MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team, a team receiving votes in the AVCA coaches poll, looks to remain undefeated in West Coast Conference play and continue the current seven-match winning streak this week, heading up to Gonzaga and Portland for a pair of road matches.

MATCH #15 — Thursday (October 5) at Charlotte Y. Martin Centre in Spokane, Wash.: Pepperdine at Gonzaga at 6 p.m. | ESPN+ ($)

MATCH #16 — Saturday (October 7) at Chiles Center in Portland, Ore.: Pepperdine at Portland at 1 p.m. | ESPN+ ($)

UP NEXT — Next week, the Waves will only have one match on the docket, a home bout against Santa Clara on Thursday at 7 p.m.

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

ESPN+ — This week, both matches on the road will stream live on ESPN+.  Throughout the season, all of Pepperdine's home matches will be available on ESPN+.  The West Coast Conference and ESPN have expanded their longstanding media rights relationship. In addition to showcasing more than 25 games on ESPN's linear networks, ESPN+ will serve as the new, exclusive digital home for more than 900 conference events each year.  

ADDITIONAL COVERAGE — Live stats for all matches will be available with links found on PepperdineWaves.com. 

SQUAD GOALS — Pepperdine is currently on a seven-match winning streak after continuing things with a pair of sweeps over WCC opponents Saint Mary's and San Francisco.  The Waves average 12.52 kills/set on a .236 clip, while adding 11.73 assists, 1.50 aces, 13.79 digs and 2.20 blocks per set.  The squad allows opponents 13.23 kills/set on a .214 clip, along with 12.38 assists, 1.35 aces, 14.31 digs and 2.00 blocks per set.

Grace Chillingworth leads the team with 3.46 kills/set, while adding 0.27 aces and 1.96 digs per set.  Birdie Hendrickson, Meg Brown and Emily Hellmuth also produce 2.93, 2.19 and 2.00 kills/set respectively.  Brown also leads the team with 0.38 aces/set and 1.03 blocks/set after posting 14 aces and 38 blocks with four solo rejections.  Isabel Zelaya has a team-high 9.77 assists/set after marking 469 total assists this season. 

Riley Patterson has led the back row this season, having tabbed 172 total digs to average 3.58 digs/set.  She also excels with 0.27 aces/set to help the cause.  Hendrickson is next for the Waves with 2.56 digs/set, while Zelaya and Laine Briggs also add 1.81 and 1.29 digs/set as well.  Along with Brown on the blocking efforts, Vanessa Polk leads the team with 46 total blocks including nine solo jobs to average 0.98 blocks/set.  She also puts in 1.49 kills/set on a team-high .312 hitting percentage.

LAST WEEK — The Waves dominated the WCC competition last week, sweeping past Saint Mary's on the road and San Francisco at home.  Against SMC, the Waves won 25-23, 25-21 and 25-18.  Pepperdine amassed 41 kills on a .233 clip, while adding four aces, 51 digs and 10.0 blocks, while the Gaels were good for 42 kills on a .183 output, with four aces, 50 digs and 4.0 blocks.  Birdie Hendrickson led for the Waves with 14 kills, while Grace Chillingworth produced nine.  Riley Patterson led with 17 digs, while Isabel Zelaya led with 33 assists and added 11 digs.  Meg Brown and Vanessa Polk each posted five blocks, though Polk added two solo rejections for her total.  Four Waves tabbed an ace during the match. 

In the following match against San Francisco at home, the Waves collected 25-21, 25-14 and 25-18 final set scores.  Pepperdine put in 40 kills on an impressive .356 hitting percentage, while adding five aces, 28 digs and 10.0 blocks.  The opposition totaled 32 kills on a .116 success rate, with four aces, 34 digs and 5.0 blocks.  Chillingworth and Brown led with 13 and 11 kills respectively, the former with a .407 clip and the latter with a .556 hitting percentage.  Chillingworth also led with two aces, while Hendrickson posted a team-best seven digs.  Brown and Polk once again both tabbed five blocks to lead the squad and both included a solo rejection.

THE COMPETITION — The Zags have gone 3-12 overall and 0-4 in WCC action this season thus far, including a pair of 3-0 losses to San Diego and LMU last week.  Pepperdine leads Gonzaga all-time 63-9, dating back to 1987 when the Waves won in straight sets on the road.  The longest Pepperdine winning streak came from 1997-2013 with 34 games.  Last season, the Waves split with the Zags, winning at home via sweep and then dropping a five-setter on the road.

Portland has gone 6-10 overall and 1-3 in the league so far this season.  Last week, the Pilots lost a pair of matches to LMU and San Diego - both with sweeps as the result.  The Waves lead the Pilots 66-6 all-time, dating back to 1987 when the Waves won in straight sets.  The longest Pepperdine winning streak occurred from 1995-2015 with 41-consecutive wins. 

4,000 ASSIST CLUB — Graduate student setter Isabel Zelaya entered the exclusive 4,000 assist club during the first week of the season.  She entered the 2023 campaign with 3,995 assists and after the 14 matches now sits at 4,464 assists.  That mark puts her second in the Pepperdine women's volleyball record books, the fifth Wave all-time to have surpassed the 4,000-assist mark and the first since 2009.  Becci Roehl (1994-97) leads the category with 5,020 assists all-time.  This season, Zelaya has passed Kiah Fiers (2006-09) with 4,410 assists and Melissa Mehlhorn (2002-05) with 4,387 career assists.