MALIBU, Calif. – The #24 Pepperdine women’s volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to #17 San Diego Saturday afternoon at Firestone Fieldhouse. The Toreros won by scores of 25-22, 25-22 and 25-17.

The victory raised San Diego’s overall record to 22-4 and 12-2 in the West Coast Conference, while the Waves dropped to 8-6 in the conference and 20-6 overall.

Although Pepperdine kept it close on the scoreboard throughout the first two sets and half of the third, the Torero attacking tandem of Amy DeGroot and Ashton Bach proved to be far too overpowering. DeGroot led all players with 16 kills and was credited with all three set points.

 

Basch contributed 12 kills and finished with a match high .409 hitting percentage.

 

The first and second sets followed a similar pattern in that Pepperdine would come back from a sizeable deficit only to leave the court empty handed.

 

In the first set, Pepperdine trimmed an eight-point San Diego lead from 20-12 down to one at 23-22 thanks in part to several kills from freshman Lilla Frederick (Huntington Beach, Calif./Cornelia Connelly HS) and consecutive points from junior Kiah Fiers (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Peninsula HS) on a kill and service ace.

 

Fiers, however, could only deliver one more service as Torrey Ellick found an open space with one of her six kills. Ellick’s shot returned the ball to San Diego for its successful set point.

 

The Toreros led throughout the second set but received a bit of a scare in the latter stages as their hitters committed three straight attacking errors, which brought Pepperdine back within three points at 23-20.

 

The Waves later received two straight points from junior Rachel Lumsden (Brea, Calif./Brea Olinda HS) and Frederick to cut USD’s lead to two at 24-22, but once again DeGroot stepped forward to squash another Pepperdine rally.

 

Pepperdine’s efforts to mount a third-set comeback were derailed by an uncharacteristically low .105 hitting percentage as the Waves were charged with six error on 38 attempts and could only muster 10 kills. At the same time, the Toreros were posting their best hitting percentage of the match at .364 on the strength of 17 kills.

 

Frederick and senior Julie Rubenstein (Camarillo, Calif./Oaks Christian HS) each finished the match with 11 kills to lead their side. Fiers delivered a match high 32 assists and four different Waves were credited with seven or more digs as the team finished with 35.

 

By comparison, San Diego made 51 digs led by Andrea Csaszi with 16.

 

Freshman Kim Hill (Portland, Ore./Portland Christian HS) had a solid match at the net, finishing with eight kills and five blocks.

 

Pepperdine wraps up its regular season next Tuesday with a 7 p.m. match at #9 UCLA.