MALIBU, Calif. — The #25 Pepperdine women's volleyball did what was needed in Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday, dominating the attack en route to a 25-16, 25-18, 25-20 sweep of Santa Clara.  Prior to the match, seniors Rachel Ahrens, Rosie Ballo, Lily Dyer, Savana Greene, Kayla Joyce and Madison Shields were honored for their commitment and dedication to the program.
 
Isabel Zelaya dished out 34 assists en route to 46 team kills on a .380 collective hitting percentage.  Rachel Ahrens led with 19 kills on a .469 clip and Madison Shields posted 17 digs.  The Waves were on fire in the middle as Rosie Ballo marked nine kills with no errors on 11 swings for a staggering .818 success rate, with three blocks, and Meg Brown was good for seven kills on 11 errorless attempts for a .636 hitting percentage. 
 
The Waves (21-5, 13-4 WCC) are back in Firestone on Thursday, November 23 as the team hosts Gonzaga at 3 p.m. to close out the regular season.  The NCAA Selection Show will air live on ESPNU Sunday, November 28.
 
BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 19 kills, .469 hitting %, 5 digs, 1 block
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 17 digs, 3 assists, 14 errorless serve receptions
Rosie Ballo (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills HS): 9 kills, .818 hitting %, 3 blocks
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 7 kills, .636 hitting %, 1 ace
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 34 assists, 4 digs, 1 block
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 8 kills, 2 digs, 1 block
Kayla Joyce (Chico, Calif./Pleasant Valley HS/FRC/CSU Chico): 3 digs
 
WAVES VS. BRONCOS
Pepperdine impressed with 46 kills on a .380 hitting percentage, while giving up only 33 kills on a .161 output to Santa Clara.  The Broncos led with 6.0 blocks to the Waves' 3.0 and five to two in aces, but the Waves led 36 to 31 in digs.
 
PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        4          28        .357
2          17        3          33        .424
3          15        4          31        .355
TTL      46        11        92        .380
 
SANTA CLARA ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          8          7          32        .031
2          13        6          31        .226
3          12        5          30        .233
TTL      33        18        93        .161
 
PLAY-BY-PLAY
After a senior day presentation honoring all six seniors, the Waves came out firing with Madison Shields at the service line.  After Shields put them off-kilter, Rachel Ahrens found the floor multiple times en route to a 4-0 start.  Pepperdine kept pounding down and filtered in a block from Rosie Ballo and Grace Chillingworth to make it 12-5 early.  More smashes from Emma Ammerman and Meg Brown late in the set helped the cause and another Ballo, Isabel Zelaya block collaboration made it 22-14.  Pepperdine would use the momentum to capitalize for a 25-16 set win.
 
Though the home team had the momentum entering the set, Santa Clara came out to a 7-3 lead with a strong attack output.  Kills from Brown, Chillingworth and Ahrens helped even the score at 8-8 and the Waves then used that to build a 15-11 advantage with an Ahrens, Ballo block effort.  The opposition brought the score within two-points one more time, but kills from Brown and Chillingworth kept the Waves positive and a kill from Ballo shut things down for a 25-18 second set win.
 
Santa Clara once again came out firing in the third set, building a 4-1 advantage before Pepperdine was able to counter with more smashes from Chillingworth.  SCU took over shortly after, however, working ahead to a 9-5 lead.  Eventually an Emma Ammerman ace and kills from Ahrens tied the score at 14-all.  Each team traded points after that, but kills from Chillingworth and a slew of errors from across the net helped the squad to a 20-18 lead down the final stretch.  It was the energy the Waves needed as Ahrens put down three kills in the final five points to finish the set 25-20 in Pepperdine's favor and complete the 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.