SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Pepperdine racked up plenty of hardware for the 2023 West Coast Conference Volleyball All-Conference awards, as the WCC announced its major award winners and all-conference teams on Wednesday.
All five individual awards as well as the all-conference teams were voted on solely by the WCC's nine head coaches.
Pepperdine head coach Scott Wong was tabbed the 2023 WCC Coach of the Year, while Pepperdine standout Grace Chillingworth was named the 2023 WCC Player of the Year. Chillingworth's teammate Isabel Zelaya won 2023 WCC Setter of the Year honors, and Riley Patterson of PEP won 2023 WCC Libero of the Year.
The lone major award winner not from Pepperdine was Nemo Beach of San Diego who was named the 2023 WCC Freshman of the Year.
Wong picked up WCC Coach of the Year accolades for the first time in his career. The last time a Wave won Coach of the Year was Nina Matthies in 2011. Wong led his Waves to a near-perfect WCC season, riding a 17-match winning streak into the final week of Conference play. Pepperdine rebounded from a 1-6 overall record start to run away with the Conference title.
Chillingworth became the first Wave to win Player of the Year since Kim Hill won it in 2011. Chillingworth paced the Waves in points at 4.28 per set, also good for second in the WCC. Chillingworth also led the WCC in kills at 3.78 kills per set. From October 16 to November 13, Chillingworth captured Credit Union 1 Offensive Player of the Week honors four out of five weeks.
Zelaya is the first Wave to win Setter of the Year (the award was instituted in 2019). She led the WCC in assists at 10.10 per set. Patterson is the second Wave to win Libero of the Year after Madison Shields won it in 2020. Like Setter of the Year, this award was also instituted in 2019. Patterson ended the regular season ranked third in the WCC in digs at 3.71 per set.
Snapping a streak of three straight Waves to win Freshman of the Year, Beach becomes the first Torero to secure the award since Grace Frohling in 2019. Beach ended her rookie campaign with 202.5 points, including a 2.64 kills per set and 2.89 points per set.
Among the first-team honorees, Leyla Blackwell (San Diego) and Kari Geissberger (LMU) picked up All-WCC First Team accolades for the third time, while Chillingworth, Meg Brown (Pepperdine), Biamba Kabengele (Pacific) and Jacquelyn Moore (LMU) earned first-team recognition for the second straight season. Zelaya and Alexa Edwards (Pacific) picked up first-team honors for the second time overall.
2023 WCC VOLLEYBALL AWARDS
| WCC COACH OF THE YEAR |
| Scott Wong |
Pepperdine |
| WCC PLAYER OF THE YEAR |
| Grace Chillingworth |
Pepperdine |
Jr. |
| WCC SETTER OF THE YEAR |
| Isabel Zelaya |
Pepperdine |
Sr. |
| WCC LIBERO OF THE YEAR |
| Riley Patterson |
Pepperdine |
Sr. |
| WCC FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR |
| Nemo Beach |
San Diego |
OH |
ALL-WCC FIRST TEAM
| NAME |
SCHOOL |
POSITION |
YEAR |
| Meg Brown |
Pepperdine |
MB |
Sr. |
| Leyla Blackwell |
San Diego |
MB |
Sr. |
| Grace Chillingworth |
Pepperdine |
OH |
Jr. |
| Alexa Edwards |
Pacific |
OH |
Sr. |
| Kari Geissberger |
LMU |
OH |
Sr. |
| Sam Hastings |
LMU |
L |
Sr. |
| Jenna Heller |
Pacific |
S |
Jr. |
| Birdie Hendrickson |
Pepperdine |
S |
Sr. |
| Biamba Kabengele |
Pacific |
OH |
Sr. |
| Jacquelyn Moore |
LMU |
MB |
Jr. |
| Riley Patterson |
Pepperdine |
LB |
Sr. |
| Kylie Pries |
San Diego |
OH |
Sr. |
| Michelle Shaffer |
LMU |
S |
Sr. |
| Amber Stivrins |
San Diego |
OH |
Sr. |
| Kjersti Strong |
Saint Mary's |
MB |
Sr. |
| Isabel Zelaya |
Pepperdine |
S |
Sr. |
ALL-WCC SECOND TEAM
| NAME |
SCHOOL |
POSITION |
YEAR |
| Isabella Bareford |
LMU |
S |
Sr. |
| Kristen Erland |
Saint Mary's |
MB |
Jr. |
| Amethyst Harper |
LMU |
OH |
Sr. |
| Emily Hellmuth |
Pepperdine |
OH |
So. |
| Maui Robins |
Portland |
OH |
So. |
| Haylee Stoner |
San Diego |
MB |
Jr. |
ALL-WCC FRESHMAN TEAM
| NAME |
SCHOOL |
POSITION |
| Nemo Beach |
San Diego |
OH |
| Laine Briggs |
Pepperdine |
LB |
| Nia Damuni |
Gonzaga |
S |
| Alyssa Eimer |
Santa Clara |
DS |
| Taina Kaauwai |
Portland |
MB |
| Zoe Morales |
Pacific |
L |
| Astrid Puig |
San Francisco |
OH |
ALL-WCC HONORABLE MENTION
| NAME |
SCHOOL |
| Oren Abutbul |
Santa Clara |
| Genevieve Bane |
Saint Mary's |
| Nemo Beach |
San Diego |
| Makenna Joyce |
Saint Mary's |
| Darina Kumanova |
Pacific |
| Elin Larsson |
Portland |
| Vanessa Polk |
Pepperdine |
| Elena Radeff |
Santa Clara |
| Ella Sandt |
Saint Mary's |
| Zoe Thiros |
Gonzaga |
| Sophia Tulino |
Santa Clara |
| Emily Van Groningen |
Pacific |