MALIBU, Calif. — Four players hit for double-figure kills in the Pepperdine women's volleyball team's four-set win over San Francisco in the War Memorial Gym on Thursday night.
Rachel Ahrens led the Waves (9-5, 2-1 WCC) with 20 kills on a .531 success rate over the Dons (8-6, 1-2 WCC), leading towards 25-19, 19-25, 25-20 and 25-15 set wins.
BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 20 kills, .531 hitting %, 1 ace, 3 blocks, 3 digs
Hannah Frohling (Edmond, Okla./Edmond North HS): 11 kills, 1 ace, 2 digs, 5 blocks
Shannon Scully (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Utah): 11 kills, 16 digs, 2 blocks
Tarah Wylie (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral HS): 11 kills, .526 hitting %, 3 blocks
Alli O'Harra (Boise, Idaho/Centennial HS): 9 blocks (1 solo), 6 kills, .385 hitting %
Blossom Sato (Santa Monica, Calif./Santa Monica HS): 56 assists, 8 digs, 1 block, 1 kill
Hana Lishman (Kailua, Hawai'i/Punahou School): 10 digs, 3 assists
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 6 digs
WAVES VS. DONS
The Waves led the Dons with 60-kills on a .328 success rate, compared to 51 kills on a. 223 clip. Pepperdine produced 60 assists, 52 digs and 12.0 blocks, while the opposition was good for 49 assists, 48 digs and 8.0 blocks/set. Each side collected four assists throughout.
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct
1 16 5 31 .355
2 15 4 37 .297
3 16 5 38 .289
4 13 3 25 .400
TTL 60 17 131 .328
SAN FRANCISCO ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct
1 11 5 30 .200
2 15 3 31 .387
3 14 7 42 .167
4 11 7 27 .148
TTL 51 22 130 .223
NOTABLES
- Pepperdine leads San Francisco 60-7 all-time dating back to 1985.
- Hannah Frohling has hit for double-figure kills in seven matches this season and 47 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 seven matches with double-figure kills this season and this match is her highest-killing effort with 20.
- Hana Lishman has put up nine double-figure dig matches this season, with one above 20-digs, and 57 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 seven double-doubles this season, leading the Waves.
- On the season, Alli O'Harra leads the Waves with 1.02 blocks/set after amassing 42 total blocks with three solo rejections. Tarah Wylie leads Pepperdine with 44 total blocks, including three solo rejections for 0.92 blocks/set and
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The match went point-for-point throughout most of the first set, seeing tied scores and lead changes through to a 13-13 tie. After
Hannah Frohling laid one down and then turned around to block the Dons' attack alongside
Alli O'Harra, the Waves gained a control of the set they would not relinquish. Big kills from
Rachel Ahrens and
Shannon Scully late in the set helped the cause and a final smash from
Tarah Wylie earned Pepperdine the 25-19 set win and advantage heading into set two.
The second set started the same as the first, with each side reaching the five-point mark before San Francisco took a lead they would not give up. Despite big attack efforts from
Rachel Ahrens, Frohling and Scully, the opposition continued with a three- to four-point lead throughout the set. Late in the action, the Dons would string together a few kills to earn a 25-19 set win and tie the match.
In similar fashion to previous sets, the Waves and Dons came out evenly en route to a 7-7 tie. After that, a strong service output from
Blossom Sato featureing kills from Ahrens, Frohling and O'Harra and block collaborations from O'Harra with either Ahrens or Frohling helped Pepperdine to an 11-0 run for an 18-10 lead. Although the Dons came back strong in the back half of the set, the Waves were able to keep the opposition at bay and kills from O'Harra and Frohling in the final moments helped the team to a 25-20 set win.
Pepperdine gained the advantage early in the fourth set with kills form Ahrens and Wylie. After establishing a three-point lead at 6-3, the Waves continued on towards a solid 14-8 lead with blocks from Ahrens and O'Harra. After that mark, Ahrens put down a pair of kills and Wylie and Frohling collaborated on a block effort for a 8-5 run to secure a 22-13 lead. Final kills from Sato, O'Harra and a 20
th-kill from Ahrens resulted in a 25-15 fourth set win a 3-1 match victory.
NEXT UP
Next, Pepperdine closes up this week's road trip at Santa Clara on Saturday at 1 p.m. 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.