Tigers Stun #23 Waves with Five-Set Road Loss

Thursday, October 7

Stockton, Calif.

7:00 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

12-2,4-1WCC

Pacific

7-10,4-2WCC

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Pepperdine	25	20	25	23	13	2
Pacific	21	25	22	25	15	3

Photo by: Morgan Davenport

10/7/2021 10:18:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

By: by Athletic Communications

STOCKTON, Calif. — The #23 Pepperdine women's volleyball team was felled by West Coast Conference opponent Pacific on Thursday night with a shocking 3-2 upset at Alex G. Spanos Center. Each side split the first two sets 25-21, 20-25, 25-22 and 23-25 to force a fifth, but a 15-13 win would be the final set score in favor of the Tigers.

It's the Waves second loss of the season as the squad is now 12-2 overall and 4-1 in league action. Rachel Ahrens marked her 8^th career double-double with an impressive 27 kills on a .328 clip with 17 digs, three aces and three blocks. Madison Shields also tabbed a season-high 24 digs in the effort.

BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 27 kills, .328 hitting %, 3 aces, 17 digs, 3 blocks
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 14 kills, 1 block
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 38 assists, 9 digs, 1 ace, 1 block
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 24 digs, 3 assists, 1 ace
Kayla Joyce (Chico, Calif./Pleasant Valley HS/FRC/CSU Chico): 11 digs, 3 assists
Rosie Ballo (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills HS): 6 blocks, 3 kills
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 8 kills, 3 blocks, 2 digs
Emma Ammerman (Parker, Colo./Chaparral HS): 3 kills, 3 blocks
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 12 digs
Lily Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian HS): 10 assists, 1 ace

WAVES VS. TIGERS
Pacific led the match with 67 kills on a .239 hitting percentage, while Pepperdine amassed 60 kills on a .198 output. Each side picked up nine blocks, while the Tigers led 83 to 78 in digs and seven to six in aces.

PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          18        4          29        .483
2          9          8          42        .024
3          13        6          46        .152
4          12        2          41        .244
5          8          4          21        .190
TTL      60        24        182      .198

PACIFIC ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          11        4          24        .292
2          12        6          40        .150
3          16        6          40        .250
4          21        7          53        .264
5          6          2          14        .286
TTL      67        25        176      .239

PLAY-BY-PLAY
In the first set, Grace Chillingworth and Rachel Ahrens put in quite a show, marking five and six kills apiece to help the cause. Though it stayed close throughout, Pepperdine held the edge and big smashes on the outside were solid for the Waves, as the squad took the first set 25-21.

Pacific took the first few points in the second set and used it to pull ahead 4-2. A pair of kills from Ahrens and Rosie Ballo pulled the Waves into a tie with the Tigers. Pacific was able to pull ahead and used it to win the set 25-20 and tie the overall.

The third set was close yet again and a big start by Ahrens pushed the Waves to a marginal 12-10 lead. Later in the set over five Waves had three or more smashes fueled by Isabel Zelaya dishing out solid assists. After a 21-16 lead in the set, three more near-consecutive kills from Ahrens won the set 25-22 in the Waves favor.

Pacific came out intent on extending the match to five sets in the fourth, pulling 8-4 and then working to a 17-12 lead towards the back half of the set. More kills in the set had the Tigers leading by five, 22-17, but the Waves tried to keep in it. Pepperdine brought the score within three with a 23-20 deficit on kills from Meg Brown and Chillingworth and a attack error from across the net followed by an Ahrens, Brown block collaboration brought the squad within one point. Pacific would get the edge, however, as the Tigers closed out the set 25-23 to force a fifth.

Pepperdine took the first two points of the set, but Pacific took over control to pull ahead 5-3. Kills from Chillingworth and an attack error from across the net tied things up at 6-apiece, but the Tigers once again pulled ahead by two. The opposition then worked to an 11-8 lead, but back-to-back kills and an ace from Ahrens put the Waves away by one point, 11-10. Though the Waves were able to come within one at 14-13, the opposition put a final kill down to take the 15-13 set win and 3-2 league upset.

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.