MALIBU, Calif. — The #20 Pepperdine women's volleyball team faces a busy week ahead, returning to Firestone Fieldhouse for the first time in nearly a month to host Gonzaga before getting back on the road to play at San Francisco and Santa Clara.
MATCH #14 — Tuesday (September 27) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #20 Pepperdine vs. Gonzaga at 7 p.m. PT | Watch: WCC Network
MATCH #15 — Thursday (September 29) at War Memorial at the Sobrato Center in San Francisco, Calif.: #20 Pepperdine at San Francisco at 7 p.m. PT | Watch: WCC Network
MATCH #16 — Saturday (October 1) at Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif.: #20 Pepperdine at Santa Clara at 1 p.m. PT | Watch: WCC Network
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. All matches will air on the WCC Network.
UP NEXT — Next week, Pepperdine will return home to host Pacific and Saint Mary's on October 6 and 8.
WEEKLY NODS — For three weeks this season, the Waves had tabbed a West Coast Conference player of the week nod. Riley Patterson has received the defensive honor twice, and the Waves swept the accolades on week two this season.
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 13 matches Pepperdine has played, Rachel Ahrens has led the attack effort on five separate occasions Emily Hellmuth has led four times and Meg Brown and Grace Chillingworth have led in three matches. Avery Shimaitis has led or tied the team-best attack effort in two separate matches as well.
SQUAD GOALS — Pepperdine has gone 9-4 overall this season, with a 3-0 record at home, 2-3 output on the road and a 4-1 record on neutral courts. The Waves had a tough start to league action, facing two top-16 opponents last week and started 0-2 for the WCC slate. As a team, Pepperdine averaged 13.30 kills/set on a .220 success rate, with 12.48 assists, 1.18 aces, 14.70 digs and 2.66 blocks per set. The squad allows 13.06 kills/set to a .200 clip to the opposition, along with 12.28 assists, 1.20 aces, 14.72 digs and 2.27 blocks per set on average.
Pepperdine has four hitting over 2.5 kills/set as well, led by Emily Hellmuth, Rachel Ahrens, Meg Brown and Grace Chillingworth who mark 2.88, 2.84, 2.72 and 2.62 respectively. Brown does so on a .342 success rate, while adding 0.94 blocks and 0.32 aces/set; Ahrens adds 1.77 digs/set; and Chillingworth also produces 0.36 aces and 2.14 digs/set as well. Isabel Zelaya leads in playmaking duties with 10.06 assist/set and 493 total assists. She adds 2.10 digs/set also.
Along with Brown, Vanessa Polk leads the squad with 1.40 blocks/set after having posted 66 total blocks with 13 block solos. On the back line, Riley Patterson leads the team with 4.18 digs/set and 209 total digs. She is backed by Kayleigh Hames and Trinity Stanger with 2.33 and 2.35 digs/set respectively.
LAST WEEK ON THE ROAD — Last week, the Waves fell in four to #4 San Diego and #15 BYU at tough road venues. Against USD, the squad produced 58 kills on a .190 clip, adding 68 digs and 7.0 team blocks. The opposition put in 47 kills on a .213 percentage, with eight aces, 52 digs and 11.0 blocks. Rachel Ahrens and Emily Hellmuth led the Waves with 14 kills apiece, while Hellmuth did so on a .323 clip. Ahrens finished with a double-double after also tabbing 13 digs. Meg Brown produced 10 kills as well. Riley Patterson was impressive in the back row with a career-high 28 digs. Vanessa Polk had a team-high five blocks with three solos.
Against BYU, the Waves posted 41 kills on a .126 clip with six aces, 46 digs and 11.0 blocks, while allowing the Cougars 54 kills on a .219 clip, with six aces, 55 digs and 8.0 blocks. Ahrens led the squad with 15 kills, adding two aces, three blocks and eight digs in an all-around effort. Hellmuth also hit for double figures with 12 kills and Patterson led with 15 digs. Brown marked a team-high three aces and added four blocks as well.
THE COMPETITION — Pepperdine leads Gonzaga 62-8 all-time, dating back to 1987 when the Waves won 3-0 on the road. Pepperdine then went on a 34-match winning streak from 1997-2013 before the Zags took one away. The Waves have recently won the last nine-straight since 2017 including five in straight-sets. The squad swept both against the Bulldogs last season. This season, the Zags have gone 3-9 overall and 0-2 in conference action after falling to Pacific and Saint Mary's last week.
The Waves lead the Dons with a 67-7 all-time record, dating ack to 1985 when the squad won in four and went on a 16-match winning streak through 1992. From 1993-2007, the Waves went on another winning streak with a 29-match streak. In recent years, Pepperdine has won 15-straight since 2014 including eight sweeps. This season, the Dons have gone 7-5 overall and 0-1 in the WCC after falling to Santa Clara last week.
Pepperdine leads Santa Clara 48-33 all-time, dating back to 1982 when the Waves won 2-0 on a neutral court. In recent years, Pepperdine has won eight-consecutive matches including four sweeps. This season, the Broncos have gone 5-8 overall and 1-0 in the league after opening conference action with a 3-0 win over San Francisco.
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 159 aces in 413 sets and 0.38 aces/set throughout her career. Ahrens also currently ranks 5th in career kills with 1,509. 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 1,796.5 points, 7th with 4.35 points/set, 3.65 kills/set and 3,676 total attempts. Isabel Zelaya has been climbing the record books at Pepperdine as well, ranking 6th with 10.48 assists/set and 7th with 3,415 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.
