MALIBU, Calif. — The #22 Pepperdine women's volleyball team made the trip up North this week, set to continue West Coast Conference action against Portland and Gonzaga.
MATCH #20 — Thursday (October 20) at Chiles Center in Portland, Ore.: #22 Pepperdine vs. Portland at 6 p.m. | Watch: WCC Network
MATCH #21 — Saturday (October 22) at Charlotte Y. Martin Center in Spokane, Wash.: #22 Pepperdine vs. Gonzaga at 12 p.m. | Watch: WCC Network
SOCIAL MEDIA — Follow @WavesVolleyball on Twitter for updates and check out PepperdineWaves.com and Facebook (/WavesVolleyball) for releases and more information.
COVERAGE — The match will have live stats and streams available with links to be found on PepperdineWaves.com. All matches will air on the WCC Network.
UP NEXT — Next week, the Waves will return home to host Santa Clara and San Francisco on October 27 and 29. The match against the Broncos will be Pepperdine's Halloween game, so come dressed in your best costumes. The following match on Saturday will be the Waves' Dig Pink game in support of the fight against breast cancer, so join the team in wearing pink.
WEEKLY NODS — Four weeks this season, the Waves have tabbed a West Coast Conference player of the week nod. Riley Patterson has received the defensive honor and Grace Chillingworth has garnered the offensive recognition twice, while the Waves swept the accolades on week two this season.
2022 weekly honors: Grace Chillingworth, offensive (9/5); Riley Patterson, defensive (9/5); Meg Brown, offensive (9/12); Riley Patterson (9/20); Grace Chillingworth, offensive (10/3).
MORE THAN AN ATHLETE — The Waves have made it a principal standard this season to make mental health a priority among the team. The white jerseys this year sport a green ribbon which denotes support of mental health awareness. Throughout a majority of the games as well, many players will wear green hair ties and bracelets, and even paint their nails, all in support of the mental health awareness initiative and erasing the stigma. The team also has two shirts that sport the phrases 'More Than an Athlete' and 'Be Kind to Your Mind.'
A focus for the team is to live an honest and healthy lifestyle with each other. To practice, the team will have at least one weekly meeting and check-in with the team and coaches where the floor is open. From those check-ins, the team knows who needs to be lifted up throughout the week, who needs to be checked in on and the reasons as to why. Pepperdine women's volleyball is continuing to attempt to erase the stigma surrounding mental health in athletes.
HEAVY HITTERS, ALL OF 'EM — In five of the first six matches of the season, the Waves had a different kill leader, showing a strong offensive offering for the season. The story has stayed the same throughout the rest of the season as well. Throughout the 19 matches Pepperdine has played, Meg Brown has led the Waves' attack effort, or tied the match kill-high, on eight separate occasions. Rachel Ahrens, Grace Chillingworth and Emily Hellmuth have each led or tied four times and Avery Shimaitis has accomplished the feat in two matches.
SQUAD GOALS — Pepperdine has gone 14-5 overall this season, opening West Coast Conference with a 5-3 output. As a team, the Waves produce 13.44 kills/set on a .232 success rate, while also adding 12.62 assists, 1.31 aces, 14.44 digs and 2.40 blocks per set. The squad allows opponents 12.38 kills/set on a .187 clip, along with 11.61 assists, 1.23 aces, 13.79 digs and 2.11 blocks per set.
Four players average more than 2.5 kills/set each match: Meg Brown (2.87), Emily Hellmuth (2.81), Rachel Ahrens (2.68) and Grace Chillingworth (2.62). Brown leads the team with 204 total kills on an impressive .368 hitting percentage. She also adds 0.28 aces and 0.92 blocks per set. Chillingworth leads the team with 25 total aces, marking 0.35 aces/set, while adding 2.24. Vanessa Polk has a team-best 1.22 blocks/set after leading the team with 79 total blocks including 13 solo rejections.
Isabel Zelaya serves as the primary playmaker with 10.16 assists/set and 711 total assists this season. She adds 1.97 digs/set as well. Riley Patterson holds down the back row with 4.20 digs/set after having marked 298 digs so far this season. Kayleigh Hames and Trinity Stanger also help the cause with 2.20 and 1.90 digs/set.
BATTLE FOR PCH, PART ONE — The Waves went head-to-head with PCH Cup rival LMU last week, falling after a tough four-set battle at Gersten Pavilion. After the Lions took the first set 25-22, the Waves countered 25-20 in the next set to even things up. The opposition was able to secure 25-23 and 25-22 final set scores to finish off with the victory for one point towards the PCH Cup total. In the match, Pepperdine marked 54 kills on a .250 clip, while giving up 52 kills on a .203 clip to LMU. The Lions also led with 11.0 blocks to 8.0, seven aces to one and 52 digs to 39 to edge ahead for the victory.
Meg Brown led the squad with 15 kills on a .462 clip, adding four blocks including one solo rejection and four digs. Emily Hellmuth also hit for double-figures, adding 14 kills and two blocks including one solo job. Vanessa Polk and Grace Chillingworth also picked up seven kills and three blocks apiece, while Riley Patterson led the effort with 14 digs and one ace. Isabel Zelaya had a team-best 42 assists and added nine digs and two blocks as well.
THE COMPETITION — Portland has gone 9-10 overall this season and 2-6 against West Coast Conference opponents. The Pilots two wins came against Pacific (3-2) and Gonzaga (3-1), while Portland went 0-2 last week with five-set losses to both Santa Clara and San Francisco. All-time, Pepperdine leads 64-6 over Portland, dating back to the first-ever matchup in 1987 when the Waves won in straight sets. Pepperdine won 41-straight matches including 28 sweeps from 1995-2015, while the matches in this time period only went to five sets on four occasions. Most recently, the Waves have won nine-consecutive matches since 2017 with six won by way of sweep.
Pepperdine leads Gonzaga 63-8 all-time, dating back to 1987 when the Waves won 3-0 on the road. Pepperdine then went on a 34-match winning streak from 1997-2013 before the Zags took one away. The Waves have recently won the last 10-straight since 2017 including six in straight-sets, most recently sweeping the Zags at home earlier this season. The squad swept both matches against the Bulldogs last season as well. This season, the Zags have gone 4-15 and 0-8 in conference action after being swept by both San Francisco and Santa Clara last week.
