MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team, led with double-figure kills and three aces apiece from outside hitters Hannah Frohling and Rachel Ahrens, picked up a four-set West Coast Conference win over Pacific in Firestone Fieldhouse on Thursday night. 
 
The 25-20, 25-20, 17-25, 25-11 victory puts the Waves at 11-5 overall and 5-1 in the WCC, the best start to a conference season since 2011 for Pepperdine. The Waves currently rank 2^nd in the conference standings this week.
 
BIG WAVES
Hannah Frohling (Edmond, Okla./Edmond North HS): 16 kills, .433 hitting %, 3 aces, 3 digs, 2 blocks
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 14 kills, .290 hitting %, 3 aces, 2 digs, 5 blocks
Blossom Sato (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica HS): 41 assists, 10 digs, 4 blocks, 1 ace, 1 kill
Hana Lishman (Kailua, Hawai'i/Punahou School): 17 digs, 2 assists
Shannon Scully (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Utah): 9 kills, 1 ace, 12 digs
Alli O'Harra (Boise, Idaho/Centennial HS): 7 blocks, 6 kills, .500 hitting %
Tarah Wylie (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral HS): 4 kills, 1 ace, 4 blocks, 4 digs
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 3 digs
 
WAVES VS. TIGERS
Despite Pacific leading the match in kills with 51 to Pepperdine's 50, the Waves' .293 success rate on the attack surpassed the Tigers' .175.  The Waves led with nine aces, 11 team blocks and 51 digs, compared to the opposition's five aces, 47 digs and 5.0 team blocks.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set          K             E             TA           Pct
1              15           3              33           .364
2              13           4              34           .265
3              13           6              30           .233
4              9              3              19           .316
TTL         50           16           116         .293
 
PACIFIC ATTACK BY SET
Set          K             E             TA           Pct
1              17           9              43           .186
2              15           6              39           .231
3              12           2              27           .370
4              7              10           28           -.107
TTL         51           27           137         .175
 
NOTABLES

• Pepperdine leads Pacific 17-14 all-time dating back to 1977 when the Waves won 2-0 on a neutral court.
• Alli O'Harra had led the Waves in blocks for the last five-consecutive matches, including four-of-five with seven blocks or more. 
• Hannah Frohling has hit for double-figure kills in nine matches this season and 49 throughout her career.  She leads the team with 3.33 kill/set and 25 aces overall.
• Rachel Ahrens has posted eight 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 1.17 blocks/set after amassing 56 total blocks with five solo rejections. Tarah Wylie has marked 48 total blocks, including three solo rejections for 0.87 blocks/set.

 PLAY-BY-PLAY
Each side collected points to open the match, going tit-for-tat towards an 8-8 tied score.  Then, with the help of a strong serving presence from Shannon Scully and a 'Malibu Roofing Company' block effort from Hannah Frohling and Alli O'Harra, the Waves started to pull ahead towards a 13-9 advantage.  Pepperdine stayed ahead throughout the rest of the set, although the Tigers came within one-point at the 15-14 mark.  Late in the action big blocks from Tarah Wylie back-to-back featuring help from Blossom Sato and Frohling helped the cause towards set point at 24-20.  Rachel Ahrens delivered the final smash to put the Waves ahead a set in the match.
 
The Waves came out strong in the second set and owned a commanding presence from the start, with a pair of aces from Frohling Pepperdine pulled ahead early and worked towards a 9-3 advantage.  Shortly after, a big defensive effort from Pacific helped the opposition out and the Tigers closed the gap to one-point, 10-9.  The home team maintained control, however, as big kills from Frohling and Scully propelled the Waves to another set-point opportunity.  Frohling would deliver the set-point on this occasion, shutting the set down 25-20 and sending Pepperdine into set three with an uncontested advantage.
 
The Tigers had the Waves' number in the third, however, and an early lead helped the opposition to a 25-17 set win to extend the match to a fourth set.
 
Pepperdine came out big in the fourth set, intent on making a statement, and the team did just that.  After a 4-4 tie, a big service output from Wylie, including an ace and kills from Ahrens and Scully put Pepperdine in the lead 8-5. Ahrens continued with a big performance at the service line shortly after, including her third ace of the night and big block collaborations from O'Harra and Sato to give the home team a 16-7 lead in the set.  In the final moments, Frohling also put down her third ace of the night and the Waves closed out the set and the match with a pair of blocks from Ahrens with either Wylie or O'Harra on the assist.  Pepperdine took the set 25-11 for the overall 3-1 victory.
 
NEXT UP
Pepperdine is back in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday at noon against Saint Mary's, a team ranked #4 in the West Coast Conference this week.  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.