Big Attack Presence Leads #25 Waves to Sweep of Portland

Saturday, October 23

Portland, Ore.

12:00 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

15-4,7-3WCC

Portland

5-14,2-8WCC

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Pepperdine	25	25	25	3
Portland	12	21	14	0

Photo by: Sarah Otteman

Big Attack Presence Leads #25 Waves to Sweep of Portland

10/23/2021 1:58:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

By: by Athletic Communications

PORTLAND, Ore. — It was another quick road match for the #25 Pepperdine women's volleyball team on Saturday afternoon in Chiles Center, as the Waves dominated Portland for the second time this season with 25-12, 25-21, 25-14 final sets for the sweep.

Isabel Zelaya dished out 36 assists en route to a 48 team kills and a .383 collective success rate. The Waves (15-4, 7-3 WCC) had four players with .346 hitting percentages or higher, including Rachel Ahrens and Grace Chillingworth with double-figure kills. Ahrens led the squad with 15 kills on a .464 clip, while Emma Ammerman and Meg Brown put up nine kills on a .667 output and eight kills on a .400 success rate respectively.

Pepperdine will remain on the road next week, set to challenge PCH Cup rival LMU for the second time this season in Los Angeles.

BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 15 kills, .464 hitting %, 4 digs, 1 block
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 12 kills, .346 hitting %, 1 ace, 1 block
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 8 kills, .400 hitting %, 3 aces, 3 blocks (1 solo)
Emma Ammerman (Parker, Colo./Chaparral HS): 9 kills, .667 hitting %, 4 digs
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 36 assists, 6 digs, 1 block
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 11 digs, 7 assists, 1 ace
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 6 digs, 1 ace

WAVES VS. PILOTS
Pepperdine dominated on all fronts, but most noticeably on the attack with 48 kills on a .383 success rate, while allowing the Pilots only 23 smashes on a .114 output. The Waves also added six aces, 4.0 team blocks and 40 digs, while Portland was good for three aces, 29 digs and 3.0 blocks.

PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        2          33        .424
2          16        6          32        .312
3          16        4          29        .414
TTL      48        12        94        .383

PORTLAND ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          7          5          29        .069
2          12        4          26        .308
3          4          5          24        -.042
TTL      23        14        79        .114

PLAY-BY-PLAY
For the second match in a row, the Waves came barreling out of first serve with a heavy attack front to pull ahead 4-1. Additional kills from Grace Chillingworth and Meg Brown pushed the squad to an impressive 8-2 advantage early on and Pepperdine would ride that momentum through the set. After an 11-4 lead, the Pilots put a few points on the board to close the gap marginally, but more smashes from Chillingworth and Rachel Ahrens advanced the lead to 20-10. In the final moments, Pepperdine capitalized on some Portland errors and kills from Brown closed the set down at 25-12.

The Waves certainly carried the first set momentum into the second, though the Pilots gave them a run for their money. A block from Ahrens and Rosie Ballo early on gave the Waves some quick energy and multiple kills from Chillingworth and Ahrens helped the squad to an 11-7 lead. Smashes from Ahrens continued to help the cause and push the Waves to a 17-12 advantage towards the back half of the set. Portland closed the gap at 20's and each side traded points, but a pair of errors from across the net, along with a kill from Ahrens and a second ace of the day from Brown finished things off with a 25-21 set win.

With the 2-0 lead heading into the third, Pepperdine was ready to close things out. After falling behind 3-5, the Waves countered with an ace from Trinity Stanger and back-to-back blocks from Brown and Chillingworth helped put the team in the lead. Stanger had 11-straight service opportunities and kills from Brown, Isabel Zelaya and Chillingworth throughout put the Waves ahead 15-6. It was a commanding lead that the home team would be unable to overcome as more smashes from Ahrens and Kayleigh Hames finished the set 25-14 in the Waves' favor for the 3-0 sweep.

FOLLOW
Follow the Waves on Facebook and Twitter, @WavesVolleyball, and follow the team on Instagram, @peppvolley. Get all the most recent schedules, results and more on www.PepperdineWaves.com.