MALIBU, Calif. — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team was downed by top-ranked BYU on Tuesday night in Firestone Fieldhouse, falling with 25-15, 25-18 and 25-21 set scores to drop the team's first West Coast Conference match of the season.
 
After the loss to BYU (13-0, 3-0 WCC), the Waves (8-5, 2-1 WCC) will hit the road to take on San Francisco and Santa Clara on Thursday and Saturday respectively up north.
 
BIG WAVES
Hannah Frohling (Edmond, Okla./Edmond North HS): 9 kills, .368 hitting %, 2 aces, 3 digs, 1 block
Shannon Scully (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Utah): 9 kills, .250 hitting %, 4 digs, 1 block
Blossom Sato (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica HS): 24 assists, 1 kill, 1 dig
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 6 kills, 1 ace
Hana Lishman (Kailua, Hawai'i/Punahou School): 9 digs, 3 assists
Alli O'Harra (Boise, Idaho/Centennial HS): 2 blocks, 4 kills
Tarah Wylie (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral HS): 2 kills, 3 digs, 1 block
 
WAVES VS. COUGARS
BYU led the match with 43 kills on a .356 success rate, while adding five aces, 40 digs and 9.0 team blocks.  Pepperdine countered with 31 kills on a .170 clip, along with 30 assists, three aces, 27 digs and 3.0 team blocks throughout.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set          K             E             TA           Pct
1              6              4              32           .062
2              12           5              30           .233
3              13           6              32           .219
TTL         31           15           94           .170
 
BYU ATTACK BY SET
Set          K             E             TA           Pct
1              17           5              37           .324
2              14           3              28           .393
3              12           4              22           .364
TTL         43           12           87           .356
 
NOTABLES

• BYU leads Pepperdine all-time with a 25-7 overall record dating back to the 1976.
• The Waves were the first team to score 21-points on the Cougars since #25 Marquette did so on September 8.  Teams have scored 21-points or more against BYU in only nine sets of the team's 40 played this season.
• Hannah Frohling has hit for double-figure kills in six matches this season and 46 throughout her career.  She leads the team with 3.24 kill/set and is tied for a team-best 18 aces overall.
• Rachel Ahrens has posted six matches 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 has posted 3.19 kills/set this season and has amassed 16 aces to average 0.37 aces/set.
• On the season, Tarah Wylie leads Pepperdine with 41 total blocks, including three solo rejections for 0.93 blocks/set and Alli O'Harra is also big time on the net with 0.89 blocks/set after amassing 31 blocks including two solos.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Cougars jumped out of the starting gate to open the match.  After the Waves collected the first two points of the set, the opposition went on a 7-0 run to pick up the advantage.  After Pepperdine collected a few points to attempt to close the gap, the opposition once again gained momentum and shut the door with a 25-15 set win.
 
The Waves gave a big battle in the second set, coming out and hanging tough towards a 7-7 tie with big kills from Hannah Frohling and Rachel Ahrens.  The Waves pulled ahead with a Shannon Scully attack effort and continued on to a 12-10 lead.  BYU then countered with an attack of their own to tie the set.  After another good effort from Pepperdine, the opposition closed the door and won the set 25-18 to pull ahead 2-0.
 
The third set stayed as close as the second, with the Waves taking an early 4-2 lead with kills from Frohling and Alli O'Harra.  A block collaboration from O'Harra and Scully helped the cause early in the action, but the Cougars stayed right behind.  After a 10-10, the lead went back-and-forth, with Pepperdine leading 14-13 before BYU countered, tied and took the lead.  After a 19-16 Cougar lead, Pepperdine strung some big points together, capitalizing on Cougar errors and laying down a kill from Ahrens to tie the set at 20's.  After a BYU timeout, though, the competition came out swinging and ended the match with a 25-21 final set win. 
 
NEXT UP
Next, Pepperdine hits the road again for a Thursday matchup against San Francisco up north.  The match will air on ESPNU and the ESPN app. 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.