MALIBU, Calif. — The #23 Pepperdine women's volleyball team hits the road to head up North once again this season, this time set to face Pacific and Saint Mary's on Thursday and Saturday.
 
MATCH #14 — Thursday (October 7) at Alex G. Spanos Center in Stockton, Calif.: #23 Pepperdine at Pacific at 7 p.m. PT. | Watch: WCC Network.
 
MATCH #15 — Saturday (October 9) at UCU Pavilion in Moraga, Calif.: #23 Pepperdine at Saint Mary's at 1 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.
 
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 1,116 kills, she ranks 14th in the Pepperdine women's volleyball career record books.  She also has put in 132 career aces during her time with the Waves which ties for 3rd in the Pepperdine records.
 
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 4.26 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 10.52 career assists/set and 7th with 2,345 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.
 
SQUAD GOALS — The Waves have gone 12-1 overall and 4-0 in the West Coast Conference this season to sit atop the league standings alongside BYU and San Diego.  As a team, Pepperdine averages 13.67 kills per set on a .259 hitting percentage, while amassing 12.56 assists, 1.73 aces, 12.17 digs and 2.18 blocks per set.  The Waves give up 11.52 kills per set on a .221 attacking percentage, along with 10.63 assists, 1.31 aces, 11.37 digs and 2.18 blocks per set to opponents as well. 
 
Rachel Ahrens leads the Waves with 4.65 kills/set and 0.58 aces/set this season after amassing 242 smashes on a .281 clip and 30 aces thus far.  Grace Chillingworth and Meg Brown are next for the slingers with 3.02 and 2.42 kills/set respectively.  Brown also adds a .310 success rate, 0.33 aces/set and 0.94 blocks/set for the Waves as well.  Rosie Ballo leads the squad at the net with 1.13 blocks/set, having amassed 52 total blocks with four solo rejections.  Madison Shields holds down the back row with 3.58 digs/set, totaling a team-high 186 digs, while Trinity Stanger and Kayla Joyce add 1.87 and 1.73 digs/set respectively.  Isabel Zelaya is the primary playmaker for the Waves with 10.90 assists/set and 567 total assists this season so far.  She has also added 1.50 digs/set and 0.67 blocks/set to help the effort.
 
LAST WEEK — Pepperdine went 2-0 last week, first sweeping past Portland before taking down PCH Cup rival LMU in a five-set battle in Firestone Fieldhouse.  Against the Pilots, the Waves hit for an impressive .420 success rate throughout with 45 kills and three players in double-figures.  The team allowed the opposition only 27 kills on a .192 clip throughout the match as well.  The Waves led 5.0 to 2.0 in blocks, 34 to 21 in digs and eight to six in aces.  Rachel Ahrens led the squad with 14 kills on a .458 clip and amassed her 3rd double-double of the season with 12 digs and an ace as well.  Grace Chillingworth and Meg Brown also impressed with 10 smashes apiece, Chillingworth along with two aces and five digs and Brown with a career-high .600 success rate, two blocks and an ace.  Isabel Zelaya led the team with 35 assists and added seven digs and a tied team-best three blocks along with Rosie Ballo.
 
In the five-set thriller against the Lions, the Waves led in aces 10 to six, while the home team posted 15.0 blocks and the visitor's 15.5 blocks.  LMU led with 68 kills on a .220 success rate, with 52 digs as well, while Pepperdine was good for 48 digs and 59 kills on a .162 output.  Ahrens and Chillingworth tabbed 18 kills, a career-best for the freshman.  Madison Shields posted a season-best 23 digs, while Zelaya once again led the pack with 48 assists and added six blocks, three aces and four kills to the all-around effort.  Ballo and Brown led the squad with seven blocks, each with one solo rejection as well.
 
THE COMPETITION — Pepperdine leads Pacific with a 21-15 all-time record against, dating back to the 1977 campaign when the Waves took a 2-0 decision for the win.  Pepperdine is currently on a four-match winning streak against the Tigers and won both last season, first in four and then in five sets. This season, the Tigers have gone 6-10 overall and 3-2 in the league.   The Tigers are currently on a three-match winning streak with victories over USF, Portland and Gonzaga.

The Waves hold an impressive 52-16 overall record against Saint Mary's, dating back to 1987 when the Waves won 3-0 on the road.  Pepperdine won the first 14-straight matches before the Gaels took a win in 1994.  In the past 10-matches, the Waves have gone 8-2 against, including a pair of wins on the road last season, first in three and then in four sets.  This season, the Gaels have gone 8-6 overall and 2-3 in the league thus far.  SMC opened conference action with a pair of sweeps from then-ranked #11 BYU and #25 San Diego, but have since tabbed five-set wins over Portland and Santa Clara, as well as a 3-1 loss at Gonzaga.