Pepperdine Indoor Women’s Volleyball defeated the Santa Clara University Broncos 3-0 Nov. 14 at Firestone Fieldhouse.
This victory brought the Waves to a 13-10 overall record and a 10-3 conference record, including a record of 2-0 against the Broncos.
The first set stayed close, finishing 25-19, but the Waves ended up pulling away with two commanding defeats in the following sets, 25-11 and 25-13, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
“I feel like the first set was more of senior jitters, emotions, all that stuff,” Head Coach Scott Wong said. “It was kind of, let’s get through it and then once we get through it, we’re gonna be okay.”
Pepperdine honored senior outside hitter Grace Chillingworth, senior libero Trinity Stanger and graduate outside hitter Birdie Hendrickson for Senior Night and their final season with the Waves.
The Waves’ starting lineup included Chillingworth, Hendrickson, Stanger, junior setter Rosemary Archer, freshman outside hitter Chloe Pravednikov and freshman middle blocker Ella Piskorz.
The first set started off slow for the Waves, with Santa Clara taking an early 10-7 lead before the Waves’ offense gained momentum.
The Waves took seven of the subsequent 10 points to take a 14-13 lead before the Broncos called a timeout.
“We just need to keep on playing through tough moments,” Wong said. “We’re going to do that and figure out how do we keep on competing during those moments.”
The rest of the set was an offensive show out for Pepperdine, with 11 of the final 15 points of the set going to the Waves.
Chillingworth ended the set with seven kills to pair with Archer’s 14 assists, according to Pepperdine Athletics.
The second set started off strong for the Waves, taking a commanding 11-3 lead before the Broncos called their first timeout.
“I think [Archer] did a good job spreading our offense,” Chillingworth said. “We knocked them off the net and got them out-of-system.”
The Waves kept their momentum throughout the whole set, with six different players ending with a kill during the set.
The third set was more of the same for the Waves, coming out with a quick 7-0 lead thanks to multiple attack errors from the Broncos.
The Waves took advantage of the Broncos’ mistakes to maintain a substantial lead throughout the rest of the set, along with four service aces.
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“We honestly just kind of started playing free,” Stanger said. “Honestly, that interconnectedness on the court makes us unstoppable.”
The Waves dominated on defense, ending with eight blocks and 34 digs compared to the Broncos’ three blocks and 23 digs. The Waves’ unstoppable offense ended with 44 kills, 10 service aces, 43 assists and a .457 hitting percentage, according to Pepperdine Athletics
“We often focus a little bit too much on stats,” Stanger said. “Tonight, we kind of just let that all go and just played for each other.”
Stanger had eight digs in the match and led the Waves with four service aces.
Chillingworth led the team with 13 kills on a .545 hitting percentage, along with six digs and three service aces in the match.
“There were a lot of areas we worked on in practice this week, both offense and defensively,” Chillingworth said. “We all clicked together, and everything flowed pretty smoothly.”
The Waves entered this match coming off two tough losses to the University of San Diego and Loyola Marymount University.
The Waves look to make a final push for the postseason with only five games left in the season, including a pivotal match against San Diego on Nov. 27.
The Waves’ next match is against the University of San Francisco on Nov. 16 at Firestone Fieldhouse.
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Contact Shane Stephens via email: shane.stephens@pepperdine.edu
