MALIBU, Calif. — The #20 Pepperdine women's volleyball team defeated West Coast Conference opponent Saint Mary's in four sets on Saturday afternoon in Firestone Fieldhouse.  The win is the Waves' fifth-straight, tying the season's best winning streak.
 
After the Waves (14-4, 5-2 WCC) took the first two sets handily 25-17, 25-19, the Gaels (6-8, 3-3 WCC) rallied to take the third 25-19 and force a fourth, though Pepperdine commanded the final set 25-14 to secure the win. 
 
Pepperdine impressed at the service line throughout the match, leading with 12 aces, which ties for 9^th in the Pepperdine women's volleyball record books for most team aces in a single match.
 
Collectively, Pepperdine hit for a .303 success rate, hitting above .300 for the second-consecutive match as a team.  Meg Brown, Emily Hellmuth and Grace Chillingworth led with double-figure kills throughout.  Brown achieved the feat for the 29^th time in her career and 12^th time this season after posting 12 smashes on a .400 hitting percentage, while adding four digs, two blocks and aces.  Hellmuth and Chillingworth added 12 and 10 kills respectively, each posting double-digits for the 10^th time this season.  Chillingworth did so on a .409 clip, adding eight digs, three aces and blocks as well.
 
The victory was achieved not just by as strong attack presence though, as Riley Patterson produced 21 digs, her fifth match this season digging up over 20 and 16^th with double-digit digs in a match. 
 
BIG WAVES
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 12 kills, .400 hitting %, 4 digs, 2 aces, 2 blocks
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 10 kills, .409 hitting %, 8 digs, 3 aces, 3 blocks
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 34 assists, 4 digs, 3 aces, 4 kills, .429 hitting %
Emily Hellmuth (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park HS): 12 kills, 2 blocks
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 8 kills, .357 hitting %, 1 block
Vanessa Polk (Saint Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS): 6 kills, .444 hitting %, 4 blocks
Riley Patterson (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS/Pacific): 21 digs, 1 ace
Kayleigh Hames (Maryville, Tenn./Webb School of Knoxville): 11 digs, 2 aces
Rosemary Archer (Fairview, Texas/Lovejoy HS) – 12 assists, 4 digs, 1 ace
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 5 digs
Avery Shimaitis (Sugar Land, Texas/George Ranch HS): 3 kills
 
WAVES VS. GAELS
The Waves marked 56 smashes on a .303 success rate throughout the match after hitting a .615 on 17 kills in the first set and a .400 on 16 smashes in the fourth.  The Gaels were able to put up 38 kills on a .164 clip to oppose.  Though each side of the net produced 7.0 team blocks, the Waves had the edge by far in their passing game, with 63 digs to the Gaels' 38.
 


PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          17        1          26        .615
2          11        7          32        .125
3          12        7          34        .147
4          16        4          30        .400
TTL      56        19        122      .303
 
SAINT MARY'S ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          11        5          34        .176
2          10        4          36        .167
3          9          3          30        .200
4          8          4          34        .118
TTL      38        16        134      .164
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Each team came out battling to open, reaching an 8-8 tied score before a kill from Emily Hellmuth and block collaboration from Meg Brown and Grace Chillingworth put the Waves ahead by two.  Pepperdine kept moving forward throughout the remainder of the set, with an ace from Chillingworth and more kills from Hellmuth earning the team a five-point lead at the 15-10 mark.  The Waves stayed ahead by five en route to a 20-15 lead courtesy of kills from Vanessa Polk and a block from Brown and Hellmuth.  Three-consecutive kills from Chillingworth, Brown and Hellmuth kept the home team looking up and a final strategic dump from Isabel Zelaya closed the set 25-17 to give Pepperdine the edge.
 
The Waves came out rolling in the second set as well, amassing a 6-1 lead to open with a pair of aces from Chillingworth and a pair of kills from Hellmuth.  Another pair of aces from Zelaya and Brown later in the set, as well as smashes from Rachel Ahrens and Brown continued the home teams lead to 15-9.  Though the Gaels started to push back late in the set, a final smash from Hellmuth ended the set 25-19.
 
With a 2-0 Waves' advantage heading into the third set, the opposition came out swinging and pulled ahead 5-0 to begin.  Pepperdine countered quickly, however, trailing by one at the 8-7 mark after an ace from Rosemary Archer and kills from Brown and Chillingworth helped the cause.  The Gaels would find a few more opportunities to score shortly after to continue on with the lead and it would be an edge the Waves would not be able to overcome through the rest of the set, falling 25-19 to send the match to a fourth.
 
Pepperdine buckled down immediately in the fourth set and after a 5-5 tie score, went on a 4-0 run with two aces from Kayleigh Hames and a block from Vanessa Polk and Chillingworth.  The Waves attack had a huge presence in the next set of plays as kills from Polk, Chillingworth, Hellmuth and Brown pushed the Waves to an eight-point advantage at the 15-7 mark.  More smashes from Zelaya, Brown and Ahrens extended the lead to 11 with a 20-9 advantage late in the action and an ace from Zelaya and a pair of kills from Polk would end the match with a 25-14 final set score.
 
UP NEXT
Next Friday, October 14, the Waves make the short trip to LMU to play the Lions at Gersten Pavilion at 7 p.m.
 
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.