PITTSBURGH, Pa. — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team came out swinging to open the Panther Challenge and the 2018 season with a 25-20 first set win on Friday morning, but #24 Cal Poly rallied with 25-22, 27-25, 25-20 final set scores to end the match on a 3-1 victory in Fitzgerald Field House.
 
Senior Blossom Sato, junior Hana Lishman and sophomore transfer Shannon Scully highlighted the Pepperdine stats.  Sato and Scully highlighted with double-doubles, as Sato marked a career-high 55 assists along with 16 digs and Scully tallied 24 kills on a .385 success rate along with 10 digs.  Lishman impressed with 26 digs.
 
BIG WAVES
Shannon Scully (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Utah): 24 kills, .385 hitting %, 10 digs, 1 ace
Tarah Wylie (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral HS): 12 kills, .257 hitting%, 5 blocks, 2 digs
Heidi Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian HS): 12 kills, 6 digs, 1 block
Blossom Sato (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica HS): 55 assists, 16 digs, 1 block, 2 kills
Hana Lishman (Kailua, Hawai'i/Punahou School): 26 digs, 6 assists, 1 ace
 
OTHER STATS
Alli O'Harra (Boise, Idaho/Centennial HS): 7 kills, 2 blocks
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 7 digs, 2 assists
Jaiden Farr (Peterson, Utah/Morgan HS): 5 digs
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 6 kills
Hannah Frohling (Edmond, Okla./Edmond North HS): 6 kills
 
WAVES VS. MUSTANGS
The Waves came out strong, amassing 17 kills on a .357 success rate to open the match compared to the opposition's 14 kills on a .237 output.  Throughout the match, Pepperdine totaled 70-kills on a .291 hitting percentage, while allowing Cal Poly 62 kills on a .311 clip.  The Waves also marked 65 assists, two aces, 76 digs and 7.0 team blocks, while the Mustangs produced 59 assists, five aces, 75 digs and 8.0 blocks.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set          K             E             TA           Pct
1              17           2              42           .357
2              17           3              40           .350
3              20           8              51           .235
4              16           7              39           .231
TTL         70           20           172         .291
 
CAL POLY ATTACK BY SET
Set          K             E             TA           Pct
1              14           5              38           .237
2              19           3              46           .348
3              16           2              45           .311
4              13           1              35           .343
TTL         62           11           164         .311
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Pepperdine came out strong in the first set, posting an 8-4 lead with big attack efforts from Shannon Scully and Tarah Wylie.  Cal Poly stayed close behind throughout the set, but a block effort from Wylie and Hannah Frohling helped the cause at the 13-9 mark.  Pepperdine pulled ahead by six with a 20-14 lead on top of one of Scully's seven first-set smashes and despite a Mustangs attempt to rally, the Waves closed the set on a kill from Wylie for the 25-20 win.
 
Each side went point-for-point in the second set, as the score reached a 9-9 tie before the Mustangs pulled ahead by three.  The Waves rallied to tie the set at 13's, but the opposition took another lead for the 22-20 lead late in the action.  After trading kills, Cal Poly posted the 25-22 set win to tie the match despite the Waves leading on the attack with a .350 output.
 
In the third set, the Waves went down by two early, but overcame and pulled ahead for the 15-11 lead with smashes from Scully and Dyer.  After a 20-15 lead, the Mustangs closed the gap to tie things up at 22's.  The Waves got to set-point at the 24-22 mark, but the opposition was resilient in closing the gap and securing a 27-25 win to pull ahead.
 
In the fourth and final set, Pepperdine came out of the starting gate towards a 7-1 lead, but the opposition once again closed the gap and tied the set at 12-12.  After going point-for-point towards the 18-18 mark the Mustangs put down a pair of service aces that the Waves would be unable to come back from.  Cal Poly finished off the match with a 25-20 final set win for the 3-1 victory.
 
NEXT UP
The Waves continue with the Panther Challenge tomorrow with matches at 8 a.m. PT against Butler and 4 p.m. PT against tournament-host #20 Pitt.  The match against Pitt will stream live on ACC Network Extra.  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.
 
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