MALIBU, Calif. — After two big road wins last week, the #17 Pepperdine women's volleyball team will hit the road once again to face a tough slate of competition, opening West Coast Conference play against #4 San Diego and #16 BYU.

MATCH #12 — Thursday (September 22) at Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego, Calif.: #17 Pepperdine at #4 San Diego at 7 p.m. PT | Watch: WCC Network

MATCH #13 — Saturday (September 24) at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah: #17 Pepperdine at #16 BYU at 12 p.m. PT | Watch: BYUtv

SOCIAL MEDIA — Follow @WavesVolleyball on Twitter for updates and check out PepperdineWaves.com and Facebook (/WavesVolleyball) for releases and more information.

COVERAGE — The matches this weekend will have live stats and streams available with links to be found on PepperdineWaves.com.  San Diego will air live on the WCC Network, while BYU will stream on BYUtv.

UP NEXT — The WCC action continues after this weekend, as the Waves return home on Tuesday, September 27 to host Gonzaga in Firestone Fieldhouse. 

WEEKLY NODS — For the third-consecutive week, the Waves earned a WCC Player of the Week accolade as graduate student Riley Patterson tabbed her second defensive nod of the season.  Pepperdine swept the weekly honors in the second week of season as Patterson and Grace Chillingworth received the recognition, and Meg Brown tabbed an offensive nod in the third week of action as well.

Patterson was a key presence for the Waves last weekend as Pepperdine posted its third upset this season, this time against #6 Minnesota.  The squad also rallied to defeat Washington State in five sets to come out on top of the Diet Coke Classic in Minneapolis.  Throughout nine sets of action, the libero dominated the back row, collecting 4.22 digs/set and 1.33 assists/set throughout after amassing 38 digs and 12 assists. She helped keep the highly regarded opposition to only 12.89 kills/set on a .208 clip as well. She also added three aces into the mix for her squad and marked 70 serve reception attempts with only three errors throughout.  Patterson posted 21 digs and 5.25 digs/set against the Gophers in her highlight game of the week.

2022 weekly honors: Grace Chillingworth, offensive (9/5); Riley Patterson, defensive (9/5); Meg Brown, offensive (9/12); Riley Patterson (9/20)

MORE THAN AN ATHLETE — The Waves have made it a principal standard this season to make mental health a priority among the team.  The white jerseys this year sport a green ribbon which denotes support of mental health awareness.  Throughout a majority of the games as well, many players will wear green hair ties and bracelets, and even paint their nails, all in support of the mental health awareness initiative and erasing the stigma.  The team also has two shirts that sport the phrases 'More Than an Athlete' and 'Be Kind to Your Mind.' 

A focus for the team is to live an honest and healthy lifestyle with each other.  To practice, the team will have at least one weekly meeting and check-in with the team and coaches where the floor is open.  From those check-ins, the team knows who needs to be lifted up throughout the week, who needs to be checked in on and the reasons as to why.  Pepperdine women's volleyball is continuing to attempt to erase the stigma surrounding mental health in athletes.

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. The story has stayed the same throughout the rest of the season as well.  Throughout the 11 matches Pepperdine has played, Meg Brown, Rachel Ahrens, Grace Chillingworth and Emily Hellmuth have traded off leading the attack effort or tying the team-high kills on three separate occasions.  Avery Shimaitis has led or tied the team-best attack effort in two separate matches as well.

SQUAD GOALS — Pepperdine has gone 9-2 overall this season, going 3-1 against opponents in the top-15 of the AVCA Coaches Poll this season and 2-1 against teams ranked in the top-10.  As a team, Pepperdine has marked 13.48 kills/set on a .231 clip, while giving up 13.14 kills/set on a .197 output to opponents.  The Waves have also put in 12.67 assists, 14.79 digs, 2.74 blocks and 1.26 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 meg Brown who leads with 2.88 kills/set on a .382 success rate and Grace Chillingworth who has posted 2.81 kills/set.  Chillingworth has added 0.40 aces, 2.33 digs and 0.62 blocks per set, while Brown has posted 1.02 blocks, 0.31 aces and 0.86 digs per set.  Emily Hellmuth, Rachel Ahrens and Avery Shimaitis have also hit over two kills per set with 2.80, 2.66 and 2.00 outputs respectively. 

Defensively along with Brown, Vanessa Polk has been virtually unpassable at the net, amassing 1.44 blocks/set with 56 blocks including 10 solo blocks already marked.  Multiple Waves have been clutch in the passing game, with Riley Patterson leading on 3.95 digs/set with 166 total digs.  Kayleigh Hames, Trinity Stanger, Chillingworth and Isabel Zelaya have also added 2.41, 2.35, 2.33 and 2.07 digs/set respectively.  Zelaya also leads in playmaking duties with 10.07 assists/set, as well 0.55 kills, 0.17 aces and 0.45 digs per set.

LAST WEEK IN MINNEAPOLIS — The Waves went 2-0 last week at the Diet Coke Classic, handing #6 Minnesota the team's first loss in their own tournament in the last 22 matches, with a four-set upset. It was only the eighth time in program history Minnesota had even lost in the tournament as well.  Pepperdine also duked it out with Washington State, a team receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll this week, going the distance but taking the victory soundly in the fifth. 

Against the highly ranked Gophers, the Waves went point-for-point in the first set, but fell 28-26.  The squad then rallied to handily take the next three sets 25-20, 25-18, 25-22.  Pepperdine marked 64 kills on a .279 clip, with eight aces, 61 digs and 10.0 team blocks.  The opposition was allowed 50 kills on a .204, with four aces, 55 digs and 8.0 team blocks.  Freshman Emily Hellmuth had a career-high 21 kills on an even more impressive .516 clip.  Grace Chillingworth, Meg Brown and Rachel Ahrens also added 11 kills as well. Chillingworth and Brown produced another three aces apiece to help the cause and Ahrens tabbed a double-double by adding 10 digs.  Ahrens and Brown also had five blocks, while Riley Patterson led with 21 digs and tabbed two aces.  Isabel Zelaya was the primary playmaker with 52 assists.

Then, in the five-set brawl against WSU, the Waves split the opening sets 25-18, 17-25 before falling in a tough 31-29 third set battle.  Pepperdine rallied to overcome the Cougars in the fourth 26-24 and then dominated the fifth 15-6 for the win.  The Waves produced 70 kills on a solid .301 clip, adding 74 digs, 10.0 blocks and three aces.  The opposition was able to secure 66 kills on a .210 with 10 aces, 69 digs and 5.0 blocks.  Four Waves hit for double-figures with Ahrens leading after tallying another double-double with 18 kills and 10 digs.  Brown, Hellmuth and Chillingworth also picked up 17, 14 and 12 kills respectively, while Brown and Ahrens had a team-best five and four blocks respectively.  Patterson led with 17 digs as well, while Isabel Zelaya was good for a double-double with 55 assists and 14 digs.  Kayleigh Hames and Chillingworth also picked up 13 and 12 digs respectively.

THE COMPETITION — Pepperdine holds a 44-34 all-time record against San Diego, dating back to 1979 when the Waves won in straight sets.  Pepperdine won the first 20-straight matches, including the 18 of those in straight-sets.  Last season, the two teams split, playing both matches to five sets and each team winning on the road.  This season, the Toreros have gone 9-1 overall and are currently ranked #4 nationally.  USD has collected wins over #6 Pitt and #8 Ohio State and has only lost to #3 Louisville.  Last week, the team also swept UCLA and beat San Diego State in four.

BYU leads the Waves 31-8 all-time, dating back to 1976 when the Cougars won 2-0 on a neutral court.  In recent years, BYU had won 16-straight from 2012 to 2020 before Pepperdine broke the streak with a straight-set sweep of the Cougars.  Last season, BYU won both.  This season, the Cougars have gone 7-3 overall, falling only to #5 Georgia Tech, #8 Ohio State and #10 Pitt.  Last week, BYU defeated Utah and Utah Valley.

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 405 sets and 0.39 aces/set this season.  Ahrens also currently ranks 5th in career kills with 1,480.  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 1,762.5 points, 7th with 4.35 points/set, 3.65 kills/set and 3,592 total attempts.  Isabel Zelaya has also been climbing the record books at Pepperdine, ranking 6th with 10.49 assists/set and 7th with 3,345 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.