MALIBU, Calif. — The #25 Pepperdine women's volleyball team took care of business in Firestone Fieldhouse on Thursday night, dominating West Coast Conference opponent San Francisco with a straight-set victory. 
 
Prior to the match, senior Rachel Ahrens was honored with a commemorative ball marking her achievement as the Pepperdine women's volleyball program's all-time career ace leader, a feat she had surpassed earlier this season.  She was presented the honor by Head Coach Scott Wong and a message was played from the former career ace leader, Nicole Hannan (née Sanderson), who currently lives in Australia and had amassed 147 aces in 431 sets from 1994 to 1997.  Ahrens has tallied 151 aces in her career thus far since 2018 in 358 sets of action.
 
After crashing down on the opposition towards a 25-7 first set win, the Waves continued to impress with 25-13 and 25-15 set scores.  Pepperdine improved to 20-5 overall and 12-4 in the league.  It's the first 20-or-more win season since 2018, and the 22^nd season all-time for the program.
 
Pepperdine will honor six seniors on Saturday prior to the match against Santa Clara, with the broadcast going live at 11:55 a.m.  Ahrens, along with Rosie Ballo, Lily Dyer, Savana Greene, Kayla Joyce and Madison Shields will receive recognition.
 
BIG WAVES
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 10 kills, .562 hitting %, 4 blocks, 4 digs
Rosie Ballo (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills HS): 7 blocks, 8 kills, .615 hitting %
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 13 digs, 3 aces, 4 assists
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 26 assists, 8 digs, 2 blocks
Emma Ammerman (Parker, Colo./Chaparral HS): 7 kills, 7 blocks
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 7 kills, 4 digs, 1 block
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 4 kills, 3 digs
Kayla Joyce (Chico, Calif./Pleasant Valley HS/FRC/CSU Chico): 7 digs, 1 ace
Kayleigh Hames (Maryville, Tenn./Webb School of Knoxville): 3 kills, 1 ace
Lily Dyer (San Clemente, Calif./Saddleback Valley Christian HS): 6 assists
 
WAVES VS. DONS
Pepperdine dominated the match on all fronts, posting 42 kills on a .359 clip, while giving up only 20 kills on a -.021 output to San Francisco.  The Waves also led with 11.0 blocks, 46 digs and five aces, while the Dons amassed two aces, 4.0 blocks and 37 digs throughout.   
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          15        3          27        .444
2          15        1          35        .400
3          12        5          30        .233
TTL      42        9          92        .359
 
SAN FRANCISCO ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          4          6          33        -.061
2          8          7          33        .030
3          8          9          31        -.032
TTL      20        22        97        -.021

 

PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves came crashing into the set with a stellar attack and serving presence, quickly building a 13-2 lead with Madison Shields posting a pair of aces within 11 service attempts and big smashes from Emma Ammerman and Rachel Ahrens.  The Malibu Roofing Company then came in to do some work, as Meg Brown worked with both Ahrens and Ammerman to help build the home team's lead to 17-3.  The end result was virtually written in stone with the advantage Pepperdine held and though San Francisco put some points on the board, the Waves finished off the 25-7 set win on a kill by Grace Chillingworth.  
 
The Dons came out stronger in the second set, pacing with the Waves en route to a 5-5 tied score.  Pepperdine would capitalize on a pair of errors to pull ahead and then kills from Rosie Ballo and Ammerman helped push the lead to 12-7.  Four-consecutive kills late in the action by three different Waves helped the cause and a late Brown, Zelaya block collaboration put the score at 18-12.  Trinity Stanger kept the opposition on edge with a solid service output and back-to-back kills from Kayleigh Hames helped the Waves close out the set 25-13. 
 
The final set went in favor of the home team as well, with kills from Ballo and Ammerman starting things off towards a 6-4 advantage early.  Kills from Savana Greene and Chillingworth kept the Waves rolling and back-to-back blocks from Ammerman and Ballo gave the home squad a 15-11 lead.  Another kill from Greene and an ace from Kayleigh Hames kept the Waves on the right track and a kill from Brown and an attack error from across the net closed things down 25-15 for the straight-set sweep.
 
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.