MALIBU, Calif. — The #24 Pepperdine women's volleyball team faces a tough week against West Coast Conference opponents, welcoming #22 San Diego and #8 BYU to Firestone Fieldhouse for a pair of battles among some of the league's top teams.
 
MATCH #16 — Thursday (October 14) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #24 Pepperdine vs. #22 San Diego at 7 p.m. PT. | Watch: WCC Network. | DiG Pink Match: Wear Pink!
 
MATCH #17 — Saturday (October 16) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #24 Pepperdine vs. #8 BYU at 12 p.m. PT. | Watch: WCC Network.
 
LIVE COVERAGE — Live stats will be available for all road and home matches and each match will air on the WCC Network. Links can be found on PepperdineWaves.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA — Follow @WavesVolleyball on Twitter for updates and check out PepperdineWaves.com and Facebook (/WavesVolleyball) for releases and more information.
 
CHICK-FIL-A — Free Chick-Fil-A will be provided to students.
 
TICKETS & SPECTATOR GUIDELINES — Tickets to all Pepperdine home women's volleyball matches in 2021 will be available via e-ticket ONLY. Patrons must purchase tickets to any event prior to arriving on campus. Individuals without tickets to an event will not be allowed on campus. Pepperdine faculty, staff and students must show Pepperdine ID card for entry — no ticket purchase is required.
 
To purchase e-tickets and read the spectator guidelines, visit: www.PepperdineWaves.com/Tickets. Due to campus construction, nearby parking is limited and guests are advised to arrive early.
 
Each match costs $10 for adults, $8 for seniors (65+) and $5 for children and non-Pepperdine students. 
 
DIG PINK! — Thursday's match against San Diego will be the Waves' Dig Pink match.  In recognition of the fight against Breast Cancer, the team will be wearing pink jerseys.  Fans are encouraged to wear their best pink outfits to join the Waves' efforts as well.
 
MILESTONES & RECORD WATCH — Rachel Ahrens marked a tied career-high 27 kills in the Waves match against #9 Washington this season and in doing so, she surpassed the 1,000 career-kill mark.  She became the 21st Wave to have accomplished the feat and now with 1,158 kills, she ranks 13th in the Pepperdine women's volleyball career record books. 
 
She also has put in 138 career aces during her time with the Waves which ties for 3rd in the Pepperdine records.  She is nine aces away from becoming the Pepperdine women's volleyball program's career ace leader.  As for the record books, Ahrens has racked up quite a few mentions throughout.  So far, she ranks atop the career Pepperdine records with 0.42 aces/set, and 7th with 4.31 points/set.  Her points/set output makes her the first Wave to crack the points/set top-10 records since Julie Rubenstein did so from 2005-08.  Ahrens also ranks 1st after tabbing 49 total aces in 2019, 2nd in the single-season rally scoring single-season records with 0.44 aces/set, 4th with 4.44 kills/set and 5th with 5.13 points/set. 
 
Isabel Zelaya ranks 6th with 10.45 career assists/set and 9th with 2,414 total assists.  To cap off the single-season rally scoring records, Madison Shields ranked tied-7th in 2020 with 4.22 digs/set last season.  She also tied for 3rd in the single-match records with 34 digs - both in five sets and overall.  Shields has amassed 915 total digs thus far and is rapidly approaching the 1,000-career dig mark.
 
SQUAD GOALS — The Waves have gone 13-2 overall this season and 5-1 in West Coast Conference action.  The squad boasts 4-1 and 5-1 record at home and on the road and remains untarnished at 4-0 in a neutral setting.  As a team, Pepperdine averages 13.58 kills per set on a .255 success rate, while giving up 11.52 kills per set on a .220 output.  The Waves add 12.47 assists, 1.82 aces, 12.40 digs and 2.12 blocks per set, and allow opponents 10.57 assists, 1.28 aces, 11.62 digs and 2.14 blocks per set on average.
 
Rachel Ahrens leads the squad with a remarkable 4.73 kills and 0.60 aces per set, after having marked 284 smashes on a .287 clip along with 36 aces.  She adds 1.92 digs and 0.55 blocks per set in an all-around effort.  Also slinging for the Waves are Grace Chillingworth and Meg Brown with 3.03 and 2.33 kills/set respectively.  Brown does so with 0.33 aces and 0.92 blocks/set for her team as well.  Rosie Ballo leads the squad with 1.11 blocks/set after having posted 60 total blocks with four solo rejections. 
 
Isabel Zelaya leads in the playmaking duties with 636 total assists to average 10.60 assists/set.  She also puts in 0.62 blocks, 1.53 digs and 0.42 kills per set.  Madison Shields, Kayla Joyce and Trinity Stanger lead in the back row with 3.67, 1.83 and 1.83 digs/set respectively.  Shields adds 0.20 aces and 0.80 assists per set and leads the team with 220 total digs so far.  Joyce has amassed 108 digs and 18 aces to average 0.31 aces/set and Stanger has posted 110 digs and 11 aces this season.
 
LAST WEEK — The Waves were downed in five for the squad's first WCC loss this season at Pacific.  Though each side marked 9.0 blocks, the opposition led with 67 kills on a .239 output compared to the Waves' 60 kills on a .198 clip to take the win.  Rachel Ahrens led with 27 kills, one shy of her career-high and a number she has tallied three times throughout her career, on a .328 success rate.  She also added a double-double with 17 digs and put in three aces and blocks.  Grace Chillingworth put in 14 kills and Rosie Ballo led with six blocks.  Madison Shields had a team-high 24 digs and Isabel Zelaya did most of the playmaking with 38 assists.
 
In the Saturday match, Pepperdine dominated Saint Mary's in three to make quick work of the Gaels with 44 kills on a .289 success rate.  The opposition marked 25 kills on a .158 hitting percentage.  The Waves also lead 13 to two in aces and 33 to 23 in digs for the victory.  Ahrens and Chillingworth led with 15 and 11 kills respectively, while Ahrens posted another three aces and Chillingworth added three blocks.  Meg Brown had three blocks as well, and she and Madison Shields also tabbed three aces.  Shields led the back row with 10 digs and Zelaya led with 31 assists, while each Trinity Stanger and Kayla Joyce amassed two aces as well.
 
THE COMPETITION — This is notably the toughest week in West Coast Conference volleyball, as the Waves welcome both #22 San Diego and #8 BYU to Firestone Fieldhouse for a matchup.  The Toreros and Cougars lead the WCC and have both gone undefeated in the league thus far. 
 
All-time against San Diego, the Waves lead 43-33 dating back to 1979 when the Waves won 3-0 at home.  After that, Pepperdine went on 20-match winning streak against the Toreros through 1992 including 14 straight-sweeps and only two lost sets throughout.  Last season, Pepperdine and USD each took a four-set win in San Diego.  This season, the Toreros have gone 12-3 overall and 6-0 in the WCC, with losses to #1 Texas, #19 Utah and Long Beach State.  Last week, the team beat both Gonzaga and Portland in straight sets.
 
BYU leads 29-8 all-time, beginning in 1976 when the Waves won in two.  The Cougars had a 16-match winning streak through the 2019 season which the Waves snapped with a sweep at home last season.  Though Pepperdine won the first match up last year, BYU was able to win the second in five - both were in Firestone.  This season, the Cougars have gone 16-1 overall and 6-0 in the league, losing only to then-ranked #4 Pitt on the road.  Since that loss, the Cougars have not dropped a set in nine matches to go 27-0 in sets played.  Last week, the defeated both Portland and Gonzaga at home.