Conference play has been no issue for Pepperdine Women’s Volleyball.
Women’s Volleyball hosted the Saint Mary’s College of California Gaels on Oct. 17, at Firestone Fieldhouse, for their sixth conference match of the season. The Waves entered the match with an overall record of 7-8 and conference record of 4-1.
It was just their second home match of conference play, with the first against University of the Pacific, ending in a 3-1 Waves victory. Pepperdine most recently played Loyola Marymount University away, taking a close 2-3 loss.
But, playing at home brings a level of comfort for the Waves and was a nice breather for the team following a loss, multiple members said.
“It’s super nice that we’re home twice this week,” graduate outside hitter/opposite Birdie Hendrickson said. “Traveling on the road is obviously harder to get those wins, but I think this is a good night for us, especially coming after our loss.”
To start the night for the Waves, Head Coach Scott Wong serviced Hendrickson, graduate opposite Riley Simpson, senior outside hitter/opposite Grace Chillingworth, junior setter Rosemary Archer, junior middle blocker Kenadie Patterson and sophomore setter Brynne McGhie.
This lineup opened the first set on the right foot, with Patterson attacking for an early kill with an assist from Archer. This set would be neck and neck until the Waves took a 6-5 lead.
This sparked energy into the Gaels, who would go on to secure four straight points to take a 9-6 lead. Wong called for a timeout, and coming out of it, they fought back — harder than the Gaels anticipated.
Following this timeout, the Waves went on to secure five straight points, taking back the lead 11-9. The Waves never gave up the lead for the remainder of the match, taking the first set 25-20.
Timeouts were a vital part of this game, and following every timeout Wong called, the Waves would enter back into the matchup with an unexpected flurry of success. The timeouts are something Wong said he feels out mid-match.
“We come out and we’re just not playing really good volleyball, and then after the timeout, we start playing some pretty good volleyball,” Wong said. “In those timeouts, there might be some little strategy here and there, but I think the biggest thing is just to remind them, play free, compete and get after it, right?”
The Gaels came out firing in set two. St. Mary’s scored three unanswered points to open the set as Pepperdine struggled early to find themselves in a 6-12 deficit — the largest deficit they’ve faced so far.
Wong opted for a timeout, once again proving to be a vital part of the Waves’ success, and Pepperdine punched back with three points to bring the game to 9-12.
It would be a back and forth affair from there, with St. Mary’s holding onto the lead for the majority of the set with the largest lead at 12-17, but this is when the Waves found their stride.
Pepperdine scored six consecutive points to take their first lead of the set at 18-17, with each side trading points but Pepperdine holding strong at 21-20. However, St. Mary’s forced the favor back into their hands with four straight points to bring the set to 21-24 match point.
The Waves tried to light a last minute spark, but it wasn’t enough, as the Gaels took set two 23-25.
At the end of two sets, Hendrickson and Archer topped the leaderboards in digs with 14 and 13, respectively. Digs played a big role in the set one win for Pepperdine, and made the second set a hard-fought battle, but at this stage in the season digs are second-nature to the Waves.
“A lot of our digs and defense comes with trust, and I think our whole back row and front row knows who’s taking the second ball, who’s chasing after a certain play,” Archer said. “That gets us so far, it helps our competitive energy.”
With the match tied at a set each, Pepperdine and St. Mary’s entered this third set battling. Both sides would trade kill after kill, point after point, with the largest lead of the set coming at 14-18 Gaels.
Four points wouldn’t be enough to hold Pepperdine down, fighting to get the set tied back up at 21-21. The Gaels would snag a couple kills against the Waves to take a 21-24 match point lead, but yet another timeout saved the Waves’ set.
Pepperdine exited this timeout with three answered points, tying the game at 24-24, sending the set into a deuce thriller. Once again, both sides fought trading points, until Chillingworth sealed the deal with a kill for a 29-27 set victory.
“I think we scouted them very well,” Archer said. “We knew what their hitters and blockers were gonna do against our hitters, so I think knowing that helped me set a pretty even offense, along with our passing, because I can’t set without a good pass.”
The third set win would be the turning point for this matchup, a momentum shift that carried over into the fourth set, with the Waves taking a commanding 25-18 victory.
“You could see just the confidence, the ease, the relaxedness of how we’re playing after that [set],” Wong said. “Absolutely, that carries over.”
This set only entered a tied match once, at 12-12, but a timeout at 12-10 set the tone for the Waves one last time before entering the tie.
After giving up those two points following the timeout, Pepperdine slammed their foot on the gas pedal, jumping out to a 18-12 lead. The lead stayed in favor of the Waves for the rest of the set.
The Waves ended the night with a 3-1 victory over St. Mary’s, bringing their conference record to 5-1.
Pepperdine topped the charts across the scoreboard, with aces being the lone stat going in St. Mary’s favor, five to Pepperdine’s zero. The Waves led in kills with 70 to the Gaels 56, blocks with 11 to the Gaels nine, assists with 62 to the Gaels 50 and digs with 79 to the Gaels 68, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Archer set up the Waves offense solely for success, recording 49 of the 62 team assist, with Stranger having seven and McGhie tallying three.
Hendrickson found much of the success Archer set up, finishing the game with a season high in kills and blocks with 25 and 21, respectively, leading the team in both categories.
“I was just focusing on being aggressive the whole night,” Hendrickson said. “They scouted us pretty, pretty well, but I was just focusing on not being tentative and hesitant, it set me up for success.”
Simpson followed with 15 kills and Chillingworth was right behind her with 14. Archer was second in digs with 19 and libero/defensive specialist Trinity Stranger rounding out the top three with 14, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
Bouncing back from their first conference loss at LMU, the Waves took two home wins, sweeping the University of Portland on Oct. 19, at Firestone Fieldhouse.
“We have a lot of room for growth, as does every team, [but] just keep exploiting our weaknesses and practice every single day and just continue to grow with every single game, because it’s only going to get harder from here,” Hendrickson said. “But, we’re really excited, we have a lot of energy, and a lot of room left in our tank.”
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Email Justin Rodriguez: justin.rodriguez@pepperdine.edu
