PORTLAND, Ore. — It was a thrilling matchup on Thursday night for the Pepperdine women's volleyball team, as the Waves handed Portland the team's first loss of the season with a straight-sweep to open West Coast Conference action.  Double-figure kills from Rachel Ahrens and Hannah Frohling and a season-high seven blocks from Tarah Wylie propelled the Waves to 25-22, 25-21 and 25-19 set wins.
 
Pepperdine's record advances to 7-4 overall and 1-0 in WCC play, while Portland drops to 12-1 overall and 0-1 in conference action.
 
BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 14 kills, .520 hitting %, 1 ace, 5 blocks
Hannah Frohling (Edmond, Okla./Edmond North HS): 13 kills, .393 hitting %, 2 aces, 4 digs
Shannon Scully (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Utah): 6 kills, 11 digs, 1 ace, 2 assists, 2 blocks
Blossom Sato (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica HS): 33 assists, 11 digs, 1 block, 1 kill
Tarah Wylie (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral HS): 7 blocks, 6 kills, .400 hitting %, 3 digs
Hana Lishman (Kailua, Hawai'i/Punahou School): 11 digs, 3 assists, 1 ace
Rosie Ballo (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills HS): 2 blocks
 
WAVES VS. PILOTS
Pepperdine was solid from start to finish, totaling 41 kills on a .290 success rate, compared to Portland's 36 kills on a .124 hitting percentage.  Although the opposition led the match in digs with 45 to Pepperdine's 42, the Waves were untouchable with 9.0 team blocks and five aces opposed to the Pilots 5.0 blocks and four aces.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set          K             E             TA           Pct
1              11           2              31           .290
2              15           3              41           .293
3              15           5              35           .286
TTL         41           10           107         .290
 
PORTLAND ATTACK BY SET
Set          K             E             TA           Pct
1              16           7              33           .273
2              11           8              39           .077
3              9              8              33           .030
TTL         36           23           105         .124
 
NOTABLES

• Pepperdine leads Portland 56-6 all-time, dating back to 1987 season when Pepperdine won the first-ever matchup in straight sets.
• With five blocks, Rachel Ahrens ties her career high block effort.  This is her fifth match with double-figure kills this season.
• Hana Lishman has put up eight double-figure dig matches this season, with one above 20-digs, and 56 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. 
• Shannon Scully leads the team with 3.45 kills/set on a .264 attack effort.  She was the first Wave to hit the 100-kill mark this season.  She also leads with 13 aces this season, tabbing 0.45 aces/set.
• Hannah Frohling has hit for double-figure kills in five matches this season and 45 throughout her career.
• Tarah Wylie leads Pepperdine with 33 total blocks, including two solo rejections for 0.76 blocks/set and Alli O'Harra is also big time on the net with 0.74 blocks/set after amassing 21 blocks including two solos.

 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves rolled out to a commanding start in set one after an ace from Hannah Frohling for the first point of the match set the tone.  After pulling ahead with three kills from Rachel Ahrens, Pepperdine started with a 9-4 advantage.  After maintaining the lead for a few plays, the opposition started closing the gap and came within one as the Waves led 15-14.  A Rosie Ballo, Ahrens block followed by kills from Ahrens and Shannon Scully and an ace from Ahrens helped the cause, however, and the Waves were looking down the home stretch with a 21-16 lead.  A final kill from Ahrens and another ace from Frohling to close the set the way it started earned Pepperdine the 25-22 set win victory.
 
Pepperdine came out firing again in set two, using a 5-1 early advantage to work ahead to a 9-4 lead.  The Waves then put down a 6-3 run to keep the momentum with three-consecutive kills from Frohling to help the effort.  Pepperdine's biggest lead of the set came at the 20-14 mark after a Tarah Wylie Malibu Roofing Company rejection and despite a late comeback effort, the Waves pulled ahead 2-0 overall on top of a 25-21 set win.
 
In the third set, the Waves were set to close things down quickly, tallying an 8-1 lead with a big service effort from Hana Lishman including back-to-back blocks from Ahrens and Wylie and smashes from Scully.  Pepperdine showed no let-up throughout, as another 7-3 run late in the action with kills form Frohling and Blossom Sato helped the team to a 19-10 advantage.  The Pilots laid down a few points later in the set, but big attack efforts from Frohling and Wylie helped the cause, and a final smash from Ahrens resulted in a 25-19 final set score and the clean sweep.
 
NEXT UP
Next, Pepperdine continues with conference action with a match at Gonzaga on Saturday at noon. 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.