Women’s volleyball (2-2, 8-4) finished the weekend with two victories under its belt, defeating Portland and Gonzaga.
The team began the weekend with its first conference victory of the season, a 3-2 win over Portland Thursday night. Although there was no clear leader in the first four sets, the Waves were able to pull themselves together to take the final set, winning 17-25, 25-16, 22-25, 25-16, 15-10.
“We made it a little harder on ourselves than it should have been,” junior Katie Messing said. “I was really proud of our composure.”
Messing led the team with 16 kills, followed by senior Kelley Larsen with 12. Freshman Jillian Bergeson contributed 18 digs, sophomore Becca Strehlow had 15 and senior Kellie Woolever had 13. Strehlow also had 39 set assists, and junior Samantha Cash and freshman Emma Fuzie added five blocks each.
The Waves experienced continued success Saturday with a 3-1 win over Gonzaga.
“We played more team-oriented defense than we did Thursday night, which changed the game completely,” Messing said.
The Waves dropped the first set to Gonzaga 23-25, but came back to win the next three sets 25-23, 25-19 and 25-16.
“We seemed to gain our intensity back,” Bergeson said. “It was fun to play volleyball when we started playing well.”
Sophomore Taylor Racich had a team-high of 15 kills, followed by Messing and Larsen with 14 and 12, respectively. Cash added five blocks, while Larson had four. Bergeson contributed 16 digs, and Strehlow added 44 set assists.
The team plays at home this week, facing BYU Thursday at 8 p.m., which will be televised on ESPNU, and they face San Diego at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
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Follow Alenni Nemitz on Twitter: @alooney_toons94
As published in the Oct. 3, 2013 issue of the Pepperdine Graphic.