seniors also kept us going."
The Pilots, who hit .090 as a team, got 11 kills from Ariel Usher, seven kills and six blocks from Shelley Sievers and 20 digs from Danielle Dupar.
Trailing by just one at 6-5 in the first set, the Waves scored four straight points on kills by Grochmal and Frederick and two Pilot attack errors, and Pepperdine didn't trail again. The Waves were up 13-11 and scored 12 of the final 14 points, including the last six. Hill had five kills in the set, including on three of the set's final four points. Pepperdine outhit Portland, .400-.051.
The Waves led for the first half of the second set but couldn't put the Pilots away. Pepperdine went up by as many as four points, first at 7-3 and later at 10-6, but Portland tied it up at 11-11. The Waves still led at 17-15 when Portland scored four straight points, which included a service ace by Kaylyn Jones, a kill by Usher and a block by Kate Bostwick and Sievers. The Waves tied it again at 19-19, but the Pilots notched three straight points and had six of the final eight in the set. Sievers had two kills and a block assist during the final stretch. Portland upped its hitting to .346 while Pepperdine's fell to .273.
Pepperdine came out energized after the intermission and didn't let up after scoring the first three points. The lead grew to 6-1, 8-2, 11-4, 14-6 and 19-7 before hitting its largest margin of 14 points at 24-10. Adelhelm, Grochmal and Hill each had four kills as the Waves had a .429-.030 hitting edge.
Adelhelm had a couple of early kills to help Pepperdine out to a 5-2 lead in the fourth set. Later, a 5-0 run a kill and a service ace by Fiers made the score 16-6 in the Waves' favor. The Waves maintained their lead and had a .438-.000 hitting advantage in the set.
The Waves wrap up their home schedule on Saturday (Nov. 7) against Gonzaga at 1 p.m. Pepperdine's two seniors, Fiers and Grochmal, will be honored prior to the match. After this weekend, three road matches remain in the regular season.
