LOS ANGELES, Calif. — After trialing 2-1 with 21-25, 25-12, 23-24 set scores heading into the fourth set in Gersten Pavilion on Thursday night, the Pepperdine women's volleyball team gritted out a response to rival LMU, winning the fourth and fifth sets 25-21 and 15-11 to secure the PCH Cup victory. 
 
The Waves (12-6, 8-0 WCC) won both matches against the local rival Lions (14-5, 7-2 WCC) this season, picking up 2.5 points towards the PCH Cup battle.  Pepperdine also extended the current winning streak to 11-consecutive matches with the victory and remained undefeated in West Coast Conference play with eight-straight victories.
 
After falling behind 2-1, Pepperdine came out strong in the fourth set and kills from Grace Chillingworth and Meg Brown earned the squad an 8-3 lead.  The Waves kept the lead through the majority of the set with more successful attacks from Chillingworth and Emily Hellmuth, 18-14.  The Lions went on a run of their own to tie things up at 18's and force a Pepperdine timeout though.  After the short break, back-to-back kills from Hellmuth and Brown and a block from Brown and Chillingworth gave the Waves a three-point lead, 21-18.  More kills from Brown and multiple errors from the Lions helped the Waves' efforts and Pepperdine came away with a 25-21 fourth set win to force a fifth.
 
The fifth set looked to favor LMU to open as the opposition went on a 4-0 run in the first four plays.  The Waves capitalized on an attack error from across the net for the team's first point of the set, however, and kills from Chillingworth and Brown helped even the score at 6-apiece.  Another smash from Chillingworth would give Pepperdine the team's first lead of the set, and though LMU countered to tie thing up at 7's, near back-to-back kills from Brown and an error from the Lions would push the Waves to a three-point lead, 10-7.  LMU would pick up a few more points after that, but the energy was clearly in Pepperdine's court as more costly errors from across the net gave the squad a match-point opportunity at 14-11.  Hellmuth would do the honors with an 11^th final kill of the night for the 15-11 set win to secure the 3-2 overall victory.
 
Chillingworth and Isabel Zelaya each had double-doubles tonight.  Chillingworth blasted 18 kills and posted 13 digs for her third double-double of the season and the 13^th of her career, while Zelaya tabbed 36 assists and 11 digs for her fourth of the season and the 29^th of her career. 
 
Along with Chillingworth, Brown and Hellmuth picked up double-figure smashes for the seventh and second time this season respectively.  Brown, who also earned her 43^rd career match in double-digit kills, did so on a .407 success rate. 
 
In addition to Chillingworth's and Zelaya's double-digit dig efforts, Laine Briggs and Riley Patterson led the Waves with 17 and 14 digs respectively.  It's the second time in her freshman campaign that Briggs has led the Waves' dig efforts and the third time she surpassed the double-figure dig mark, while Patterson marked double-figure digs for the 14^th time this season and the 40^th time in her two-year career with the Waves. 
 
BIG WAVES
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 18 kills, 13 digs, 3 blocks, 1 ace
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 36 assists, 11 digs, 3 kills
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 12 kills, .407 hitting %, 4 digs, 3 blocks
Birdie Hendrickson (Rogersville, Mo./Logan-Rogersville HS/Florida): 9 kills, 9 digs, 1 ace, 1 block
Emily Hellmuth (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park HS): 11 kills, 4 digs
Riley Patterson (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS/Pacific): 14 digs, 5 assists
Laine Briggs (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS): 17 digs
Vanessa Polk (Saint Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS): 6 kills, 2 blocks
Brynne McGhie (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy HS): 8 assists, 2 digs
 
WAVES VS. LIONS
Each side of the court put up 59 kills apiece, but the Waves .242 success rate outperformed the Lions' .160 clip.  LMU had the edge in blocks, 9.0 to 5.0, but Pepperdine's 74-68 differential in digs helped the cause.  The Waves and Lions had two aces apiece as well.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          12        7          34        .147
2          13        3          33        .303
3          14        3          34        .324
4          12        5          39        .179
5          8          2          21        .286
TTL      59        20        161      .242
 
LMU ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        5          34        .265
2          8          8          39        .000
3          16        5          38        .289
4          12        7          44        .114
5          9          5          26        .154
TTL      59        30        181      .160
 
NOTABLES

• Pepperdine is on an 11-match winning streak.
• Eight of the last 11 wins have been in straight sets, featuring five-straight from September 28 to October 12.
• This first set loss tonight was the Waves first in the last 18 sets played.  The team had a 17-set winning streak that began the last time Pepperdine played LMU at home on September 23.
• The last time the Waves had an eight-match streak or higher was in 2011 when the program started off WCC play with 13-straight wins.
• The last time Pepperdine lost a match was on September 8.
• Tonight's match was the third time the Waves had a fifth-set bout and the first time the squad won in five sets this season.  The previous two five-set matches ended in losses to UCSB (8/31) and UCLA (9/7).
• Isabel Zelaya ranks second in career assists in the Pepperdine women's volleyball all-time record books.  After tonight, she has amassed 4,608 assists.  The program record is held by Becca Roehl with 5,020 assists from 1994-97.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
LMU came out with an early edge, building to a 9-5 lead.  The Waves answered with kills from Vanessa Polk and Emily Hellmuth to come within one at the 10-9 mark, but the opposition was able to extend the lead to five again, 19-14.  More smashes from Grace Chillingworth and Polk, along with a block from the same pair, helped Pepperdine reach a one-point deficit, 21-20, but the were able to win the first set 25-21 to hand the Waves the program's first set loss in the last 18 sets.
 
Pepperdine then regained composure quickly in the second set and after a 4-4 tie to open, busted out to a 15-6 lead after kills from Chillingworth and Isabel Zelaya, along with some errors from across the net that helped the cause.  Another block from Polk and Chillingworth kept the momentum on the Waves side of the court to push the advantage to 18-10.  After LMU took the next point, Pepperdine answered with kills from Chillingworth, Birdie Hendrickson and Zelaya to go on a 6-0 run and reach set point.  An attack error from the Lions would even the match up with a 25-12 Waves' second set win.
 
LMU started the third set with a 5-0 run, but the Waves were able to stay close and eventually tie the set at 13's.  A pair of attack errors put Pepperdine ahead, but the opposition stayed within a few points and the two teams eventually saw a 22-22 tied score.  LMU was able to close the set with a two-point lead to pull ahead 2-1.
 
With the set deficit, Pepperdine came out strong in the fourth set again, rallying to force the fifth.  After trailing 5-1 in the fifth, the Waves rallied to win the set 15-11 and win the match.
 
NEXT UP
On Saturday, the Waves will continue WCC play at San Diego on the road at noon.  The match will stream live on ESPN+.
 
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.