MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team has a chance to win its first West Coast Conference regular season title since 2011 this week, but will need to defeat both Santa Clara on the road and defending WCC Champion San Diego at home this week to earn the crown.

MATCH #23 — Thursday (November 9) at Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif.: Pepperdine (16-6, 12-0 WCC) vs. Santa Clara (11-14, 3-10 WCC) at 6 p.m. | ESPN+ ($)

MATCH #24 — Saturday (November 11) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: Pepperdine (16-6, 12-0 WCC) vs. San Diego (14-9, 10-3 WCC) at 12 p.m. | ESPN+ ($) | SENIOR DAY

UP NEXT — After the matches this week, the Waves will close out the WCC slate with a pair of road contests against Pacific and San Francisco on November 16 and 18 next week.  The final regular season matchup of the season this year will be against SMU on November 20.

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.

PROMOTIONS — Saturday's match will serve as the Waves' Senior Day contest, with Emma Ammerman, Meg Brown, Birdie Hendrickson, Sterling Parker, Riley Patterson and Isabel Zelaya all being honored prior to first serve. 

In addition to Saturday's home match, Santa Clara will be putting on a Holiday Food Drive and the department will be accepting donations for non-perishable food, seasoning and/or spices, sanitary items and widely accepted gift cards (Amazon/Visa). 

HOME TICKETS & SPECTATOR GUIDELINES — Tickets to all Pepperdine home women's volleyball matches in 2023 will be available via e-ticket only at tickets.pepperdinewaves.com.  Pepperdine faculty, staff and students must show Pepperdine ID card for entry — no ticket purchase is required.

Due to campus construction, nearby parking is limited and guests are advised to arrive early.  Each match costs $13 for adults, $8 for seniors (65+) and $5 for children and non-Pepperdine students. 

ESPN+ — This week, the matches 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.

THE POSSIBILITIES — If Pepperdine wins against Santa Clara on Thursday, the Waves will clinch a share of the West Coast Conference regular season crown.  Pending a win on Thursday, if the Waves continue with winning ways and defeat San Diego on Saturday, the team would clinch the regular season title outright.  Winning the regular season title also ensures Pepperdine a berth in the NCAA Tournament, by securing an automatic qualifier bid.

THE STREAK — After a 1-6 start to the 2023 campaign, the Waves have rallied tough, winning the team's last 15-consecutive matches including 12 in straight sets.  The 15 wins in a row matches the third-best streak in Pepperdine program history and it's the fourth time ever the Waves have accomplished the feat.  It's the eighth time in program history that Pepperdine has won 13-or-more games consecutively as well.

The current streak is the longest since the Waves won 13-straight in 2011 to open WCC play off.  In addition to that year, Pepperdine also had 13-match winning streaks in 2008, 2001 and 1997.  The team won 15-straight matches in 1991, 17-straight in 2002 and a program-best 25-consecutive matches in 2003.

This season, Pepperdine had a set winning streak of 17-straight from September 23-October 19.  The Waves have only dropped three sets in the 12 WCC matches they have played this season for a 36-3 record by sets.  The team has now won the last 14-straight sets since October 19 and the last time the team dropped a match against any opponent was on September 8. 

WEEKLY HONORS — Junior Grace Chillingworth has earned the West Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Week accolade three times this season, having picked up the nod this week and then on back-to-back weeks on Oct. 16 and Oct. 23.  She has garnered five career honors of its kind in the last three seasons, having also earned the accolade twice in 2022.

She tabbed the honor this week after leading the Waves to a pair of sweeps last week over Gonzaga and Portland.  She posted impressive attack performances, including a double-double in one game and another set of double-figure kills the next. She produced 26 kills with only three errors on 47 swings for a staggering .489 hitting percentage over six sets. She also added 23 digs, three assists and a pair of aces, totaling 28.0 points for the Waves. She picked up 31 reception attempts with only a pair of errors throughout the week as well. The outside hitter averaged 4.33 kills, 3.83 digs, 0.50 assists and 0.33 aces per set for the squad, averaging 4.7 points/set.

In the week's opener against the Zags, the pin picked up a double-double, after posting 12 kills on an impressive .500 clip with 16 digs. She also produced a pair of aces and seven errorless receptions. Chillingworth averaged 4.7 points/set in the match after posting 4.00 kills, 5.33 digs and 0.67 aces per set in the match. Her solid passing all-around helped keep the Bulldogs to only 14 kills on a .110 clip, not letting the opposition collect more than five kills in any set, while leading the Waves to a collective .477 success rate in the match. Then against Portland, she marked 14 kills on another high hitting output with a .480 clip. She added seven digs and three assists for 14.0 points, while managing some bullets in the back row with 24 receptions and only two errors on the back line. Chillingworth averaged 4.67 kills, 1.00 assists and 2.33 digs per set to finish the match with 4.7 points per set.

SQUAD GOALS — Pepperdine has gone 16-6 overall this season and remains perfect against West Coast Conference opponents with a 12-0 record.  The Waves have won the last 15-straight matches, which ties the third-longest winning streak in program history.  As a team, Pepperdine averages 13.30 kills/set on a .268 clip, while adding 12.38 assists, 1.53 aces, 14.27 digs and 2.13 blocks per set.  On average, the Waves allow 12.24 kills/set on a .194 output, along with 11.39 assists, 1.16 aces, 13.64 digs and 1.89 blocks per set. 

Grace Chillingworth, Birdie Hendrickson, Meg Brown and Emily Hellmuth lead the attack efforts for Pepperdine, having amassed 3.82, 2.86, 2.37 and 2.00 kills/set respectively.  Chillingworth, Riley Patterson, Hendrickson and Brown lead the squad at the service line, having marked 22, 21, 20 and 19 aces apiece to average 0.30, 0.28, 0.28 and 0.30 aces/set respectively.  Patterson also leads the effort on the back line, having amassed 3.74 digs/set this season after leading the team with 277 total digs.  Hendrickson, Chillingworth and Isabel Zelaya also produce 2.49, 2.27 and 1.99 digs/set respectively as well.  Zelaya is the primary playmaker for the squad with 752 total assists and 10.30 assists/set.  Lastly at the net, Brown and Vanessa Polk lead the efforts with 0.94 blocks/set respectively.  Polk leads the team with 66 total blocks, including 11 solo rejections, while Brown has posted 59 total blocks with eight solos.

LAST WEEK — The Waves took down Gonzaga and Portland in straight sets at home last week.  Pepperdine first bested Gonzaga 25-11, 25-12, 25-12, keeping the Bulldogs to only five kills at most per set for 14 kills on a .110 clip in the match.  The Waves, however, impressed with 50 kills on a collective .477 clip throughout the match, for the sixth time in the last 10 years hitting above a .400 output.  Grace Chillingworth led with 12 kills and a career-best 16 digs, while tabbing two aces.  Emma Ammerman and Meg Brown also tabbed a pair of aces, while Birdie Hendrickson marked a career-high .700 clip with seven kills on 10 errorless swings.  Riley Patterson amassed 16 digs to tie the team-high with Chillingworth and Isabel Zelaya was good for a team-best 33 assists.  Sterling Parker led with two blocks, while four other Waves tabbed one apiece.

Then against the Pilots, the Waves won with 25-18, 25-19, 25-19 final set scores, posting 46 kills on a .346 clip, while adding seven team blocks.  The opposition posted 38 kills on a .210 success rate.  Chillingworth and Hendrickson led on the attack front with 14 and 13 kills respectively, and the former did so on a solid .480 hitting percentage.  Zelaya and R. Patterson led with 37 assists and 14 digs respectively, while each Zelaya, Brown and Vanessa Polk marked three blocks each.  Brown tabbed the squad's sole ace in the match as well.

THE COMPETITION — Pepperdine leads Santa Clara 51-33 all-time, dating back to the 1982 campaign when the Waves won 2-0 on a neutral court.  The team went 15-4 through the 1991 season before SCU won four-straight matches.  Since 2018, Pepperdine has not lost to Santa Clara, having won the last 11-straight matches, including a sweep at home earlier this season.  This season, the Broncos have gone 11-14 against opponents, including a 3-10 output in WCC play.  Last week, the Broncos fell to San Diego in straight sets and Saint Mary's in four.

San Diego has gone 14-9 this season with a 10-3 record in conference action, dropping only to LMU twice and Pepperdine once among league opponents.  Last week, the Toreros swept past Santa Clara before defeating Pacific in five sets.  Pepperdine leads San Diego all-time 45-36, beginning in 1979 when the Waves won the first match in straight sets.  The Waves won the first 20-consecutive matches against the Toreros through 1993 before USD won five-straight through 1995.  In recent years since 2018, Pepperdine has gone 5-6 against the Toreros, including a pair of four-set losses last season and a three-set win on the road this season.

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 22 matches now sits at 4,746 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.