#25 Women's Volleyball to Face Gonzaga, Portland

MALIBU, Calif. — The #25 Pepperdine women's volleyball team is back on the road this week finishing up the first round of West Coast Conference play and starting the next as the Waves face Gonzaga for the first time and Portland for the second time this season.

MATCH #18 — Thursday (October 21) at Charlotte Y. Martin Centre.: #25 Pepperdine vs. Gonzaga at 6 p.m. PT. | Watch: WCC Network.

MATCH #19 — Saturday (October 23) at Chiles Center in Portland, Ore.: #25 Pepperdine vs. Portland at 12 p.m. PT. | Watch: WCC Network | DiG Pink Match

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.

TICKETS & SPECTATOR GUIDELINES — At Gonzaga, tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for seniors/youth and $4 for groups of 20 or more. On September 20, Gonzaga Athletics announced that proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 tests will be required for entry to all ticketed Athletics events. More information for Gonzaga ticket information here: https://gowav.es/3ji36Pi.

The match at Portland will be free to all, but once again the Pilots announced that proof of vaccination or negative COVID-19 tests will be required for entry to all ticketed Athletics events. More information for Portland ticket information here: https://gowav.es/3aV3fUe.

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 1,184 kills, she ranks 13th in the Pepperdine women's volleyball career record books.

She also has put in 143 career aces during her time with the Waves which ranks 2nd in the Pepperdine records. She is four aces away from tying and five 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 0.43 aces/set, and 7th with 4.29 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 10.48 career assists/set and 9th with 2,515 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 956 total digs thus far and is rapidly approaching the 1,000-career dig mark.

SQUAD GOALS — Pepperdine has gone 13-4 overall and 5-3 in the league this season, including a 4-3 output when playing in Firestone Fieldhouse and 5-1 and 4-0 records when playing away or at neutral sites respectively. As a team, the Waves have amassed 13.54 kills/set on a .245 clip, while allowing opponents 11.64 kills/set on a .229 success rate. Pepperdine adds 12.48 assists, 1.78 aces, 12.55 digs and 2.04 blocks per set respectively, while giving up 10.68 assists, 1.29 aces, 11.87 digs and 2.25 blocks per set.

Rachel Ahrens leads the Waves with 4.49 kills on a .255 hitting percentage, while adding 0.59 aces, 1.96 digs and 0.52 blocks per set in an all-around effort. Grace Chillingworth and Meg Brown also sling heavily for the squad, with Chillingworth adding a .265 success rate on 3.13 kills/set and Brown putting up a .271 output on 2.33 kills/et, along with 0.29 aces/set and 0.93 blocks/set. Emma Ammerman helps the cause with 1.69 kills/set and Rosie Ballo leads at the net with 1.02 blocks/set after having tabbed 64 blocks with four solo rejections.

Isabel Zelaya is the primary playmaker for Pepperdine with 737 total assists and 10.68 assists/set. She also picks up 1.49 digs and 0.59 blocks per set. Madison Shields, Kayla Joyce and Trinity Stanger also help the cause in the back row. Shields leads with 3.78 digs/set after having amassed 261 total digs and is second on the team with 54 assists and 0.78 assists/set. Joyce and Stanger each have marked 1.81 digs/set, while Joyce has put up 123 digs and 20 aces to average 0.29 aces/set and Stanger has put in 125 digs along with 15 aces for 0.22 aces/set.

LAST WEEK — The Waves had two hard-fought matches against then-ranked #22 San Diego and #8 BYU, taking the Toreros to five and the Cougars to four in Firestone Fieldhouse. The Waves split the first four sets with USD 21-25, 25-19, 21-25, 27-25 to force a fifth and though each side went to 13, the opposition pulled away for the 15-13 win. Pepperdine amassed 75 kills on a .226 clip, with nine aces and 72 digs, while the Toreros were good for 55 kills on a .245 success rate with seven aces and 57 digs. USD took the match on a strong block effort, however, posting 16.0 to 5.0 blocks against the Waves throughout. Grace Chillingworth led with a career-best 22 kills on a .327 output. Rachel Ahrens, Meg Brown and Emma Ammerman also hit for double-figure kills with 15, 14 and 13 respectively. Ahrens added 11 digs and three aces, while Brown and Ammerman posted .321 and .360 hitting percentages respectively. Isabel Zelaya led the team with a career-best 66 assists and Madison Shields led with 23 digs throughout. Trinity Stanger also amassed 11 digs and three aces, while Kayla Joyce put up seven digs and two aces. Rosie Ballo led the squad with three blocks.

After taking the first set 25-21 off BYU, the Waves fell 25-19, 25-10 and 25-16 to fall in four. Pepperdine marked 44 kills, five aces, 50 digs and 8.0 blocks, while the opposition was good for 57 kills on a .346 output with five aces, 65 digs and 11.0 blocks. Chillingworth and Ahrens led the attack with 12 and 11 kills respectively, while Ahrens and Kayleigh Hames added two aces apiece. Shields marked 18 digs and Zelaya put up 35 assists and three blocks. Brown led with seven blocks and added seven kills, while Ammerman also put in eight kills.

THE COMPETITION — Pepperdine holds impressive winning all-time records against each of the program's that will be faced this week, leading Gonzaga 60-8 all-time and Portland 63-6. The Waves first faced the Bulldogs in 1987, winning in three sets before taking the next 10-straight wins through the 1991 campaign. From 1997 to 2014, Pepperdine won 34-straight matches, including 25 by way of sweep. Since 2017, Pepperdine has won seven-consecutive matches, including three sweeps. This season, Gonzaga has gone 6-13 overall and 2-6 in the league, including wins over San Francisco and Saint Mary's and a most recent three-set loss to Santa Clara.

Pepperdine first faced Portland in 1987, winning 3-0 before taking the next nine-straight wins. The longest streak came from 1995 to 2015 when the Waves won 41-consecutive matches including 28 sweeps. Pepperdine had a 13-match streak of just sweeps during that time as well. In recent years, since 2017, the Waves have collected eight-straight wins, five with sweeps, including one sweep this season. This season, the Pilots have gone 5-12 overall and 2-6 in the league, with wins over Gonzaga and San Francisco. Most recently, Portland lost in five to Santa Clara in addition to the five-set win over the Dons.

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