MALIBU, Calif. — Freshman middle blocker Vanessa Polk impressed fans in Firestone on Thursday night, leading the Pepperdine women's volleyball team to a sweep over Santa Clara with a career-best 12 kills and .647 success rate.  Three Waves in total hit for double-figures as the Waves downed the Broncos with 25-16, 25-13 and 25-20 final set scores. 
 
Polk also led with six blocks, while Emily Hellmuth and Meg Brown amassed 11 and 10 kills respectively.  The match marked Polk's first in double-digits this season, while Hellmuth and Brown have tabbed 13 and 15 double-figure kill matches respectively.  Isabel Zelaya commanded the Waves to an impressive .316 collective hitting percentage with 51 kills on the night, posting 37 assists, eight digs, three blocks and three kills herself in an all-around effort.
 
With the West Coast Conference victory, Pepperdine advances to 16-6 overall and 7-4 in the league, while Santa Clara drops to 8-15 overall and 4-7 in conference play.
 
BIG WAVES
Vanessa Polk (Saint Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS): 12 kills, .647 hitting %, 6 blocks
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 37 assists, 8 diges, 3 aces, 3 kills, .600 hitting %
Emily Hellmuth (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park HS): 11 kills, 3 digs, 1 ace, 1 block
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 10 kills, .389 hitting %, 3 digs, 1 ace, block
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 8 kills, 8 digs, 1 block
Riley Patterson (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS/Pacific): 11 digs, 3 assists
Avery Shimaitis (Sugar Land, Texas/George Ranch HS): 7 kills, 3 blocks
Kayleigh Hames (Maryville, Tenn./Webb School of Knoxville): 5 digs, 1 ace
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 6 digs
 
WAVES VS. BRONCOS
Pepperdine outplayed Santa Clara from start to finish, marking 51 kills on a .316 clip, while allowing only 30 kills on a .157 output to the opposition.  The Waves also amassed 7.0 blocks and seven aces, while adding 47 digs, whereas the Broncos were good for 42 digs, 6.0 blocks and two aces. 


 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          19        4          42        .357
2          12        3          29        .310
3          20        7          46        .283
TTL      51        14        117      .316
 
SANTA CLARA ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          9          4          32        .156
2          9          7          35        .057
3          12        3          35        .257
TTL      30        14        102      .157
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Set one was the Waves from start to finish after coming out with a 5-1 lead to the set courtesy of smashes from Meg Brown and Emily Hellmuth and an ace from Hellmuth.  Pepperdine continued with positive plays finding more kills from Avery Shimaitis and Vanessa Polk and a Malibu Roofing Company greeting from Polk and Grace Chillingworth to make it 11-4.  Santa Clara found a few points shortly after, but the Waves were on an upward trend after additional kills from Isabel Zelaya and Polk and a statement of a block from Polk and Hellmuth.  A pair of kills from Hellmuth would end the set 25-16 in the Waves favor. 
 
Though the Broncos pulled ahead to a 6-3 lead to open the second set, the Waves were close behind, going on an 8-0 run flip the script and take an 11-6 advantage.  Throughout the run, Zelaya put up two more aces and Polk denied three separate attack attempts – one solo and two with Shimaitis. SCU came back to make it a three-point set at 14-11, but kills from Chillingworth and Brown as well as others made it a 21-12 advantage for the home squad.  Emma Ammerman found a good spot to pick up an ace and Polk closed the 25-13 set down with a smash to help the cause.
 
Pepperdine urgently came out in the third set, once again amassing an 8-3 run to set the tone after multiple kills from Hellmuth, Polk and Chillingworth.  Another Polk, Shimaitis block collaboration, along with two kills each for the same duo, gave the Waves a 16-9 edge towards the back half of the set.  Late in the action, the opposition started a rally attempt, battling off five match-point opportunities, until Chillingworth shut things down with a smash to give the squad a 25-20 final set score and complete the sweep.
 
UP NEXT
On Saturday, the Waves will host San Francisco at noon in Firestone Fieldhouse.  The match will be the Waves 'Dig Pink' match, so fans are encouraged to wear pink in support of the fight against breast cancer.
 
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.