Box Score LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Senior Rachel Ahrens highlighted the #25 Pepperdine women's volleyball team's sweep over PCH Cup rival LMU on Friday night in the Gersten Pavilion, as she became the program's all-time career ace leader with 148 career aces.  The Waves went on to sweep past the Lions with 33-31, 25-22 and 25-23 set scores.
 
The previous all-time career ace record was set by Pepperdine great Nicole Sanderson, who accomplished the 147-ace feat from 1994-1997.  Ahrens, who tabbed four aces in the match, had also set Pepperdine's single-season ace record at 49 in the 2019 season and currently has marked 46 aces and counting this season. 
 
Along with her four aces to impact the Pepperdine record books, Ahrens also led the floor with 17 kills.  Isabel Zelaya posted her 16^th career double-double by tabbing 32 assists and 12 digs.  Madison Shields led the Waves in the back row with 17 digs, putting her career total at 998 digs as well. 

Pepperdine advances to 16-4 overall and 8-3 in the West Coast Conference.


 
BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 17 kills, 4 aces, 4 digs
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 32 assists, 12 digs, 2 blocks, 2 aces, 2 kills
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 17 digs, 5 assists
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 7 kills, .500 hitting %, 2 blocks
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 9 digs, 2 aces
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 7 kills
Emma Ammerman (Parker, Colo./Chaparral HS): 6 kills
Kayla Joyce (Chico, Calif./Pleasant Valley HS/FRC/CSU Chico): 6 digs
 
WAVES VS. LIONS
Pepperdine tallied 41 aces on a .158 clip, while allowing the opposition 43 kills on a .229 output.  Though the Lions led 12.0 to 2.0 in blocks, the Waves massed eight aces to two and 50 digs to 47 for the road victory.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        8          40        .200
2          8          7          37        .027
3          17        7          43        .233
TTL      41        22        120      .158
 
LMU ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          19        4          42        .357
2          11        7          34        .118
3          13        5          42        .190
TTL      43        16        118      .229
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
The first set of the match was close for both sides as the Waves and Lions exchanged points through a majority, including 5-5, 12-12, 16-16 and even 22-22 tied scores.  With 20 tied scores and seven lead changes, the Waves gained the first edge after a kill from Rachel Ahrens put the squad up by one 24-23.  LMU countered and pulled ahead, but Pepperdine was able to fight through seven set-point opportunities to tie things up 31-31 with an error from across the net.  A big block from Isabel Zelaya and Meg Brown put the Waves in a position to close and put Ahrens at the service line.  She marked her third ace of the set, her 147^th career ace which tied the previous Pepperdine women's volleyball career ace leader.
 
The second set was close in the beginning and saw eight tied scores and three lead changes throughout as well.  After a 5-5 tied score, the Lions started to pull away to a 10-6 lead.  It would be short-lived, however, as the Waves rallied back with a quick run to tie the score at 13's courtesy of attack errors from across the net and smashes from Emma Ammerman.  Pepperdine kept pulling ahead with more smashes to put Ahrens at the service line once again, and she would capitalize, posting her fourth ace of the night to give Pepperdine an 18-14 lead.  With the ace, she also became Pepperdine women's volleyball career ace leader with 148 aces and counting.  The Waves continued to pull ahead and kills from Ahrens and Ammerman closed things out 25-22.
 
The third set was vastly different from the previous two.   After a 7-7 tied score, the Waves put down big smashes from Ahrens, Ammerman and Chillingworth and capitalized on numerous errors from LMU to pull ahead 20-11.  Pepperdine reached a 21-14 lead, but the opposition was able to start close the gap to 23-22 with a strong attack presence of their own.  Though LMU closed the gap, the Waves were not going to give anything up and a final smash from Ahrens closed things down with a 25-23 set win for the sweep over PCH Cup rival LMU.
 
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.