SAN DIEGO, Calif. — After falling behind with a pair of first set losses, the Pepperdine women's volleyball team rallied to reverse sweep #19 San Diego in Jenny Craig Pavilion on Saturday afternoon. 
 
After falling behind with 25-19 and 25-17 set losses, Pepperdine rallied to take sets three and four 25-21 and 25-20 to force a fifth.  San Diego came out of the break to pull ahead 5-3 into the fifth, but the Waves countered with kills from Rachel Ahrens and Grace Chillingworth to tie things up.  After trading points to a 7-7 tied score, more kills from Ahrens and Emma Ammerman put the squad ahead by one, 8-7.  It was a see-saw battle towards the end with the Waves pulling ahead for match-point opportunities three times and challenges on both sides throughout. 
 
After a 15-15 tied score, the Waves settled in and remained calm, fighting off a tough USD offense, but eventually capitalizing on a pair of Toreros' attack errors to claim the 17-15 win and the reverse sweep upset victory.
 
Isabel Zelaya impressed with her 17^th career double-double, and the third she's tabbed this season, by amassing 46 assists and a tied career-high 17 digs, along with five perfect kills and ace.  She dished the Waves to a .205 success rate on 64 kills, including above .333 hitting percentages in the third and fourth sets to help turn things around, while spreading out the offense to eight Waves with at least one kill. 
 
Rachel Ahrens tabbed 27 kills, while Grace Chillingworth put in 19 smashes.  Madison Shields also put in a strong defensive effort with 19 digs and five assists for Pepperdine.
 
The Waves improve to 19-5 overall and 11-4 in West Coast Conference action with the victory.  Pepperdine will have three final matches, all played at home, facing San Francisco, Santa Clara and Gonzaga next Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday respectively.
 
BIG WAVES
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 46 assists, 17 digs, 5 kills, 1.00 hitting %, 1 ace
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 27 kills, 4 digs, 1 block solo, 1 ace
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 19 kills
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 18 digs, 5 assists, 1 kill
Kayla Joyce (Chico, Calif./Pleasant Valley HS/FRC/CSU Chico): 10 digs, 1 ace, 3 assists
Emma Ammerman (Parker, Colo./Chaparral HS): 3 kills, 5 blocks, 1 ace
Rosie Ballo (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills HS): 3 kills, 2 blocks
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 9 digs
 
WAVES VS. TOREROS
Pepperdine put in 64 kills on a .205 clip throughout the match, while giving up only 50 kills on a .230 clip to the opposition.  Though the Toreros led the match 17.0 blocks to 6.0, the Waves led six to five in aces and 62 and 57 in digs.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          9          9          33        .000
2          11        6          34        .147
3          16        5          32        .344
4          15        5          30        .333
5          13        5          37        .240
TTL      60        28        154      .208
 
SAN DIEGO ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          6          6          29        .000
2          14        2          31        .387
3          13        1          25        .480
4          10        6          28        .143
5          4          0          15        .267
TTL      47        15        128      .250
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
Each side came out trading points early, but kills from Grace Chillingworth and an ace from Isabel Zelaya helped put the Waves up by three, 7-4.  Pepperdine stayed ahead until the 10-7 mark, but San Diego countered to tie things up at 11's.  USD then pulled ahead by five-points and used the momentum to take the set 25-19. 
 
San Diego used the momentum from the first set win to carry ahead into the second set, building an 11-6 lead early on.  The home team used it to work ahead to a 21-14 advantage based on a strong block effort.  The Waves would be unable to overcome the deficit and San Diego finished it off with a 25-17 score to head into the third with the 2-0 lead.
 
Kills from Ahrens and Zelaya put the Waves up 5-3 quickly in the third set, but the Toreros stayed close behind and eventually tied things up at 10-apiece.  Kills from Zelaya and Meg Brown build the Waves lead back up to three-points, 14-11 and another Zelaya kill and an ace from Brown helped push the lead to 17-12.  Though USD came within one point 21-20, Pepperdine gained the edge with three kills from Ahrens, along with her 49^th ace of the season to pull ahead 24-21.  A smash from Brown earned Pepperdine the 25-21 set win to force a fourth.
 
Carrying the momentum from the previous set, the Waves posted smashes from Grace Chillingworth and Rosie Ballo, along with a Ballo, Emma Ammerman block presence to pull ahead 9-4 early.  Pepperdine kept on swinging to build the lead to six points, 14-8.  After a 16-11 lead, San Diego started closing the gap themselves, however, bringing the score to 16-16.  Kills from Chillingworth brought the Waves' lead back to three at 20-17 and later a block from Reagan Goeke and Ammerman helped the squad maintain at 22-17.  With the energy on the Waves side of the court, Pepperdine continued to pound down with kills from Chillingworth and Ahrens helping the effort en route to a 25-20 set score to force the fifth and final set.
 
After the break and a big see-saw battle, the Waves would fight to overcome the Toreros with a 17-15 final set score.
 
FOLLOW
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