MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team gave the fans in a packed and enthusiastic Firestone Fieldhouse quite a show on Thursday night, dominating the season's home opener en route to a four-set upset over #9 Baylor.  It's the program's first top-10 win since the Waves defeated #7 Illinois at a neutral site in 2012.
 
The Waves (3-1), a team receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll for the second-straight week, came out swinging to win the first set of the 24^th-annual Pepperdine Asics Classic 25-19.  Though the Bears (1-2) countered with a 25-18 second set win, Pepperdine gritted out a 25-23 third set victory to pull ahead yet again.  The fourth set was all Waves from start to finish and an early lead propelled the home squad to a 25-17 final set score.
 
Senior setter Isabel Zelaya dished out 39 assists, helping the team to three players in double-digit kills, while adding three aces, seven digs and four kills on a .500 clip.  Grace Chillingworth came up big for the Waves with her second-career double-double, having amassed 17 kills on a .438 success rate along with 12 digs, two aces and two blocks.
 
Rachel Ahrens and Meg Brown also hit for double-figures with 12 and 10 kills respectively, while Riley Patterson, Trinity Stanger and Kayleigh Hames produced double-digit digs with 13, 11 and 10 respectively.
 
BIG WAVES
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 17 kills, .438 hitting %, 12 digs, 2 aces, 2 blocks
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 12 kills, 4 digs, 1 ace, 1 block
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 10 kills, .381 hitting %, 5 digs, 2 blocks
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 39 assists, 7 digs, 3 aces, 4 kills, .500 hitting %, 1 block
Vanessa Polk (Saint Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS): 9 kills, .389 hitting %, 4 blocks
Emily Hellmuth (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park HS): 7 kills, 3 blocks (1 solo)
Riley Patterson (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS/Pacific): 13 digs, 8 assists
Kayleigh Hames (Maryville, Tenn./Webb School of Knoxville): 10 digs
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 11 digs



WAVES VS. BEARS
There were only nine tied scores and two lead changes throughout the match with Pepperdine holding the advantage throughout a majority of the match.  The Waves out-hit the Bears with 59 kills on a .268 clip, compared to 52 kills on a .211 output from across the net, including only one error from the home squad in their 14-kill and .419 hitting percentage effort in the fourth set alone.  Pepperdine also led the floor with 63 digs and seven aces, while Baylor was able to put in 59 digs and five aces.  The Bears did lead 10.5 blocks to 7.0 at the net, however.  There were
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        6          42        .238
2          12        6          32        .188
3          16        6          41        .244
4          14        1          31        .419
TTL      59        19        149      .268
 
BAYLOR ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          9          8          42        .024
2          14        5          33        .273
3          13        4          34        .265
4          16        5          33        .333
TTL      52        22        142      .211
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Pepperdine busted out of the starting gate in the squad's first home match of the season, collecting on a big kill from Grace Chillingworth and an even bigger block from Chillingworth and Vanessa Polk to set the tone for the set.  The Waves continued to roll towards a 7-2 lead with more kills from Chillingworth and Rachel Ahrens, and eventually had a 14-7 lead during the action.  After a 16-11 lead, the home squad went on a 7-0 run with smashes from Polk, Emily Hellmuth and Meg Brown to pull ahead even further.  Though the opposition collected a few points towards the end of the set, Pepperdine was able to secure the 25-19 set win with a final kill from Polk.
 
The second set had a different tale from start to finish.  After each side worked to a 6-6 tied score, the opposition started to pull away.  Though kills from Brown and Hellmuth helped the effort, Baylor was able to pick up a 25-18 set win to tie the overall.
 
Pepperdine got back on track in the third set and after a 6-6 tie started to pull ahead of the opposition with kills from Chillingworth and an ace from Kayleigh Hames.  The Waves kept pounding down with more kills from Chillingworth and Brown and an ace from Ahrens to command a 17-11 lead towards the back end of the set.  The Bears made it interesting and closed the gap to a one-point lead at the 23-22 mark, but a block from Brown and Isabel Zelaya and a kill from Hellmuth ended the set with a 25-23 Waves' advantage.
 
With the 2-1 lead heading into the fourth set, Pepperdine came out intent on shutting down the #9 team in the nation.  The Waves worked to a 5-1 lead early with kills from Ahrens and Zelaya and a big Malibu Roofing Company rejection from Brown and Chillingworth.  A solo block from Hellmuth, an ace from Zelaya and more smashes from Polk propelled the Waves to a 13-5 lead to keep the momentum going.  Shortly after, Ahrens and Polk connected for a block collaboration and multiple kills from Ahrens and Hellmuth put the Waves ahead 22-14 late in the set.  The opposition was unable to string many points together throughout the rest of the set and kills from Chillingworth and Ahrens completed the Waves win with a 25-17 final set score.
 
UP NEXT
The Waves continue on with the 24^th-annual Pepperdine Asics Classic this weekend, hosting UC Santa Barbara on Friday at 6 p.m. and San Diego State at 12 p.m. on Saturday to close out the home tournament.
 
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.