Pepperdine tied with Loyola Marymount, both with 6-1 records, atop the West Coast Conference
The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team was offensively dominant on Oct. 19 in a 3-0 sweep over West Coast Conference foe Portland.
The Waves swatted a season-best .416 hitting percentage with 45 kills en route to their win over the Pilots in Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse.
Senior outside hitter Grace Chillingworth, an honorable mention All-American a season ago, led the way with 13 kills, one block, and four of the Waves’ 10 service aces as Pepperdine took the three games by scores of 25-21, 25-12, and 25-16.
Pepperdine sits atop the 11-team WCC standings with Loyola Marymount — both squads having 6-1 conference records — at press time and the Waves finished their victory over Portland with the second-best attack percentage in WCC matchup this season.
Chillingworth finished the contest ranked second in conference in kills per set — 3.58 — with a total of 68 smacks of ball over the net for points. She also averages 4.13 points per set, second the WCC, with a total of 280.5 points this season, also second in the league.
Of course Chillingworth wasn’t he only Wave on fire offensively.
Graduate student Birdie Hendrickson posted 16 kills, a match high, with eight of them slammed in the first set. Freshman Ella Piskorz had four kills and six blocks, graduate student Riley Simpson had six kills, and Rosemary Archer, a junior setter, had 34 assists and a four blocks.
The Pilots had leads of 4-0 and 7-5 in the opening set, but then the Waves offensive arms awakened. The home team went on a 4-0 run which included kills by Hendrickson and Chillingworth’s first ace. Chillingworth recorded another kill and Emma McMahon hit an ace before the Waves gained a 17-15 advantage. Pepperdine then won the last three points to win the set.
The Waves had a pair of 4-0 runs early in the second set — spearheaded by Simpson and McMahon — to gain a 10-4 lead. Pepperdine’s runs continued through the set and the squad earned an 11-point lead when Hendrickson notched an ace. Chillingworth ignited another run when her team was up 20-11. Piskorz’s third kill gave the Waves the second-set win. Pepperdine recorded a match-high .500 hitting percentage in the set with 14 kills.
Chillingworth had back-to-back aces to break a 5-5 tie in the third set. A few plays later, she recorded another ace to give the Waves a 12-5 lead. Hendrickson and junior middle blocker Kenadie Patterson led the way with a number ofkills to push Pepperdine to a double-digit lead the victory.
The Waves began WCC play last month with a 3-1 victory over Oregon State. They downed Pacific by the same score, as well as Gonzaga and Washington State. Loyola Marymount beat Pepperdine 3-2 before the Waves defeated Saint Mary’s 3-1 and then beat Portland.
The Waves have a 9-8 overall record heading into their match at San Francisco on Thursday. They then play at Santa Clara on Saturday.
Pepperdine began their season in late August with consecutive losses to USC before splitting a pair of matches with Hawai’i and then losing to Stanford.
In their own Asics Classic in September, Pepperdine defeated Omaha and UC Santa Barbara and fell to top-ranked Pitt. The team was beaten by Washington State and Long Beach State in the Long Beach State Tournament in September.Pepperdine then beat four straight opponents beginning with Oregon State.
