MALIBU, Calif. — Four players with double-figure kills and multiple career-highs propelled the Pepperdine women's volleyball team to a 3-1 win over Idaho to open the Asics Classic in Firestone Fieldhouse on Friday night. 
 
Rachel Ahrens and Shannon Scully each posted double-doubles and Blossom Sato posted a career-best 59 assists to highlight the effort and push the Waves to 25-15, 25-21, 21-25 and 25-15 final set scores for the first home win of the season.
 
BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 16 kills, .406 hitting %, 11 digs, 4 blocks
Tarah Wylie (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral HS): 14 kills, .500 hitting %, 2 blocks, 2 digs
Shannon Scully (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Utah): 13 kills, 10 digs, 21 service receptions w/no errors
Alli O'Harra (Boise, Idaho/Centennial HS): 10 kills, .304 hitting %, 2 aces, 4 digs, 3 blocks (1 solo
Blossom Sato (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica HS): 59 assists, 3 kills, .750 hitting %, 8 digs
Hana Lishman (Kailua, Hawai'i/Punahou School): 14 digs
Hannah Frohling (Edmond, Okla./Edmond North HS): 14 digs, 9 kills, 1 ace
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 9 digs
 
WAVES VS. VANDALS
The Waves outplayed the Vandals in nearly every category, amassing 65 kills on a .309 hitting percentage along with three aces and 72 digs.  The opposition was good for 43 kills on a .196 clip as well as an ace and 55 digs.  Idaho led the match with 10.0 blocks compared to the Waves 5.0.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set          K             E             TA           Pct
1              19           3              45           .356
2              13           4              38           .237
3              12           7              35           .143
4              21           5              31           .516
TTL         65           19           149         .309
 
IDAHO ATTACK BY SET
Set          K             E             TA           Pct
1              7              4              38           .079
2              14           19           42           .119
3              13           2              30           .367
4              9              1              28           .286
TTL         43           16           138         .196
 
NOTABLES

• This was the first Waves' win over Idaho all-time.  The teams have faced twice before in 1983 and 2014.
• This was the first match this season four Waves hit for double-figure kills.
• Rachel Ahrens marked her first-career double-double tonight.
• Shannon Scully has posted four double-figure kill matches this season with two double-double.
• Hana Lishman has put up three double-figure dig matches, with one above 20-digs this season, and 50 in her career.
• Blossom Sato has led the Waves in assists in all matches this season including a career-high 59 in the home opener against Idaho.
• Alli O'Harra's 10-kills tie her career-best and Tarah Wylie's 14 smashes top her season-high mark for 2018.

 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves jumped out to a strong start from the beginning of the match, amassing a 7-4 lead with kills from Shannon Scully and Rachel Ahrens.  Blocks from Ahrens and Alli O'Harra later in the set, along with smashes from Tarah Wylie, helped the Waves push the gap to a 16-9 lead.  The opposition scattered a few points throughout, but Pepperdine was unstoppable on the offensive, using a .356 attack effort in the first set to get to set point.  Hannah Frohling put an ace down on the back line to close the first with a 25-15 win.
 
After dropping the first two points in the second set, the Waves bounced back quick with smashes from Scully and Ahrens and another block collaboration from Ahrens and Wylie gave the home team an 11-8 advantage.  The opposition stayed close behind, however, and countered with an offensive of their own to tie the set at 16's.  After trading points to the 18-18 mark, back-to-back blocks from Ahrens and O'Harra and Ahrens and Wylie gave Pepperdine the needed edge to work towards a 25-21 second set win.
 
The Waves let up in the third set and despite trading tied scores from the 8-8 mark to the 18-18 mark, dropped with a 25-21 set score to push the match to a fourth.
 
In the fourth and final set, Pepperine was nearly untouchable.  21 kills on a .516 success rate including smashes from Frohling and O'Harra helped the cause towards a 14-12 lead later in the action.  Eight big services from O'Harra including back-to-back aces in the back stretch gave the Waves set point at 24-15.  Wylie did the honors on a smash down the line to give the Waves their first home-win of the season over Idaho.
 
NEXT UP
The Waves will continue with the Asics Classic tomorrow (Sep. 1) at 5 p.m. against North Texas in Malibu.  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.