SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team swept past San Diego State on Friday night, posting 25-17, 28-26 and 25-21 set scores en route to the Waves first win of the season.  The squad rallied back from a late eight-point deficit in the second set to keep the Aztecs scoreless.
 
Grace Chillingworth led the Waves (1-3) with her 36^th career match in double-figure kills after posting 10 smashes and seven digs.  Riley Patterson had the team-best in the back row with 13 digs, her 29^th match in double-digit digs since at Pepperdine.
 
Pepperdine will return to Peterson Gym on Saturday at 1 p.m. to take on #6 Oregon and close out the San Diego State Invitational.
 
BIG WAVES
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 10 kills, 7 digs
Birdie Hendrickson (Rogersville, Mo./Logan-Rogersville HS/Florida): 7 kills, .375 hitting %, 5 digs, 2 aces
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 30 assists, 4 blocks
Emily Hellmuth (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park HS): 7 kills, .500 hitting %
Riley Patterson (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS/Pacific): 13 digs, 1 ace
Kenadie Patterson (Oakdale, Calif./Gregori HS): 5 kills, .455 hitting %, 6 blocks
Vanessa Polk (Saint Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS): 3 kills, 4 blocks
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 4 digs, 1 ace
Laine Briggs (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS):
 
WAVES VS. AZTECS
The Waves outperformed the Aztecs in almost every category throughout the night, cruising to 35 kills and a .329 hitting percentage, compared to the opposition's 39 kills on a .081 clip.  Pepperdine impressed with 17 kills on a .433 success rate in the second set alone for the comeback in the set.  The Waves also led with 11.0 blocks and seven aces, as opposed to San Diego States 3.0 blocks and six aces.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          9          1          27        .296
2          17        4          30        .433
3          9          2          28        .250
TTL      35        7          85        .329
 
SDSU ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          13        14        39        -.026
2          12        8          33        .121
3          14        8          39        .154
TTL      39        30        111      .081
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves got off to a hot start in the first set, building out a 5-2 lead fed by a pair of blocks from Kenadie Patterson with either Birdie Hendrickson and Grace Chillingworth.  Pepperdine used the momentum to advance to a 16-7 lead with smashes from Chillingworth and Vanessa Polk, along with multiple Aztecs' errors.  More kills from Emily Hellmuth and Chillingworth late in the action helped the squad close the first set 25-17.
 
The second set would prove to be tighter than the first with each side working towards an even 8-8 tie.  After exchanging points, SDSU pulled ahead by eight, 20-12.  The Waves refused to roll over, though, and kills from K. Patterson got the team started on a comeback.  A pair of block collaborations from K. Patterson and Avery Shimaitis helped the cause, bringing the squad within four, 20-16.  Pepperdine kept closing the gap and a kill from Hendrickson and an ace from Trinity Stanger tied the set at 23's.  The Waves had the first set-point opportunity, but the Aztecs countered to tie the set and the pulled ahead themselves.  After Pepperdine fought off two set-point opportunities from the opposition, an attack error from across the net and an ace from Laine Briggs earned the squad the second set win and put them in a position to close.
 
The energy from the previous set helped the cause and back-to-back service aces from Hendrickson and a pair of smashes from Hellmuth brought Pepperdine to a 6-1 lead to start the third set.  The momentum would carry the Waves through the third set completely and a block from Isabel Zelaya and Sterling Parker would keep the squad ahead by five, 18-13.  Though the opposition tied things up at 18's, the Waves would be quick to shut them down moving forward and kills from Hendrickson would put the squad in a position to close.  Zelaya would find the right spot on her serve for an ace to close the set 25-21 and give Pepperdine the sweep.
 
FOLLOW
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