Pepperdine Indoor Women’s Volleyball defeated the University of Portland 3-0 Oct. 19, at Firestone Fieldhouse.
This victory is the first in-conference sweep for the Waves, moving to 6-1 on the season in conference play.
After a close first set 25-21, the Waves rallied to dominate the second set 25-12 and the third set 25-17, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“It’s nice to win in three,” Head Coach Steve Wong said. “That’s the silver lining out of just playing some really good volleyball.”
The Waves’ starting lineup included senior outside hitter Grace Chillingworth, graduate outside hitter Birdie Hendrickson, junior setter Rosemary Archer, junior middle blocker Kenadie Patterson, freshman middle blocker Ella Piskorz and senior libero Trinity Stranger.
The Waves’ offense started off strong in the first set, boasting 17 kills, eight of which came from Hendrickson.
“I think we prepared much better for this game,” Hendrickson said. “Our practice this past Friday was productive and I knew I could rely on my teammates.”
Hendrickson carried the momentum of the offense through the first set, with two strong kills after a timeout, which led to five points in a row by the Waves.
Chillingworth also had a noteworthy offensive performance, with four kills and a key service ace to rally the Waves to take the lead late in the first set.
Chillingworth ended the match with 13 kills on a .480 hit percentage, alongside four service aces, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Graduate student opposite hitter Riley Simpson shined on offense, with two key kills early in the second set to put the Waves ahead 5-2.
“We really keyed in on the start of sets,” Simpson said. “I think today, in all three sets, we started really strong and then we’re able to take the game away.”
Archer opened the second set with a service ace, which led to the Waves gaining momentum that lasted through the rest of the game.
Archer had 34 assists and eight digs in the match, along with four blocks, which was second on the team behind Piskorz, who led with six blocks.
The Waves changed up their serving strategy to counter the Portland defense, recording seven service aces on the day, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“It was really our serving that broke the game open,” Wong said. “We started mixing depths and putting a little more pressure, and I thought that was the difference.”
The Waves kept their dominance on attack entering both the second and third sets, ending with four kills for their final five points of both sets.
“We are working on the flow of our team right now,” Wong said. “A big part of it is offensively, and tonight we did a much better job.”
The Waves offense dominated throughout the rest of the match, ending with 45 kills on a .416 hitting percentage, while the defense held Portland to only 28 kills with a .100 hitting percentage.
“I think it comes down to a lot of trust with your teammates,” Hendrickson said. “I have full trust in my libero Trinity and in [Chillingworth], we really rely on each other.”
The Waves led both the second and third set by as many as 10 points, with Chillingworth and Hendrickson leading the offensive attacks with 29 total kills in the match.
The Waves struggled with service errors in the match, having 10, four of which came in the final set. The Waves’ attack stayed clean, marking only eight attack errors in the three sets.
“We need to play a tiny bit cleaner and more sharp,” Simpson said. “I think we did pretty good mostly, but we will still put in work at practice this week.”
Pepperdine Indoor Women’s Volleyball’s next match will be against the University of San Francisco in San Francisco at the War Memorial Gym at The Sobrato Center on Oct. 24.
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Email Shane Stephens: shane.stephens@pepperdine.edu
