Pepperdine Ends North Texas Challenge with 3-1 Win over Illinois State

Saturday, August 31

Denton, Texas

8:30 a.m. PT

Pepperdine University

1-2

Illinois State

2-1

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Illinois State	22	25	20	17	1
Pepperdine	25	23	25	25	3

Photo by: Mark Burch

Pepperdine Ends North Texas Challenge with 3-1 Win over Illinois State

8/31/2019 11:35:00 AM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: by Athletic Communications

DENTON, Texas — The Pepperdine women's volleyball team came out swinging in the final match of the North Texas Challenge, winning in four over Illinois State after collecting on 25-22, 23-25, 25-20 and 25-17 final set scores.

Rachel Ahrens, Tarah Wylie and Kayleigh Hames led the pack with double-figure kill performances to secure the victory. The three marked 15, 13 and 12 kills respectively, while Hana Lishman added 12 digs.  The Waves (1-2), currently receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll, impressed with 10 aces on the day.

BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 15 kills, .407 hitting %, 2 aces, 6 digs, 2 blocks (1 solo)
Kayleigh Hames (Maryville, Tenn./Webb School of Knoxville): 12 kills, .333 hitting %, 8 digs, 1 block
Tarah Wylie (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral HS): 13 kills, .571 hitting %, 3 aces, 4 blocks (1 solo)
Tayah Mahi (Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls HS): 44 assists, 7 digs, 1 kill, 1 block
Hana Lishman (Kailua, Hawai'i/Punahou School): 12 digs, 4 aces
Shannon Scully (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Utah): 7 kills, 6 digs, 1 ace, 2 blocks
Alli O'Harra (Boise, Idaho/Centennial HS): 8 kills, .353 hitting %, 3 blocks (1 solo)
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 5 digs, 3 assists

WAVES VS. REDBIRDS
Pepperdine led the match with 56 kills on a .318 hitting percentage, while Illinois State posted 48 kills on a .209 output. The Waves also led with an impressive 10 aces, compared to five from across the net, while the opposition led with 50 digs and 9.0 blocks to Pepperdine's 47 digs and 8.0 blocks.

PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          13        2          31        .355
2          15        4          35        .314
3          16        4          3          .353
4          12        4          32        .250
TTL      56        14        132      .318

ILLINOIS STATE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          11        4          31        .226
2          15        5          37        .270
3          12        3          31        .290
4          10        9          30        .033
TTL      48        21        129      .209

PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves came out ready to play on day two of the North Texas Challenge, and despite an 8-5 deficit in the opening moments against the Redbirds, Pepperdine counted with kills from Shannon Scully and multiple aces from Tarah Wylie to tie the set at 15's. Scully laid down another smash and followed it up with an ace, before freshman Kayleigh Hames recorded a pair of kills herself to extend the Waves' lead to 23-19. In the final moments, Hames would put down another smash and the Waves forced multiple attack errors to close the set with a 25-22 win.

Illinois State came out swinging in the second set, amassing a 14-7 lead over the Waves early on, but Pepperdine refused to roll over so quickly and kills from Rachel Ahrens, Wylie and Hames helped the cause en route to a 14-14 tied score.   The Waves then pulled ahead by two, before the opposition countered to tie the set again. Each side would then go point-for-point en route to a 23-23 tie, but the Redbirds were able to put up a kill and a block to close the set and move the game into the third.

In the next set, Pepperdine gained an early edge with a 7-3 lead fueled by Wylie with multiple kills and a block collaboration with Scully. The Waves continued to pound down towards 13-8 and 20-17 leads throughout. In the final moments, Hana Lishman put down a pair of aces and Ahrens recorded a pair of smashes to finish the set 25-20 and put the team ahead 2-1.

In the fourth and final set, Pepperdine once again opened with a strong performance on the attack, seeing kills from Scully and Hames and following with a block from Alli O'Harra and Scully to put the Waves ahead 10-5. The Waves continued to bring in a big service with another ace from Rachel Ahrens and late in the set held a 22-17 lead. Kills from Scully and Ahrens and an opposition error closed the set with a 25-17 Waves win for the four-set victory.

STATS & TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES FROM DAY ONE
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.

NEXT UP
Next, the Waves return home to Malibu to host the Pepperdine Tournament, featuring California Baptist, Fairfield and Texas A&M on September 5-7 in Firestone Fieldhouse.

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.