MALIBU, Calif. — Senior setter Blossom Sato propelled the Pepperdine women's volleyball team to a straight-sweep over PCH Cup and West Coast Conference rival Loyola Marymount on Saturday afternoon in Firestone Fieldhouse, dishing out a .371 team hitting percentage throughout the match. 
 
The Waves (13-5, 7-1 WCC) entered the match in the #2 position of the West Coast Conference standings, while the Lions (15-4, 5-3 WCC) sat at #3 this week.  Pepperdine collected three-consecutive 25-18 set wins to secure the victory and all five big attackers for the Waves hit for a .312 success rate or higher with Hannah Frohling leading with 14-smashes on a .357 clip.
 
BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 13 kills, .346 hitting %, 2 aces, 5 digs, 5 blocks
Hannah Frohling (Edmond, Okla./Edmond North HS): 14 kills, .357 hitting %, 1 ace, 2 blocks
Shannon Scully (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Utah): 6 kills, .312 hitting %, 13 digs, 3 blocks
Tarah Wylie (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral HS): 7 kills (7-0-12), .583 hitting %, 5 blocks
Alli O'Harra (Boise, Idaho/Centennial HS): 7 blocks, 6 kills, .417 hitting %
Blossom Sato (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica HS): 37 assists, 5 digs, 2 blocks
Hana Lishman (Kailua, Hawai'i/Punahou School): 8 digs, 1 ace, 5 assists
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 2 digs
 
WAVES VS. LIONS
The Waves excelled on the court against the PCH Cup rival Lions this afternoon, amassing 46 kills with only 10 errors on 97 swings for a .371 hitting percentage.  The Lions posted 29 kills with 21 errors on 91 attempts for a .088 collective effort.  Pepperdine also marked 43 assists and 34 digs to the opposition's 29 assists and 32 digs.  The Waves led the match with 12.0 team blocks to the Lions' 6.0, but each side of the net collected on four aces apiece. 
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set          K             E             TA           Pct
1              18           5              38           .342
2              16           3              33           .394
3              12           2              26           .385
TTL         46           10           97           .371
 
LMU ATTACK BY SET
Set          K             E             TA           Pct
1              9              5              29          .138
2              10           6              32           .125
3              10           10           30           .000
TTL         29           21           91           .088
 
NOTABLES

• Pepperdine leads Loyola Marymount 55-24 all-time, dating back to the 1976 season when the Waves took the first-ever win with a straight-set victory at LMU.
• Alli O'Harra had led the Waves in blocks for the last seven-consecutive matches, including five of them with seven blocks or more. 
• Hannah Frohling has hit for double-figure kills in 11 matches this season and 51 throughout her career.  She leads the team with 3.43 kill/set and 27 aces overall.
• Rachel Ahrens has posted 10 matches with double-figure kills this season and has led the Waves' attack in six.
• Hana Lishman has put up 11 double-figure dig matches this season, with two above 20-digs including today, and 59 in her career.
• Blossom Sato has led the Waves in assists in all but one match this season including a career-high 59 in the home opener against Idaho. 
• Shannon Scully has posted seven double-doubles this season, leading the Waves.
• On the season, Alli O'Harra leads the Waves with 1.24 blocks/set after amassing 67 total blocks with five solo rejections. Tarah Wylie has marked 54 total blocks, including three solo rejections for 0.89 blocks/set.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
After going point-for-point towards a 7-7 tied score to open the first set of action, Pepperdine collected on big attacks from Hannah Frohling and Tarah Wylie to gain the advantage.  Another smash from Wylie followed by a pair of blocks from Shannon Scully and Alli O'Harra and the Waves held a comfortable 16-10 lead.  O'Harra and Rachel Ahrens connected another Malibu Roofing Company effort shortly after to continue the tone with a strong Waves' defensive and kills from Frohling and Ahrens put the home team ahead 20-14 and forced a LMU timeout.  In the final moments, despite a Lion comeback attempt, Pepperdine marked four-straight kills with two from Frohling and one each from Scully and Wylie to end the set with a 25-18 win.
 
Working off the momentum from the first set, the Waves came out pounding in the second.  Frohling put up an ace and kills from Ahrens and Wylie helped the cause towards a 5-3 advantage.  A pair of smashes from Scully, followed by blocks from Frohling and O'Harra helped Pepperdine to a 6-1 run to extend the lead.  The Waves showed no let-up and an ace from Hana Lishman followed by another block from Blossom Sato and Wylie late in the action put the Waves ahead 22-13.  LMU collected a few late points, but the Waves were able to shut the door with a pair of kills from Ahrens to win the second set with the same result as the first.
 
Set three was the closest to begin.  Despite the Waves pulling ahead 5-2 to open with a strong service output from Frohling and three-consecutive blocks from Wylie with two accompanied by Ahrens and one by Scully, the opposition countered to tie the score at 11's.  The opposition would not be able to pull ahead, however, as the Waves quickly took back the lead with a block from Wylie and Ahrens and kills from Ahrens to pull ahead 18-14.  Late in the set, Scully's serving prowess helped put the Lions on edge and a pair of smashes from Frohling late in the action helped the cause.  With a final pair of attack errors from the other side of the net, the Waves won their third set in a row with a score of 25-18. 



NEXT UP
Next week, the Waves have another tough pair of road matches, challenging San Diego on Thursday before trekking to Provo to take on top-ranked BYU on Saturday.  Follow the Waves on Facebook and Twitter, @WavesVolleyball, and follow the team on Instagram, @peppvolley.  Get all the most recent schedules, results and more on www.PepperdineWaves.com.