MALIBU, Calif. — The #22 Pepperdine women's volleyball team has another big road week ahead, heading to Minneapolis, Minn. to compete in the Diet Coke Classic. The Waves will face tournament-host #6 Minnesota on Thursday before going head-to-head against Washington State, a team receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll, on Friday.
MATCH #10 — Thursday (September 15) at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis, Minn.: Diet Coke Classic, #22 Pepperdine at #6 Minnesota at 5 p.m. PT | Watch: B1G+
MATCH #11 — Friday (September 16) at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis, Minn.: Diet Coke Classic, #22 Pepperdine at (RV) Washington State at 3 p.m. PT | Watch: B1G+
SOCIAL MEDIA — Follow @WavesVolleyball on Twitter for updates and check out PepperdineWaves.com and Facebook (/WavesVolleyball) for releases and more information.
COVERAGE — The two matches this weekend will air live on B1G+ courtesy of University of Minnesota. All matches will have live stats with links available on PepperdineWaves.com.
UP NEXT — After this final week of non-conference opposition, Pepperdine will open West Coast Conference action on Thursday, September 22 against #8 San Diego and continue on Saturday, September 24 against #15 BYU with both matches taking place on the road. The Waves will return home on Tuesday, September 27 against Gonzaga.
WEEKLY NODS — For the second-straight week, Pepperdine garnered WCC Offensive Player of the Week accolades as junior middle blocker
Meg Brown earned the third weekly honor of her career. The week prior,
Grace Chillingworth and
Riley Patterson had swept the offensive and defensive honors respectively.
The honor this week was the second offensive of Brown's career, while she also tabbed a defensive nod once as well. Throughout the matches last week, Brown totaled 3.00 kills/set on a strong .389 hitting percentage and added 0.25 aces, 0.75 digs and 0.92 blocks per set. She amassed 42.5 total points, averaging 3.5 points/set. She posted 36 kills with only eight errors on 72 swings, while adding nine digs and 11 blocks.
In the first five-set victory against Cal Poly, Brown swung at a .400 clip with 15 kills, averaging 3.00 kills/set. She added five digs and seven blocks with two solo rejections. She helped the Waves come back from an 11-5 deficit with three blocks and a kill of her own, keeping the Mustangs off of the attack en route to the win. Then, in the four-set upset over the Huskies, she posted 14 kills, 3.50 kills/set on a .500 success rate, totaling only one error on 26 swings throughout the contest. She helped defensively, as well, with four blocks, three digs and two assists, averaging 1.00 blocks and 0.75 digs per set for 16.0 total points and 4.0 points/set. In the final match against Northwestern, she put in seven kills, 2.33 kills/set, as well as one dig, 0.33 digs/set finishing the week with a 7.0-point, 2.3 point/set performance.
2022 weekly honors:
Grace Chillingworth, offensive (9/5),
Riley Patterson, defensive (9/5),
Meg Brown, offensive (9/12)
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. In the sixth game the squad played this season, three separate hitters tied for the game-high as well. The Waves continued attacking aggressively the week following, with three players hitting for double-figures against Cal Poly and four doing the same against #13 Washington.
SQUAD GOALS — Pepperdine has gone 7-2 overall this season, going 2-1 against opponents in the top-15 of the AVCA Coaches Poll this season. As a team, Pepperdine has marked 13.09 kills/set on a .215 clip, while giving up 13.21 kills/set on a .195 output to opponents. The Waves have also put in 12.18 assists, 14.73 digs, 2.88 blocks and 1.27 aces per set on average as well.
The Waves have a strong attack front, with multiple big hitters representing in each match, led by multiple Waves including
Grace Chillingworth who leads with 2.88 kills/set and
Meg Brown who has posted 2.82 kills/set on a .376 clip. Chillingworth has added 0.42 aces, 2.33 digs and 0.67 blocks per set, while Brown has posted 1.00 blocks, 0.24 aces and 0.76 digs per set.
Emily Hellmuth,
Rachel Ahrens and
Avery Shimaitis have also hit over two kills per set with 2.50, 2.46 and 2.17 outputs respectively.
Defensively along with Brown,
Vanessa Polk has been virtually unpassable at the net, amassing 1.67 blocks/set with 50 blocks including nine solo blocks already marked. Multiple Waves have been clutch in the passing game, with
Riley Patterson leading on 3.88 digs/set with 128 total digs.
Kayleigh Hames,
Trinity Stanger, Chillingworth and
Isabel Zelaya have also added 2.38, 2.35, 2.33 and 2.09 digs/set respectively. Zelaya also leads in playmaking duties with 9.58 assists/set, as well as 0.48 kills, 0.21 aces and 0.52 digs per set.
LAST WEEK IN SEATTLE — The Waves went 2-1 at the Husky Invitational last week, coming back from an 11-5 deficit in the fith set against Cal Poly to win the match and upsetting #13 Washington in four. Pepperdine also went head-to-head with Northwestern, falling in three.
Against the Mustangs, the Waves put in 58 kills on a .199 clip, while allowing 62 kills on a .165 hitting %. Pepperdine also amassed eight aces, 18.0 blocks and 60 digs, while the opposition posted four aces, 12.0 blocks and 71 digs. Three players hit for double-figures, with
Meg Brown leading with 15 kills on a .400 and
Emily Hellmuth and
Grace Chillingworth adding with 12 and 11 kills respectively. Chillingworth also impressed with a career-high five aces, including four in a row at one point in the match. Brown added seven blocks with two solos as well, while
Vanessa Polk was good for six blocks with one solo.
Riley Patterson and
Kayleigh Hames led with 16 and 11 digs respectively and
Isabel Zelaya led with 41 assists.
In the following match against the Huskies, four Waves hit for double-digits as the team marked 63 kills on a .294 success rate. The team added three aces, 64 digs and 13.0 blocks, while the opposition tallied 49 kills on a .210 clip with three aces, 50 digs and 10.0 blocks. Chillingworth, Brown,
Rachel Ahrens and Hellmuth were good for 15 (.406), 14 (.500), 13 and 10 kills respectively. Zelaya, Chillingworth and Ahrens each had double-doubles with the setter putting in 46 assists and 11 digs, the sophomore posting 10 digs alongside her kill effort and Ahrens adding 11 digs alongside hers as well. Polk had a team-best seven blocks with two solos and nine kills as well. Five players also added double-digit digs as Patterson added 14 and Hames added 12 alongside their teammates with double-doubles.
In the final matchup against Northwestern, Pepperdine marked 31 kills on a .184 clip, with two aces, 30 digs and 3.0 blocks, while the Wildcats put in 55 kills on a .396 with four aces, 63 digs and 5.0 blocks. Brown and
Avery Shimaitis led with seven kills apiece, while Chillingworth led with two blocks and Patterson with nine digs.
THE COMPETITION — Minnesota has gone 4-2 this season so far, falling to now-ranked #1 Texas and #9 Stanford and defeating now-ranked #14 Baylor, #16 Florida and #20 Oregon as well. All-time, the Gophers lead 3-0 against the Waves, with two five-set wins in 1980 and 2003 and one sweep in 2002.
Washington State has gone 8-1 this season, falling only to then-ranked #10 BYU in the team's only competition against a nationally ranked opponent this season. All-time, the Waves have faced and defeated the Cougars once in 1978, winning 2-0 on a neutral court.
MILESTONES & RECORD WATCH —
Rachel Ahrens tops the career record books for Pepperdine in aces and aces/set already after four complete years as a Wave. She has amassed 157 aces in 396 sets and 0.40 aces/set this season. Ahrens also currently ranks 5th in career kills with 1,1451. Nicole Sanderson leads the category with 2,028 kills in 431 sets from 1994-97, while these Waves fill in the following three spots: Julie Evans (84-87) with 1,955 kills in 425 sets, Julie Rubenstein (05-08) with 1,743 kills in 423 sets and Katie Wilkins (00-03) with 1,672 kills in 368 sets.
Ahrens also ranks 5th with 1,729.0 points, 7th with 4.37 points/set, 3.66 kills/set and 3,499 total attempts.
Isabel Zelaya has also been climbing the record books at Pepperdine, ranking 6th with 10.45 assists/set and 7th with 3,238 total assists.
Ahrens also stands out in the single-season rally scoring era record books, having topped the service aces category with 51 aces in 105 sets in 2021 and 49 aces in 113 sets in 2019. She ranks 2nd, 3rd and 4th with 0.49, 0.44 and 0.43 aces in 2021, 2020 and 2019 respectively. She ranked 3rd with 513 kills and 4.89 kills/set in 2021 and 5th with 4.42 kills/set in 2020. She also ranked 3rd with 591.0 points in 2021, 2nd with 5.63 points/set in 2021 and 6th with 5.13 points/set in 2020. Zelaya ranked 10th with 11.19 assist/set and 1,144 total assists as well.
Ahrens is also the only Wave to have cracked 30 kills since 2008 last season, collecting 30 kills against Saint Mary's which ranks 3rd in the single-match kills/set records. The Waves have only accomplished that feat three times throughout the program's history as well.
