MORAGA, Calif. — The #23 Pepperdine women's volleyball team made quick work of West Coast Conference opponent Saint Mary's at UCU Pavilion on Saturday afternoon, taking one hour and 15 minutes to sweep past the Gaels 25-20, 25-15, 25-13. 
 
The Waves amassed 13 aces throughout the day, including two or more from five separate players.  The ace effort was led by three aces from Rachel Ahrens, Meg Brown and Madison Shields – a career-high for Brown and Shields.
 
Pepperdine is now 13-2 overall and 5-1 in the West Coast Conference.  The Waves will return home on Thursday and Saturday next week to host #25 San Diego and #9 BYU.
 
BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 15 kills, .323 hitting %, 3 aces, 3 digs, 1 block
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 11 kills, .333 hitting %, 3 blocks
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 31 assists, 5 digs, 1 block
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 10 digs, 5 assists, 3 aces
Kayla Joyce (Chico, Calif./Pleasant Valley HS/FRC/CSU Chico): 9 digs, 2 aces
Rosie Ballo (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills HS): 2 blocks, 6 kills, .556 hitting %
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 3 blocks, 3 aces, 6 kills, 2 digs
Emma Ammerman (Parker, Colo./Chaparral HS): 5 kills, .308 hitting %
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 2 aces
 
WAVES VS. GAELS
Pepperdine led in nearly every aspect of the match against Saint Mary's, posting 44 kills on a .289 hitting percentage, while the opposition tallied 25 kills on a .158 output.  The Waves also led 13 to two in aces and 33 to 23 in digs, while the Gaels led 6.0 to 5.0 in blocks throughout the match.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        9          34        .147
2          16        4          33        .364
3          14        3          30        .367
TTL      44        16        97        .289
 
SAINT MARY'S ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          9          4          26        .192
2          8          1          25        .280
3          8          8          25        .000
TTL      25        13        76        .158
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Though Saint Mary's picked up the first point of the match, Pepperdine quickly went on a 4-0 run with kills from Grace Chillingworth and Meg Brown and an ace from Trinity Stanger.  The Gaels were able to tie the score at 5-overall, though and briefly take a three-point lead 9-6.  Kills and an ace from Rachel Ahrens brought the Waves back into things, tying the score again at 9's before smashes from Emma Ammerman and Chillingworth worked the squad ahead.  Multiple kills from Ahrens and an ace from Madison Shields put Pepperdine in a five-point lead and an error from across the net followed by another Ahrens smash closed the set 25-20.
 
The Waves worked off the momentum from the first set to quickly pull ahead 11-7 and set the tone for the second set.  Back-to-back aces from Brown and numerous kills from Ahrens helped the cause.  Shields garnered another pair of aces throughout the set to set a new career high and give the Waves a seven-point lead at 20-13.  Ahrens hit the service line in the final moments of the set after picking up three more smashes and she put two aces down for a 25-15 Pepperdine set victory and her second three-ace performance in as many matches.
 
The Waves were not fooling around in the third set either, quickly picking up a Kayla Joyce ace and multiple smashes from Rosie Ballo and Chillingworth to mark a 10-6 lead.  Stanger's second ace of the match kept the Waves moving forward and a big block from Chillingworth and Brown advanced the Waves lead to 15-9.  More solid serving performances from Stanger and Brown who each tabbed another ace kept Pepperdine working towards a 21-10 lead late in the set.  A kill from Ballo, followed by a block collaboration from Ballo and Ahrens put the Waves in a position to win the match and a couple Gaels' errors would finish things off with a 25-13 set win and the 3-0 overall sweep for Pepperdine.
 
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.