Box Score HONOLULU, Hawai'i — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team closed out the OUTRIGGER Volleyball Challenge on a high note, defeating Liberty in four sets at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. 
 
The Waves (2-6) battled for 25-22 and 25-18 set wins before the Flames (7-2) took the third 26-24, but Pepperdine buckled down in the fourth for a staggering 25-12 win to secure the victory. 
 
Grace Chillingworth and Birdie Hendrickson posted double-doubles with 18 kills, 13 digs and 14 kills, 14 digs respectively.  It was the former's second of the season and 12^th career double-double and the latter's third all-around.  The 14-kill mark is also a career-high for Hendrickson since she's been at Pepperdine.  Vanessa Polk was also one-shy of her career-high in kills with a season-best 11 smashes on a .625 success rate, while Riley Patterson led the squad with a season-high 19 digs. 
 
BIG WAVES
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 18 kills, 13 digs, 4 blocks
Birdie Hendrickson (Rogersville, Mo./Logan-Rogersville HS/Florida): 14 kills, .323 hitting %, 14 digs, 1 ace
Vanessa Polk (Saint Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS): 11 kills, .625 hitting %
Riley Patterson (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS/Pacific): 19 digs, 5 assists, 1 ace
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 43 assists, 9 digs
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 6 kills, 7 digs, 3 aces
 
WAVES VS. FLAMES
Pepperdine led offensively through most of the match, compiling 57 kills on a .292 clip as opposed to 45 kills on a .123 clip from across the net.  Though Liberty led in kills and output in the third set, the Waves offensive efforts in the other three sets far surpassed the Flames.  Pepperdine also had an advantage with seven aces, compared to Liberty's five, along with a 61-48 dig ratio.  Liberty did lead at the net with 9.0 blocks to the Waves 7.5.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        4          32        .375
2          13        5          31        .258
3          13        9          37        .108
4          15        1          30        .467
TTL      57        19        130      .292
 
LIBERTY ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          12        7          36        .139
2          9          6          33        .091
3          15        8          42        .167
4          9          6          35        .086
TTL      45        27        146      .123
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
After trading points to start the match, Liberty found a few scoring opportunities to pull ahead by four and force an early Pepperdine timeout at the 12-8 mark.  The Flames were able to hold a lead through a 16-13 advantage, but the Waves started to rally back with a five-point run fueled by a pair of blocks from Meg Brown with either Emily Hellmuth or Grace Chillingworth as well as kills from Brown and Chillingworth.  With a two-point lead, Pepperdine now had the momentum, and the team was able to stay ahead to a 24-21 score after a kill from Birdie Hendrickson and an ace from Emma Ammerman.  A final smash from Chillingworth closed out the set 25-22 and put the Waves in a solid position heading into the second set.
 
Kills from Chillingworth and Brown and a pair of aces from Laine Briggs and Brown pushed the Waves to a 7-6 lead early.  A five-point run for Pepperdine then helped the cause courtesy of multiple kills from Vanessa Polk and another ace from Hendrickson.  It would be a lead the Waves would maintain throughout the rest of the set, as another ace from Riley Patterson and a block from Chillingworth and Brown kept the squad moving forward 21-13.  The opposition was able to string a few points together, but final kills from Hendrickson and Polk gave the Waves their second set win, 25-18.
 
Liberty worked out to a 5-2 lead to open the third set, but Pepperdine was able to counter with kills from Chillingworth and Polk to tie the set at 8-apiece.  The opposition broke away shortly after again, but more smashes from Hendrickson once again tied the set at 12-all.  It was at that point the momentum would shift again, though this time to the opposition's side of the court as some offensive efforts pushed the Flames to a three-point lead 22-17.  After a 23-19 lead to the opposition, kills from Hendrickson and Polk and some errors from across the net helped the Waves to a one-point lead and an opportunity at match point at the 24-23 mark.  Liberty held on though, and eventually took the set with a three-point run to close 26-24.
 
Pepperdine came out firing on all cylinders in the fourth set, though, and kills from Polk, Chillingworth and Hendrickson, along with an ace from Brown would give the squad a four-point lead, 8-4.  After leading 10-7, the Waves went on a 5-0 run fueled by kills from Ammerman and Chillingworth to keep a strong advantage.  The squad would extend the gap to the 20-10 mark with more kills from Chillingworth and a triple block from Chillingworth, Ammerman and Brown.  Another block from Hendrickson and Brown and kills from Chillingworth and Polk ended the set 25-12 in the Waves favor for the four-set victory overall.
 
FOLLOW
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