MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team held strong against a tough Portland team in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon, firing away with another big attack effort to sweep the Pilots 25-18, 25-19, 25-19.  The win extended the team's current streak to 15-consecutive matches, a feat that ties for third in the all-time record books at Pepperdine and has not happened since 2003.
 
The Waves (16-6, 12-0 WCC) picked up the win over the Pilots (8-17, 3-10 WCC) on the back of another big attack, with graduate setter Isabel Zelaya dishing out 37 assists en route to 46 team kills and a .346 collective hitting percentage.  It's the ninth time this season Pepperdine has hit higher than a .300 clip.
 
Five players tabbed five or more kills, led by Grace Chillingworth and Birdie Hendrickson with 14 and 13 kills respectively.  Chillingworth posted the 52^nd game of her career, and 17^th this season, with double-figure kills and she did so on a staggering .480 hitting percentage.  It was her second-consecutive match hitting .480 or higher and the third-straight match with a .324 clip or above.   
 
Prior to the match, Zelaya was honored with an encased ball commemorating her contribution to the Pepperdine women's volleyball program.  She currently ranks second in the all-time record books, and first in the rally scoring era, with 4,746 career assists after having played in 127 matches and 457 sets throughout five seasons.  Throughout her tenure, she has surpassed players accomplishments that have stood in the record books from 1984-2015.
 
BIG WAVES
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 14 kills, .480 hitting%, 7 digs, 3 assists
Birdie Hendrickson (Rogersville, Mo./Logan-Rogersville HS/Florida): 13 kills, 8 digs
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 37 assists, 5 digs, 3 blocks
Riley Patterson (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS/Pacific): 14 digs, 2 assists
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 6 kills, 4 digs, 3 blocks (1 solo), 1 ace
Emily Hellmuth (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park HS): 5 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks
Vanessa Polk (Saint Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS): 6 kills, 3 blocks
 
WAVES VS. PILOTS
For the Waves' strong hitting percentage, the team produced only nine errors on 107 today.  Pepperdine allowed the opposition 38 kills on a .210 output.  The home squad had the edge at the net with 7.0 blocks to the Pilots 5.0, but UP was able to lead at the service line three aces to one.  The dig ratio was rather close as well, with Pepperdine leading 46-44.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          15        2          37        .351
2          15        2          34        .382
3          16        5          36        .306
TTL      46        9          107      .346
 
PORTLAND ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          12        6          37        .162
2          14        7          37        .189
3          12        3          31        .290
TTL      38        16        105      .210
 
NOTABLES

• Pepperdine is on a 15-match winning streak, which is tied for the third-best winning streak in Pepperdine women's volleyball program history all-time.  The last time the program won 15-consecutive matches was in 2003, when the squad won a program-best 25-striaght matches.
• The second-best streak was achieved in 2002, when the team won 17-consecutive matches.  Additionally, Pepperdine had won 15-straight in 1991.
• 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 program has had a streak of 13 or more wins eight times throughout history including this season.
• Twelve of the last 15 wins – including the last four-straight victories since Oct. 21 - have been in straight sets.  Earlier during this stretch, the Waves also won five-consecutive matches with sweeps from Sep. 28 to Oct. 12.
• The team had a 17-set winning streak this season from September 23 to October 21 and has currently won the last 14 sets played in row. 
• Pepperdine has only lost three sets through West Coast Conference play so far, having started the conference slate 12-0 overall and tabbing a 36-3 sets record.
• The last time Pepperdine lost a match was on September 8.
• 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 4,746 assists.  The program record is held by Becca Roehl with 5,020 assists from 1994-97.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
The match was neck-and-neck to start after each side came out swinging to reach an even 5-5 tied score.  Kills from Meg Brown and Birdie Hendrickson pushed the Waves ahead, but kills from across the net evened the score at 8's once again.  Another see-saw battle ensued through 12's when multiple errors from across the net, along with a pair of blocks from Brown with either Emily Hellmuth or Isabel Zelaya and another one from Vanessa Polk and Hellmuth helped the home team to a six-point lead, 20-14.  The Waves reached 24-15 set point with four-consecutive kills – with a pair from Hendrickson and one apiece from Polk and Hellmuth.  The Pilots battled for a 3-0 run to start closing the gap, but Polk was able to shut them down with a final smash for the 25-18 set win.
 
After another back-and-forth to start the second set 7-7, kills from Zelaya, Hellmuth and Polk helped the Waves to an 11-7 advantage.  Portland snagged the next point, but more smashes from Hendrickson and errors from the Pilots kept the home team advantage going towards an 18-15 lead.  Polk and Zelaya connected on a Malibu Roofing Company rejection shortly after and more successful attacks from Hendrickson and Polk put Pepperdine ahead 22-17.  The opposition put a few more points together, but three smashes from Chillingworth in the final four plays ended things 25-19 in the Waves' favor.
 
The third set would tell a similar tale to the first few, as each side worked to the 4-4 mark before a kill, ace combo from Brown would start the squad moving forward to an eventual 8-6 lead.  More kills from Hellmuth and Kennedy Patterson extended the home team's advantage to four, but the opposition was able to pick up a few blocks and an ace to tie the score at 12's.  Smashes from Hendrickson and Chillingworth down the stretch kept things moving and a Zelaya, K. Patterson block collaboration made it 20-16 Waves down the final stretch.  As in the other sets, Portland collected on a few points, but big kills from Hendrickson and Brown put the squad ahead 22-19.  An attack from Brown was originally called out, but a challenge from head coach Scott Wong that would end successfully reversed the score for the Waves to lead by four.  Chillingworth then put a pair of back-to-back kills down on the floor to end the set 25-19 and complete the sweep.
 
NEXT UP
The Waves have five matches left in the regular season, including four more West Coast Conference matchups.  Next week, Pepperdine will head to Santa Clara on Thursday, November 9, before returning to Malibu to host San Diego on November 11 for Senior Day in Firestone Fieldhouse.
 
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.