The Waves (7-4) defended their home and defeated Portland in a four- game set Thursday Nov. 5 and won their last home match against Gonzaga on Saturday afternoon. The Waves beat Portland 3-1 and Gonzaga 3-2 winning both home and away matches against these teams in the West Coast Conference.
During the month of October the Waves swept Gonzaga in three games in Spokane Wash. Shortly after the Waves swept Portland in three games in Portland Ore. Last week in Malibu however the games were not as blatantly dominated by the Waves as they were in October with the Waves eking out a tight win against Gonzaga in five games.
The Waves beat Portland in four sets 25-13 21-25 25-14 and 25-13 with sophomore middle blocker Kim Hill leading the offense with 17 kills and freshman middle blocker Victoria Adelhelm hitting a career-high 16 kills. Thanks to the hitting performance by Hill and Adelhelm the Waves hit their season-best .383 percentage.
The Waves were also led by senior outside hitter Rachel Grochmal who hit 12 kills and had nine digs and six blocks. Senior setter Kiah Fiers had 51 assists and 11 digs.
On Saturday the Waves beat the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the last match of the WCC in the Firestone Fieldhouse 25-7 23-25 15-25 25-20 and 15-11. This season the Waves have lost four out of their five five-set matches.
Hill hit a career-high 22 kills surpassing her previous career-high score of 17 kills during the Portland match a few days earlier.
Grochmal scored 13 kills and had 16 digs while Fiers had 60 assists and 11 digs in their final home game in the Firestone Fieldhouse. Sophomore libero Stevi Robinson had 21 digs.
The Waves started out the first set against Portland strong gaining a lead at 12-3. At 12-5 the Waves scored 11 points in a row with kills by sophomore outside hitter Lila Frederick Hill and two aces by freshman outside hitter Caitlin Racich. The game ended at 25-7 a dominating performance by the Waves.
The second set turned out to be more difficult than the first as the Waves began the game down 4-8. The Waves spent the second game playing catch-up tying the score at 11-11 then 18-18 but the Bulldogs’ momentum could not be halted and the game resulted in a Wave loss 23-25.
The Bulldogs’ momentum carried over into the third set and they started the game by scoring the first seven points. The Waves could not repel the Bulldogs’ aggression which built into a 18-8 lead that effectively sealed a loss for the Waves in the third set. The Waves lost 15-25. With the game score 1-2 the Waves had to change something in their strategy to regain control of the match.
The Waves came back in the fourth set never trailing in points. The Waves’ serving and blocking scored many points in this set and the Waves gained an eight-point lead over the Bulldogs at 19-11. Kills by Frederick Grochmal and Hill ended the game with a win for the Waves 25-20.
In the previous five-set matches the Waves began the fifth set down by as many as five points and since the game only goes to 15 points there was not much room to catch up. The Waves began this final set down 2-3 but kills by Hill and an ace by Grochmal brought the Waves up early in the game. The score was tied at a nail-biting 10-10 when another kill by Hill and an ace by Grochmal helped the Waves gain the advantage in the final points of the match. A kill by Hill and two kills by Frederick ended the match at 15-11 the Waves’ first win in a five-set match.
The Waves finish off their season with three away games. The first of the final matches will be played against Loyola Marymount in the Gestern Pavilion on Friday at 7 p.m.
