MALIBU, Calif. — It may have been the sequel, but the plot was quite different on Wednesday night, as the Pepperdine women's volleyball team was forced to four sets against West Coast Conference opponent San Francisco in Firestone Fieldhouse.  The home team still came out on top, however, as the Waves picked up the attack effort late in the match, rallying from a 25-23 first set loss to take 31-29, 25-17 and 25-22 set wins for the victory.
 
Fueled by three players in double-figure kills and four with double-figure digs, including sophomore setter Isabel Zelaya with her second double-double in as many matches, Pepperdine improves to 2-0 on the season.  Rachel Ahrens led the effort with 18 smashes and a career-best 16 digs for her third-career double-double.
 
BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 18 kills, .306 hit%, 16 digs
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 46 assists, 12 digs, 6 blocks, 2 kills
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 18 digs, 5 assists, 1 ace
Shannon Scully (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Utah): 9 kills, 10 digs, 2 aces
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 12 kills, .588 hit%, 5 blocks
Emma Ammerman (Parker, Colo./Chaparral HS): 15 kills, .387 hit%
Alli O'Harra (Boise, Idaho/Centennial HS): 3 blocks, 3 kills
Kayleigh Hames (Maryville, Tenn./Webb School of Knoxville): 9 digs


 
WAVES VS. DONS
After a slow start to the offense in the first set, Pepperdine rallied back in the following sets, outperforming the Dons.  Though each side put down 61 kills on the night, the Waves posted a .278 success rate to the Dons' .221 clip to take the edge.  For the second-consecutive outing, Pepperdine led at the net with 8.0 blocks to 3.0 blocks, while the home team also amassed five aces and 73 digs to the opposition's two aces and 70 digs.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          9          5          37        .108
2          21        7          58        .241
3          15        1          31        .452
4          16        3          36        .361
TTL      61        16        162      .278
 
SAN FRANCISCO ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        9          49        .102
2          18        5          55        .236
3          12        4          33        .242
4          17        5          35        .343
TTL      61        23        172      .221
 


PLAY-BY-PLAY
Energy was low in Firestone to start the match and though the Waves fought throughout with 12 tied scores and five lead changes in the set, the Dons were able to gain the late edge and take the first set 25-23.
 
USF stayed tough in the second set, giving the Waves a challenge from start to finish and even leading early 11-8.  Pepperdine rallied back, however, with back-to-back smashes from Meg Brown to tie things up at 12's.  Each side went point-for-point after that, seeing 22 tied scores and nine lead changes in the set through 15-15, 21-21 and eventually 24-24 ties.  Pepperdine battled through two set-point opportunities for the opposition, but kept pounding down on the attack to gain the edge with kills from Shannon Scully and Rachel Ahrens.  USF fought through four set-point opportunities, but a pair of consecutive smashes from Brown in the fifth set-point option sealed their fate with a 31-29 set win for the Waves. 
 
After the momentum switched to Pepperdine's favor, the Waves came out hustling in the third set, quickly pulling ahead 5-3 with three kills from Emma Ammerman.  Errors from across the net helped the cause and Ahrens and Brown got back in on the attack action with multiple kills of their own to help the home squad pull ahead 15-9.  Though a few challenges were overturned in the Dons' favor, a sizeable 20-11 Waves' lead in the back half of the set had Pepperdine feeling confident.  Kayla Joyce found the floor for an Asics Ace and Alli O'Harra helped push her team towards set-point with a smash of her own.  A pair of Ahrens' kills closed down the set 25-17 and put the Waves into the fourth with a sense of urgency.  Pepperdine had 15 kills with only one error for a .452 clip in the third set alone
 
In the fourth and soon-to-be final set, Pepperdine again came out Malibu Roofing Company strong with back-to-back rejections from O'Harra and Isabel Zelaya.  Madison Shields kept feeding the ball from the back row, setting up the Waves for another strong attack effort throughout.  After multiple kills from O'Harra, Ammerman and Scully found the floor to push the Waves to a 20-14 lead down the back stretch, the energy was clearly back up and the Waves were looking to close.  USF brought the set within one-point at the 23-22 mark, but a kill from Brown, followed by a Brown, Zelaya block collaboration made quick work of that and Pepperdine was able to secure the 25-22 set win and 3-1 overall victory.
 
NEXT UP
Next Tuesday and Wednesday, February 2 and 3, the Waves will hit the road for their first trip up north, challenging Saint Mary's each day.
 
FOLLOW
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.