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at Gonzaga
10/5/2023 | 6:00 p.m. PT
Oct. 05 (Thu) / 6:00 p.m. PT
Gonzaga
MALIBU, Calif. — Graduate setter Isabel Zelaya dished the Pepperdine women’s volleyball team to a staggering .356 hitting percentage en route to the straight-set sweep (25-21, 25-14, 25-18) over San Francisco in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon.
The Waves (8-6, 4-0 WCC) marked the program’s highest hitting percentage of the season during the match against the Dons (8-8, 2-2 WCC), having blasted 40 kills with only nine errors on 87 swings. At one point late in the third set, the team was hitting over the .400-mark.
Zelaya dished out 34 assists, while leading five Waves to five or more kills throughout the match, including both Grace Chillingworth and Meg Brown to double figure kills with 13 and 11 respectively. Chillingworth and Brown each also had season-high attack outputs, with .407 (13-2-27) and .556 (11-1-18) clips respectively. It was Chillingworth’s 44th career match with double-figure kills and Brown’s 40th.
The match was Pepperdine’s seventh-consecutive win since the streak began on September 10. Six out of the seven wins have been accomplished by way of straight-set sweeps.
ZELAYA ASSIST WATCH
Including the match today, Isabel Zelaya has amassed 4,464 total assists throughout her career, which stands at #2 in the Pepperdine women’s volleyball all-time record books. This week with her 33 assists in the Waves’ win at Saint Mary’s, Zelaya had surpassed Kiah Fiers, who had amassed 4,410 assists from 2006-09 for the #2 slot. The all-time career assists leader at Pepperdine remains Becca Roehl, who leads the category with 5,020 assists all-time, which she collected during the 1994-97 seasons.
Zelaya began the season with 3,995 and in fourth in the all-time lists, but has steadily moved up. This season, she has tabbed 469 total assists in 14 matches. There are 13 matches left in the regular season, plus any postseason action, and Zelaya would need 556 assists to tie the current record.
BIG WAVES
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 13 kills, .407 hitting %, 2 aces, 6 digs
Birdie Hendrickson (Rogersville, Mo./Logan-Rogersville HS/Florida): 6 kills, 7 digs, 2 blocks
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 34 assists, 3 digs, 1 ace
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 11 kills, .556 hitting %, 5 blocks (1 solo), 1 ace
Emily Hellmuth (Dallas, Texas/Highland Park HS): 5 kills, .455 hitting %, 4 blocks, 3 digs, 1 ace
Vanessa Polk (Saint Louis, Mo./John Burroughs HS): 5 blocks (1 solo), 5 kills
WAVES VS. DONS
The Waves were unmatched by the Dons in both the offensive and defensive efforts. The Waves led with 40 kills on a staggering .356 success rate, while the opposition was good for 32 kills on a .116 clip. Pepperdine hit .389 or higher in both sets one and two, while the Dons hit a flat .000 in both sets two and three. The Waves also led at the net with a solid Malibu Roofing Company 10.0-block showing, while USF tabbed 5.0 throughout the match. Though San Francisco led 34-28 in digs, Pepperdine had the 5-4 edge at the service line.
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct
1 16 2 36 .389
2 13 2 28 .393
3 11 5 23 .261
TTL 40 9 87 .356
SAN FRANCISCO ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct
1 15 5 34 .294
2 9 9 28 .000
3 8 8 24 .000
TTL 32 22 86 .116
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Multiple kills from Emily Hellmuth, Grace Chillingworth and Meg Brown helped the Waves to a 7-2 advantage to kick things off. The opposition rallied with a run shortly after to tie the set at 11’s and even pulled ahead by one-point at the 12-11 mark. After going point-for-point through a 17-17 tied score, a block from Hellmuth and Vanessa Polk, followed by kills from Polk pushed the Waves forward once again, 20-17. It would be an advantage Pepperdine would use through the end of the set, as more kills from Polk, Chillingworth and Brown closed the set with a 25-21 Waves’ win.
The second set was all Pepperdine and after a 4-4 tie, an ace from both Hellmuth and Chillingworth, along with a pair of kills Brown helped push the squad to a commanding 12-5 lead. A solo rejection from Polk, along with a pair of blocks from Polk and Hendrickson, extended the squad’s lead to 10 at the 18-8 mark. More smashes from Polk, Chillingworth and Brown carried Pepperdine through to a 25-14 second set win and the 2-0 lead heading into the third set.
After the Dons came out swinging for a 6-2 lead to start the third set, a block from Brown and Chillingworth, followed by kills from Hendrickson and Brown flipped the script for a 4-0 Waves’ run to tie the set. An ace, kill and block – all from Brown – kept the squad moving forward en route to a 17-12 lead to force a USF timeout. Out of the break, Brown and Hellmuth combined for a Malibu Roofing Company rejection letter and the Waves were able to use that momentum towards a 24-15 lead an opportunity to close. Polk would do the honors with a final smash for a 25-18 set win to complete the sweep.
NEXT UP
Next week, the Waves hit the road again, going to the Pacific Northwest for matches against WCC opponents Gonzaga and Portland on October 5 and 7.
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.
INTERVIEW | Isabel Zelaya, now #2 in all-time assists at Pepperdine following the Waves win over USF. And yes, more travel trivia is on the way.#WavesUp pic.twitter.com/HSoR70NhXI
— Pepperdine Women’s Volleyball (@WavesVolleyball) September 30, 2023
