Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 DENTON, Texas — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team, a squad receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll, opened the 2019 season with a pair of five-set losses at the North Texas Challenge.  The Waves first faced Tulsa early in the morning, before falling to tournament host North Texas in the evening.

In the match against the Mean Green, four players hit for double-figure kills and three had double-doubles.  Junior Shannon Scully and freshman Kayleigh Hames posted double-doubles in kills-assists, while redshirt-freshman transfer Tayah Mahi marked one in assists-digs.  Sophomore Rachel Ahrens and redshirt-senior Tarah Wylie also hit for double-digits and senior libero Hana Lishman impressed with 29 digs.

Pepperdine (0-2) will close out the tournament against Illinois State at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.

BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 17 kills, .268 hitting %, 3 aces, 4 digs, 5 blocks
Kayleigh Hames (Maryville, Tenn./Webb School of Knoxville): 13 kills, 14 digs
Shannon Scully (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Utah): 10 kills, 2 aces, 11 digs, 1 block
Tarah Wylie (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral HS): 12 kills, .500 hitting %, 5 digs, 1 block
Tayah Mahi (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls HS): 40 assists, 12 digs, 1 ace
Hana Lishman (Kailua, Hawai'i/Punahou School): 29 digs, 4 assists
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 15 assists, 6 digs, 1 block, 1 kill
Alli O'Harra (Boise, Idaho/Centennial HS): 6 blocks, 8 kills, 4 digs
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 4 digs
 
WAVES VS. MEAN GREEN
Pepperdine led the match with 63 kills on a .225 success rate, while adding 62 assists, six aces and 89 digs.  In return, North Texas posted 53 kills on a .195 attack output, with 48 assists, four aces and 81 digs.  The only category the opposition led in was blocks with 9.5 to the Waves 8.0.  Pepperdine did, however, mark 11 service errors as opposed to the Mean Green's six.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        3          38        .289
2          17        8          47        .191
3          14        4          43        .233
4          14        3          27        .407
5          4          4          27        .000
TTL      63        22        182      .225
 
NORTH TEXAS ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          18        2          37        .432
2          10        3          33        .212
3          9          6          47        .064
4          11        6          28        .179
5          5          2          29        .103
TTL      53        19        174      .195
 
STATS & TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES
No stats were available for the match against Tulsa.  In addition, the program malfunctioned at the end of the Waves match against North Texas and no official stats will be available tonight.  When available, they will be posted on PepperdineWaves.com.
 
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The opposition worked out to a strong start against the Waves in the first set, pulling ahead 10-7 and using the momentum to remain ahead throughout. A big attack output kept North Texas in the lead and the home team won 25-20 to open the match.
 
The second set was much closer to open, as both teams reached an 11-11 tie before the opposition started to pull ahead.  After pulling ahead by three at the 21-17 mark, Pepperdine started to rally and come back to tie the set at 21-apiece.  The thrill was short-lived, however, as the Mean Green finished the set ahead 25-22.
 
There was a sizeable momentum-swing in the third set, as the Waves rolled out to a 7-2 lead courtesy of big blocks by Rachel Ahrens and Alli O'Harra and smashes from Ahrens.  Pepperdine continued on to a 15-10 lead with more block efforts and kills from Shannon Scully and Tarah Wylie.  After that the Waves went on an 8-3 run to start closing the door and final kills from Kayleigh Hames and Tarah Wylie closed the set 25-15.
 
Pepperdine kept rolling with the energy from the third in the next set, busting out to an 8-4 lead with more smashes from Ahrens and Hames.  After establishing an 11-6 lead, the opposition started inching back, coming with two points at the 13-11 mark.  The Waves held on, however, regaining control and working ahead to a 21-16 lead down the fin moments of the set.  An ace by Ahrens and three consecutive kills by Hames twice and Wylie once pushed the match to a fifth set.
 
In the fifth and final set, the Mean Green took the first lead, coming out 4-1 to open, but the Waves closed the gap coming within one at the 8-7 mark.  Kills form Wylie helped the cause, but North Texas eventually closed out the match with a 15-9 set win for the five-set thriller.
 
NEXT UP
Tomorrow, the Waves close out the North Texas Challenge against Illinois State at 8:30 a.m. PT.  At this point, live stats will be available.
 
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.