Box Score PROVO, Utah — In the final regular season match of the 2019 campaign, the Pepperdine women's volleyball team gave #13 BYU quite a thrill in Smith Fieldhouse on Tuesday night, coming back from 25-15 and 25-19 set losses to force a fifth with a pair of 25-20 third and fourth set wins. The Cougars would come out with big momentum in the final set, however, taking the victory with a 15-3 final score.
The Waves close the regular season 18-11 overall and 14-4 in the West Coast Conference. Pepperdine will look to have a postseason push with the NCAA Selection Show airing on ESPN on Sunday, December 1 at 5:30 p.m. PT.
BIG WAVES
Hannah Frohling (Edmond, Okla./Edmond North HS): 16 kills, 2 digs, 1 block
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 4 kills, 3 blocks, 2 digs
Shannon Scully (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Utah): 14 kills, 8 digs, 1 block
Tarah Wylie (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral HS): 14 kills, .367 hitting %, 4 blocks, 4 digs
Hana Lishman (Kailua, Hawai'i/Punahou School): 9 digs, 2 aces
Alli O'Harra (Boise, Idaho/Centennial HS): 5 kills, 2 blocks
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 14 digs
Kayleigh Hames (Maryville, Tenn./Webb School of Knoxville): 10 digs
Tayah Mahi (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls HS): 40 assists, 5 digs, 3 blocks
Rosie Ballo (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills HS):2 blocks
WAVES VS. COUGARS
BYU led the attack with 61 kills on a .303 hitting percentage, while Pepperdine amassed 53 smashes on a .156 success rate. The Waves also totaled 8.0 team blocks and two digs, while the opposition posted 9.0 team blocks and three aces. Each side had 56 digs on the night.
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct
1 6 8 32 -.062
2 14 5 35 .257
3 17 2 35 .429
4 15 8 37 .189
5 1 6 15 -.333
TTL 53 29 154 .156
BYU ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct
1 14 4 31 .323
2 18 3 36 .417
3 10 3 26 .269
4 12 6 39 .154
5 7 2 10 .500
TTL 61 18 142 .303
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The match started with some back-and-forth action, but the Cougars eventually took a lead en route to a 20-12 advantage. It was a lead the Waves would be unable to answer as the home team took set one. 25-15.
The second set was much the same as the first as BYU took a quick 7-2 lead to put Pepperdine behind. Late in the set, multiple kills from
Hannah Frohling and
Rachel Ahrens helped the Waves start a comeback, but the team would be unable to overcome the gap as the Cougars took the set 25-19.
The late surge of momentum was just what Pepperdine needed, however, and after a 6-6 even tie, the Waves put down kills from Frohling and Ahrens and a second ace from
Hana Lishman to take a 10-7 advantage. BYU countered to tie the set at 11-apiece, but the Waves were resilient and smashes from
Tarah Wylie and Frohling kept the team ahead throughout. After a 23-20 lead,
Shannon Scully and Ahrens went back-to-back on the smash front to extend the match to a fourth.
The momentum was still marginally in the Waves' court in the fourth set, but the Cougars stayed close, once again seeing 6-6 and 12-12 tied scores in the set. With the score tied 15-15, Scully and
Alli O'Harra put down three-consecutive kills to force a BYU timeout, but the home team would be unable to counter Pepperdine's efforts. A block from O'Harra and Ahrens kept the Waves going out of the break and more kills from Frohling forced another BYU timeout. Frohling put three down out of the timeout once again to put the Waves in a position to force a fifth, and Pepperdine would do just that as Wylie and
Tayah Mahi put in a Malibu Roofing Company special to push the match into a fifth and final set.
BYU came out strong in the final set, though, pulling ahead 5-2, before moving on towards a 15-3 set win and the 3-2 overall victory.
NEXT UP
The NCAA Selection Show will air at 5:30 p.m. PT on ESPN on Sunday, December 1.
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.
