MALIBU, Calif. — Senior setter Isabel Zelaya distributed the ball well on Thursday night as the #20 Pepperdine women's volleyball team swept West Coast Conference opponent Pacific in Firestone Fieldhouse.  She successfully spread out the offensive, pushing four players to eight or more kills on a .327 collective team hitting percentage, while leading the squad to a commanding 25-14, 25-17 and 25-19 victory.
 
Meg Brown led the Waves to the team's fourth-consecutive league win after amassing 12 kills on career-high .667 success rate.  Each Brown and Zelaya also added four blocks, while Grace Chillingworth, Emily Hellmuth and Rachel Ahrens totaled eight kills throughout the match.
 
Pepperdine continues on at home on Saturday with a 12 p.m. match against Saint Mary's. 
 
BIG WAVES
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 12 kills, .667 hitting %, 5 digs, 4 blocks
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 33 assists, 5 digs, 4 blocks, 4 kills, .571 hitting %
Emily Hellmuth (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park HS): 8 kills, .300 hitting %, 2 blocks
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 8 kills, 350 hitting %, 9 digs, 1 ace
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 8 kills, 3 aces
Riley Patterson (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS/Pacific): 12 digs
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 8 digs, 2 aces
Kayleigh Hames (Maryville, Tenn./Webb School of Knoxville): 8 digs
 


WAVES VS. TIGERS
Pepperdine led the match on all fronts, blasting down 45 kills on the .327 success rate with four players marking eight or more kills.  The Waves allowed the Tiges only 32 kills on a .120 output as well after leading with 47 digs and 5.5 blocks to the opposition's 42 digs and 2.0 blocks.  The home squad also led six aces to three.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          17        3          37        .378
2          12        3          31        .290
3          16        4          39        .308
TTL      45        10        107      .327
 
PACIFIC ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          9          5          33        .121
2          12        8          35        .114
3          11        6          40        .125
TTL      32        19        108      .120
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Pepperdine opened the match with a strong offensive presence, with kills from Meg Brown and Isabel Zelaya and an ace from Trinity Stanger to give the home squad a 4-1 advantage early.  The Waves rolled that lead into a 13-7 edge with more kills from Grace Chillingworth and block collaborations from Meg Brown with either Emily Hellmuth or Zelaya.  The squad would show no let-up as well, with more smashes from Rachel Ahrens and Hellmuth en route to a 21-13 lead late in the set.  After giving up one point, the Waves would then go on a 4-0 run with a pair of kills and an ace from Chillingworth and a smash from Brown to close the set 25-14.
 
The Waves continued to pound down in the second set, going on a 4-0 run to open after capitalizing on a few errors from across the net and shooting the ball to Hellmuth for a pair of kills of her own.  This time, the Tigers stayed a closer to open the set, remaining two-points away to the 9-7 mark before the home team would start pulling with away with smashes from Ahrens and Chillingworth towards a 13-8 lead.  The Malibu Roofing Company came up big in the next few plays with a rare triple-block from Brown, Zelaya and Hellmuth, followed by another rejection letter from Brown and Zelaya for an 18-11 lead down the back stretch.  Stanger found the floor for her second ace of the match and Ahrens laid down a pair of smashes to bring the Waves to a set-point opportunity.  Ahrens produced her second ace of the night as well for a 25-17 set win to give Pepperdine a 2-0 lead heading into the third set.
 
Pacific made it close in the third set, leading the set at the 5-4 mark early on before the Waves countered to pull ahead 10-8 with kills from Kenadie Patterson and Chillingworth.  After a block from Zelaya and Patterson kept the score even at 13's, the opposition pulled ahead by one once again, though that advantage would not last long as kills from Chillingworth and Hellmuth made it 15-14 in the home team's favor.  Pacific would not lead again in the match as an ace from Ahrens and more kills from Patterson and Brown pushed the Waves to a 22-17 edge late in the action.  In the final moments, Pepperdine capitalized on some Tigers' attack errors, as well as an Avery Shimaitis smash to close the set 25-19 and complete the sweep for the Waves.
 
UP NEXT
On Saturday, the Waves will continue West Coast Conference action by hosting Saint Mary's at 12 p.m. in Firestone Fieldhouse.
 
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.