SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — In the final West Coast Conference match of the season on Saturday afternoon, the Pepperdine women's volleyball team swept past San Francisco at War Memorial Gym at the Sobrato Center.
 
After Pepperdine (19-7, 15-1 WCC) won the first two sets 25-15, 25-13, San Francisco (10-18, 4-12 WCC) started to rally, but the Waves battled through and eventually completed the sweep with a 25-23 final set score.
 
Six Waves charted four or more kills, led by Meg Brown and Grace Chillingworth with double-figure smash efforts with 12 and 10 kills respectively.  Brown posted her tied season-high kill effort on a solid .556 success rate, while leading the team with three blocks, and Chillingworth added for 10 kills.  Riley Patterson and Birdie Hendrickson led the efforts in the back row, posting 17 and 13 digs respectively, while Laine Briggs impressed with a career-best four aces at the service line.
 
Pepperdine will close out the regular season in Dallas with a non-conference matchup against SMU on Monday, November 20.
 
BIG WAVES
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 12 kills, .556 hitting %, 1 ace, 3 blocks
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 10 kills, 5 digs, 1 ace, 1 block
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 29 assists, 4 kills, 1.000 hitting %, 6 digs
Riley Patterson (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS/Pacific): 17 digs, 1 ace
Birdie Hendrickson (Rogersville, Mo./Logan-Rogersville HS/Florida): 8 kills, 13 digs
Vanessa Polk (Saint Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS): 4 kills, 2 block solos
Laine Briggs (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS): 4 aces, 6 digs
Emily Hellmuth (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park HS): 7 kills
 
WAVES VS. DONS
Pepperdine busted out of the starting gates with 17 kills on a .419 clip in the first set, giving up only seven kills on a .167 to USF to take the early momentum.  The Waves continued that trend in the second, amassing 16 kills on a .371 success rate, while allowing only six kills on a flat .000 to the Dons.  Though the opposition rallied in the third set, Pepperdine's collective 46 kills on a .294 output to San Francisco's 25 kills on a .111 hitting percentage would prove to be too much.  Additionally, the Waves led marginally with a 7-3 ace and 6.0-3.0 block ratios, while outperforming the Dons 50-31 in digs as well.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          17        4          31        .419
2          16        3          35        .371
3          13        9          36        .111
TTL      46        16        102      .294
 
SAN FRANCISCO ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          7          3          24        .167
2          6          6          37        .000
3          12        5          38        .184
TTL      25        14        99        .111
 
NOTABLES

• Pepperdine has only dropped six sets to WCC opponents this season, having gone 47-6 in sets this season thus far.
• Thirteen of the Waves 15 conference wins this season were done in straight sets.
• Isabel Zelaya ranks second in career assists in the Pepperdine women's volleyball all-time record books, and first in career assists during the rally scoring era.  After today's match, she has amassed 4,872 assists.  The program record is held by Becca Roehl with 5,020 assists from 1994-97.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Pepperdine came out firing in the first set and back-to-back smashes from Emily Hellmuth and an ace from Riley Patterson gave the squad a quick 4-1 lead.  The Dons countered with a few kills and an ace of their own at 4's, but Laine Briggs found a week spot from the service line and Meg Brown laid down a pair of kills to pull ahead once again.  Isabel Zelaya then capitalized on a second ball for a kill of her own and Grace Chillingworth picked up an ace to make it 14-5 Waves.  The kills kept coming, this time at the efforts of Pepperdine's Birdie Hendrickson and Vanessa Polk en route to an 11-point lead 21-11.  Though the opposition collected on a few towards the end of the set, Brown smashed a final kill to shut things down 25-15. 
 
The Waves showed no letup to start the second set, busting out to a 10-2 lead fueled by a pair of aces from Briggs, a pair of consecutive smashes from Chillingworth and a block collaboration from Brown and Zelaya.  More smashes from Brown later in the set, along with kills from Hendrickson and Emma Ammerman extended the Pepperdine lead to 10-points, 17-7.  USF gathered a few points throughout the rest of the set, but the Waves stayed tough with a solo block from Polk and a combined rejection from Brown and Ammerman to make it 14-12.  Brown would end the set once again with a kill to win the set 25-13. 
 
The Dons gained a second wind to start the third set, working ahead to a 10-5 lead with multiple aces and kills.  The opposition led by six at the 15-9 before Brown and Hendrickson went back-to-back to attempt to start closing the gap, forcing a USF timeout and shortening the deficit to two, 15-13.  The two teams exchanged points shortly after and a few kills from Hendrickson and Polk, along with an ace from Brown put the Waves on a 4-0 scoring run and tied the set at 17's.  It was a see-saw battle there through 20's when a block solo from Polk and a bad set from across the net gave Pepperdine a two-point lead, 22-20.  After another USF timeout, the Waves reached the first match-point opportunity with a kill from Hellmuth, 24-22.  An error from across the net would close the set, 25-23, and secure the sweep for Pepperdine.
 
FOLLOW
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