MALIBU, Calif. — It was another energetic night in Firestone Fieldhouse for the Pepperdine women's volleyball team, as the Waves collected 25-19, 25-21, 21-25, 25-20 final set scores for a win over UC Santa Barbara on Friday night.  The victory was the squad's second in the 24^th-annual Pepperdine Asics Classic thus far, as the Waves also upset #9 Baylor on Thursday night.
 
Pepperdine (4-1), a team receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll, came out firing on all cylinders against UCSB (0-4).  Freshman Emily Hellmuth led the battle with her second career double-figure kill night, tabbing 12 smashes.  Junior Meg Brown had another standout night all-around, tabbing 11 kills on a .348 clip, her 19^th-career double-digit attack effort.  She also led the squad with five blocks and three aces.
 
Grad transfer Riley Patterson was stellar in the back row, tabbing a season-high 23 digs for her 2^nd match with 20-digs or more since donning the blue and orange.  Sophomore Grace Chillingworth also helped the cause with 11 digs, nine kills, two aces and three blocks.
 
BIG WAVES
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 11 kills, .348 hitting %, 5 blocks, 3 aces, 5 digs
Emily Hellmuth (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park HS): 12 kills, 6 digs, 1 block
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 9 kills, 11 digs, 3 blocks, 2 aces
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 36 assists, 5 digs, 3 blocks, 1 ace, 2 kills
Riley Patterson (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS/Pacific): 23 digs
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 9 kills, 1 block
Vanessa Polk (Saint Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS): 4 blocks (1 solo)
Kayleigh Hames (Maryville, Tenn./Webb School of Knoxville): 5 digs, 2 aces
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 4 digs


 
WAVES VS. GAUCHOS
Pepperdine led the attack with 45 kills on a .163 clip, compared to UC Santa Barbara's 44 kills on a .116 output.  The Waves also led 8-7 in aces and 62-56 in digs throughout the match, while the Gauchos had a slight 11.0 to 9.0 lead in blocks.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          12        5          25        .280
2          12        4          33        .242
3          10        7          39        .077
4          11        7          38        .105
TTL      45        23        135      .163
 
UCSB ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          9          6          24        .125
2          13        6          30        .233
3          9          6          42        .071
4          13        10        42        .071
TTL      44        28        138      .116
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
UCSB came out firing in the first set, collecting a small 5-3 lead over the Waves that extended to a 12-9 lead later on.  An ace from Kayleigh Hames, a kill from Grace Chillingworth and a block from Chillingworth and Meg Brown quickly turned that around for a 13-13 tied score.  Brown then went back-to-back on the attack and followed it up by another block collaboration with Chillingworth to start pulling ahead.  Pepperdine quickly extended the lead to six-points with an ace from Brown and kills from Emily Hellmuth and Rachel Ahrens.  A final pair of smashes from Hellmuth closed up the set with a 25-19 set win.
 
The Waves were all over the second set from start to finish, collecting on kills from Brown and Hellmuth and a Vanessa Polk, Hellmuth block effort en route to a 7-4 lead early on.  More smashes from Ahrens and Brown and an ace from Chillingworth extended Pepperdine's lead to 17-12.  The Malibu Roofing Company posted a job from Isabel Zelaya and Polk, encouraging a positive momentum for the Waves and a final second ace from Chillingworth closed out the set 25-21.
 
The Gauchos had an early edge in the third set, changing the tone of the match briefly, pulling ahead to a 15-12 lead in the middle of the action.  Though the Waves countered late in the action with smashes from Chillingworth and Ahrens, the opposition was able to gain enough momentum to win the set 25-21 and extend the match to four sets.
 
UCSB came into the fourth set with the same energy from the previous one, working ahead to a 7-2 lead in the early moments. A strong service from Brown, featuring multiple kills from Hellmuth helped the Waves buckle down, helping the home squad go on a 6-1 run to tie things up.  Another kill and an ace from Zelaya kept the Waves pushing forward and a Chillingworth, Ahrens kill combo pushed Pepperdine to an 18-12 lead.  Brown went back-to-back on the block shortly after, working alongside Zelaya and then Ahrens for the rejections to make it 22-16.  In the final moments, the Waves capitalized on some errors from across the net before Hellmuth and Chillingworth found the floor for a 25-20 set win and the 3-1 overall victory.
 
UP NEXT
The Waves will continue the 24^th-annual Pepperdine Asics Classic tomorrow at 12 p.m. against San Diego State in Firestone Fieldhouse.  Baylor will also play UCSB at 10 a.m. and then UCSB and San Diego State will go head-to-head 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.