SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Five members of the Pepperdine women's volleyball team earned All-West Coast Conference awards, which were announced by the league on Monday afternoon.
Seniors Grace Chillingworth and Birdie Hendrickson earned first-team honors, while freshman Ella Piskorz became the first Wave to earn a spot on the All-WCC first team and all-freshman team since 2016. Trinity Stanger made the WCC's second team, while Chloe Pravednikov joined Piskorz on the conference's all-freshman team.
This is the seventh consecutive year with multiple Waves on the All-WCC first team. Continuing a streak of recruiting impressive first-year players to Malibu, Pepperdine has had at least one player make the all-freshman team in all 10 seasons of Scott Wong's head coaching tenure. Pepperdine's five honorees were the third-most among the conference's 11 teams.
Grace Chillingworth — All-WCC First Team
Wrapping up one of the most successful careers in program history, Grace Chillingworth made the WCC first team for the third time this season. She is one of 12 Waves to earn first-team honors three times during her career (no Wave has earned first-team honors four times).
The senior outside hitter from Tustin, Calif. led the Waves and ranked second in the league with 433 kills, averaging 3.94 per set. She and junior setter Rosemary Archer tied the team high with 32 service aces. As the main contributor to Pepperdine's offense, Chillingworth also led the team and ranked second in the league with 491.5 total points, averaging 4.47 per set. Her eight double-doubles ranked second on the team to Birdie Hendrickson, plus she earned WCC Offensive Player of the Week honors three times.
Chillingworth and fellow first-team selection Hendrickson spearheaded the Waves' offense, which led to a slew of impressive single-match performances this season. Her 24-kill, 14-dig double-double against LMU on Oct. 12 was her most effective outing of the season until last week against San Diego. In her penultimate home match, Chillingworth shattered her career-high with 29 kills, which was the most kills by a Wave since 2021 and the fourth-most in a single match in program history.
Chillingworth will leave Malibu with her name all across the Pepperdine record books. She ranks sixth in career kills (1,429), seventh in points (1,630.0) and fourth in total attacks (4,009) in Pepperdine's top-10 leaderboards.
Birdie Hendrickson — All-WCC First Team
Earning back-to-back first-team honors, Birdie Hendrickson enjoyed her most productive season of collegiate volleyball this year. The one-time Florida Gators setter rounded out Pepperdine's offensive attack by tallying 391 kills (averaging 3.55 per set), and her 13 double-doubles led the team. But Hendrickson was far from a one-dimensional player: She was also one of the conference's most effective defensive players by amassing 331 digs, which was the second-most on the team. Her 3.01 digs per set ranked 10th in the WCC; the nine players ranked ahead of her were all liberos and defensive specialists.
Hendrickson kicked off the season on a tear. The senior from Rogersville, Mo. had two 25-kill matches in the first three weeks of the season — first in Pepperdine's five-set comeback win at Hawai'i to earn her first career WCC Player of the Week award, and then with a 25-kill, 12-dig double-double against Omaha in the Asics Classic. This season, Hendrickson set nearly all of her single-match career highs with 25 kills (twice), 22 digs (at Pacific) four service aces (at San Francisco) and four total blocks (at Santa Clara).
Ella Piskorz — All-WCC First Team, All-WCC Freshman Team
One of the best middle blockers in the WCC, Ella Piskorz made an immediate impact in her first year of college volleyball this season. She is the first Wave to earn first-team and all-freshman team recognition since Jasmine Gross did so in 2016.
The freshman from Mississauga, Ontario, Canada ranked fifth in the WCC by averaging 1.15 blocks per set, plus her .287 hitting percentage was the ninth-best in the league. She also led the Waves with 126 total blocks, which was good for 95th in all of Division I this year. That figure is also tied for the eighth-most in a single season during the rally-scoring era.
Piskorz was a fixture in the Pepperdine lineup from the get-go. After leading the Waves' block against #2 Stanford and in three Asics Classic matches, she earned her first-career WCC Defensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week awards back in September. In those four matches — two of which were against the nation's then-top two teams Pitt and Stanford, respectively — Piskorz tallied 25 total blocks with three solo rejections. Throughout the season, Piskorz was an effective six-rotation player for the Waves; her 201 kills ranked third on the team, plus her 25 service aces ranked fourth.
Trinity Stanger — All-WCC Second Team
Earning all-conference awards for the first time in her career, Trinity Stanger thrived as Pepperdine's starting libero/defensive specialist this season. In her final and most productive season of college volleyball, Stanger led the team with 442 digs, and her 4.02 digs per set ranked third in the conference. Her efforts helped Pepperdine rank second in the league at 15.01 digs per set, making the Waves a tough out for opposing offenses throughout the year. Behind the service line, Stanger ranked fifth on the team with 22 service aces.
Needing to replace WCC Libero of the Year Riley Patterson, Stanger stepped into that role admirably during her senior season. The Los Angeles native finished with double-figure digs in all but four matches this season — and three of those matches were quick, three-set wins — plus she had 20 digs or more in six matches. To put her emergence into perspective: Stanger's career-high was 13 digs prior to this season. She surpassed that figure in 17 matches this year.
Stanger earned her first career WCC Defensive Player of the Week honors on Oct. 7 after dealing a then-career-high three service aces at Gonzaga and notching a career-best 27 digs against Washington State. Last week, Stanger earned another weekly honor after averaging 5.29 digs per set across two wins.
Chloe Pravednikov — All-WCC Freshman Team
Rounding out Pepperdine's all-conference honorees, Chloe Pravednikov was a key member of Pepperdine's rotation in her first season of collegiate volleyball. In just her second-ever D1 match, Pravednikov tallied 13 kills while hitting .324 in Pepperdine's five-set comeback at Hawai'i. Two weeks later, the Long Beach, Calif. native tallied 16 kills across both matches in the Long Beach State Tournament, both of which were against teams with 19 wins or more. Her 141 kills were the fourth-most on the team this year.
But Pravednikov really emerged as a productive hitter in November. Against Santa Clara on Nov. 14, Pravednikov chipped in eight kills while hitting an efficient .500, and then she followed that up with an 11-kill night against San Francisco. Facing off against the WCC's league-leading offense at Pacific, Pravednikov shattered her career high with 19 kills to lead all players. That effort culminated in her first career WCC Freshman of the Week award.
Pravednikov and Ella Piskorz are the third freshman tandem under head coach Scott Wong to earn all-freshman honors. Pepperdine was one of two schools to have multiple all-conference freshmen (the other was San Diego, which had three).
