MALIBU, Calif. — Though the #24 Pepperdine women's volleyball team took the first set 25-21 over #8 BYU in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday afternoon, the Cougars would answer with 25-19, 25-10 and 25-16 set wins to earn the overall victory.
The Waves had two players with double-digit kills, but the Cougars had four players achieve the feat and collectively posted a .346 hitting percentage for the victory. Pepperdine drops to 13-4 overall and 5-3 in the league, while BYU climbs to 18-1 and 8-0 in the WCC.
BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 11 kills, 2 aces, 9 digs, 2 blocks
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 12 kills, 2 blocks
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 35 assists, 3 blocks, 2 digs, 2 kills
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 18 digs
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 7 kills, 7 blocks
Emma Ammerman (Parker, Colo./Chaparral HS): 8 kills, 3 digs, 1 block
Kayla Joyce (Chico, Calif./Pleasant Valley HS/FRC/CSU Chico): 8 digs
Rosie Ballo (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills HS): 4 kills
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 4 digs, 1 ace
Kayleigh Hames (Maryville, Tenn./Webb School of Knoxville): 2 aces
WAVES VS. COUGARS
Though the numbers were extremely similar through the first two sets, the Cougars busted out of the starting gate in the third, amassing a .407 clip with 12 kills against the Waves in the set while allowing only six kills on a -.062 clip, resulting in a momentum grab and energy shift. Overall, the opposition marked 57 kills on a .346 output, while the Waves posted 44 smashes on a .135 success rate. Each side tallied five aces, but BYU led 11.0 to 8.0 and 65-50 in blocks and digs to secure the win.
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct
1 15 3 43 .279
2 15 5 40 .250
3 6 8 32 -.062
4 8 8 33 .000
TTL 44 24 148 .135
BYU ATTACK BY SET
Set K E TA Pct
1 15 7 41 .195
2 15 3 29 .414
3 12 1 27 .407
4 15 2 30 .433
TTL 57 13 127 .346
PLAY-BY-PLAY
BYU had the first two points of the game, giving them a slight edge, but kills from
Grace Chillingworth and a block from
Meg Brown and
Isabel Zelaya countered for a 6-6 tie. A pair of attack errors from across the net helped the cause, along with another block from Brown and Chillingworth and more kills from
Rachel Ahrens gave the Waves a 13-10 lead. Kills from
Emma Ammerman and
Rosie Ballo forced a BYU timeout early on and an ace from Ahrens gave the home team a comfortable 16-11 lead. The Waves kept attacking and kills from Brown, Ahrens and
Rosie Ballo put the squad in a position to close. Pepperdine capitalized with a block from Chillingworth and Ballo for the 25-21 first set victory.
The Cougars answered in the second set and though the opening plays were back and forth, a few blocks from across the net put the opposition ahead 13-10. A kill from each Ahrens and Chillingworth, followed by a Brown, Ammerman block collaboration tied things up, but BYU put down a few kills to pull ahead yet again. Pepperdine answered with more smashes from Chillingworth and Brown to tie the match at 16's, but the Cougars found the floor yet again. The Waves had a few plays to stay competitive in the set, but the opposition finished things off 25-19 to tie the overall.
The third set opened with BYU taking two points and the Waves countering with Ahrens' second ace of the day and an Ammerman kill, but that would be as close as it would get. The Cougars went on a 9-0 run to pull ahead and it would be a lead the home team would be unable to overcome as BYU went on to win the set 25-10.
Pepperdine came out ready to fight in the fourth set, but a big attack effort put BYU ahead 12-7. It was another lead the Waves would be unable to overcome as the Cougars worked ahead to a 25-16 final set score for the 3-1 overall victory.
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.
