MALIBU, Calif. — Three players with double-figure kills and a strong Malibu Roofing Company presence propelled the Pepperdine women's volleyball team to a commanding four-set win over PCH Cup rival LMU, a team receiving votes in the AVCA coaches poll this week, in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday. 
 
After splitting the first two sets 25-17, 23-25, Pepperdine (6-6, 2-0 WCC) buckled down to secure 25-22 and 25-18 set wins for the victory over LMU (8-4, 1-1 WCC).  The win marked the Waves fifth-straight and snapped the Lions' six-match winning streak.  Pepperdine finished the week going 2-0 to open West Coast Conference action this week after also sweeping Pacific at home on Thursday night.
 
The Waves have five players with six or more kills throughout the match, led by Grace Chillingworth, Emily Hellmuth and Birdie Hendrickson with 15, 13 and 11 kills respectively.  It was Chillingworth's 43^rd career match hitting for double-digits, while it was also Hellmuth's 18^th and Hendrickson's fifth since donning the blue and orange. 
 
BIG WAVES
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 15 kills, 6 digs, 2 blocks
Emily Hellmuth (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park HS): 13 kills, 3 digs, 2 aces, 2 blocks
Birdie Hendrickson (Rogersville, Mo./Logan-Rogersville HS/Florida): 11 kills, 9 digs, 2 aces
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 26 assists, 4 digs, 3 blocks
Brynne McGhie (Kansas City, Mo./St. Teresa's Academy HS): 18 assists, 7 digs, 3 blocks
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 9 kills, .348 hitting %, 5 blocks, 4 digs, 1 ace
Vanessa Polk (Saint Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS): 6 kills, 6 blocks, 5 digs
Riley Patterson (Sonora, Calif./Sonora HS/Pacific): 10 digs, 5 assists
Laine Briggs (Costa Mesa, Calif./Newport Harbor HS): 11 digs
 
WAVES VS. LIONS
Pepperdine had a strong attack throughout the match, blasting 57 kills on .288 clip while giving up 49 kills on a .171 percentage to LMU.  In the third momentum-shifting set, the Waves amassed 18 kills on a .341 output, compared to the Lions 12 kills on a .211 to help the cause.  The Malibu Roofing Company was out in full force as well, as the squad posted 12.0 rejections to the Lions' 7.0.  Pepperdine also led 5-4 in aces and 59-53 in digs.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        5          38        .289
2          10        3          29        .241
3          18        4          41        .341
4          13        3          38        .263
TTL      57        15        146      .288
 
LMU ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          12        6          41        .146
2          14        7          29        .241
3          12        4          38        .211
4          11        7          38        .105
TTL      49        24        146      .171
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves got off to a hot start to start the math, firing off four kills in a row with a pair from Grace Chillingworth and one each from Isabel Zelaya and Meg Brown to pull ahead 6-2. More smashes from each side followed, though Pepperdine had the edge, working ahead to an 18-11 advantage with more successful attacks from Brown, Vanessa Polk and Chillingworth.  A pair of blocks from Polk, along with either Isabel Zelaya or Emily Hellmuth kept the home team on top en route to a 19-16 lead.  Another block from Polk and Hellmuth, as well as a solo job from the former late in the action helped the home team to a 25-17 win and the first big advantage of the match.
 
The Waves worked ahead to open the second set as well with a 7-2 lead to open fueled by a block from Brown and Zelaya and multiple kills from Chillingworth and Birdie Hendrickson.  The Lions were able to tie the set at 11's with a strong attack of their own.  A few blocks from across the net, as well as some Lions' kills put LMU up at the 23-19 mark.  Pepperdine answered with a few late points to put the deficit to one point, 24-23, but a final kill from the Lions earned the set win to tie the overall score one-apiece.
 
The third set would prove to be a see-saw battle from start to finish.  Though Pepperdine started the set on a 5-1 run courtesy of kills from Polk, Hellmuth and Brown, the opposition answered to tie the score at 8-apiece.  After going point-for-point to 13-all, a kill from Hellmuth followed by back-to-back blocks from Brown with either Brynne McGhie or Chillingworth gave the Waves a 3-0 run and forced a LMU timeout at the 16-13 mark.  More smashes from Brown and Chillingworth out of the break helped the cause and the Waves were able to stay ahead through the rest of the set.  Late in the action, a pair of Chillingworth kills would end the set 25-22 and put the Waves up once again 2-1.
 
The fourth set would be all Waves from beginning to end, starting with a pair of back-to-back kills from Hellmuth to set the tone.  A big block from Polk and McGhie, along with multiple kills from Hendrickson and Chillingworth, extended the home team's advantage to six, 15-9.  Another huge rejection from McGhie and Brown at the 18-13 mark helped energize the Waves late in the set and kills from Hendrickson and McGhie gave the squad a 22-15 advantage down the final stretch.  A solo block from Hendrickson kept the momentum up, and though the opposition was able to snag a few points, another Hendrickson smash put the Waves in a position to close 24-17.  LMU would sail one out for a service error to end the match with a Waves win.  
 
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.