#22 Waves Win PCH Cup Bout with 3-1 Victory over LMU

Friday, March 19

Los Angeles, Calif.

6:00 p.m. PT

Pepperdine University

13-2,13-1WCC

Loyola Marymount

5-9,5-9WCC

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Pepperdine	25	21	25	25	3
LMU (CA)	21	25	20	16	1

Photo by: Sarah Otteman

#22 Waves Win PCH Cup Bout with 3-1 Victory over LMU

3/19/2021 8:45:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

By: by Athletic Communications

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — After splitting the first two sets with unranked PCH Cup rival LMU, the #22 Pepperdine women's volleyball team buckled down to come away with a four-set West Coast Conference win in Gersten Pavilion on Friday evening.

The Waves charted 25-21, 21-25, 25-20 and 25-16 set scores to secure the victory and advance the season's record to 13-2 overall and 13-1 in the league.

Rachel Ahrens led the floor with 17 kills on a .414 clip, along with an impressive five aces. Shannon Scully also tabbed double-figure kills with 14, while Isabel Zelaya amassed a double-double with 46 assists and 13 digs.

BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 17 kills, .414 hitting %, 5 aces, 1 block
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 46 assists, 13 digs, 1 block, 2 kills
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 15 digs, 1 ace
Shannon Scully (Huntington Beach, Calif./Mater Dei HS/Utah): 14 kills, 7 digs
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 5 kills, 3 blocks (2 solo)
Emma Ammerman (Parker, Colo./Chaparral HS): 4 kills
Alli O'Harra (Boise, Idaho/Centennial HS): 7 kills, 1 block, 2 aces
Kayleigh Hames (Maryville, Tenn./Webb School of Knoxville): 5 digs
Kayla Joyce (Chico, Calif./Pleasant Valley HS/FRC/CSU Chico): 8 digs, 2 aces

WAVES VS. LIONS
Pepperdine led the match with 53 kills on a .225 success rate, while allowing the opposition 45 kills on a .214 clip.   Though the Lions amassed a match-high 11.0 team blocks to the Waves' 6.0, 10 Pepperdine aces and 54 digs to LMU's four aces and 43 digs ended with the four-set Waves victory.

PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        4          28        .571
2          12        10        38        .053
3          12        5          29        .241
4          13        5          34        .235
TTL      53        24        129      .225

LMU ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          11        2          26        .346
2          12        3          32        .281
3          13        6          32        .219
4          9          7          36        .056
TTL      45        18        126      .214

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Each side of the net went point-for-point to open the match to the 12-12 mark. Multiple kills from Rachel Ahrens and Alli O'Harra helped the cause, though, and gave Pepperdine a five-point 19-14 lead. Down the back stretch, a third Ahrens' ace found the floor and kills from O'Harra and Shannon Scully closed the set with a 25-21 Waves' win.

Through the Waves came out to lead 9-4 in the second set, the opposition closed the gap and evened the score at 13-apiece. After pulling ahead shortly after, Pepperdine was unable to overcome the deficit and the Lions came away with the 25-21 set win to tie the overall.

After having dropped the second set, Pepperdine came out strong in the third, quickly amassing an 8-3 led after capitalizing on errors from across the net and a block collaboration from Ahrens and Rosie Ballo. Kills from O'Harra, Ballo and Scully throughout the set continued to push the Waves forward and another ace from Ahrens gave Pepperdine an 18-11 lead. Late in the action Ahrens put down three separate kills to close the set with a 25-20 Waves win for a 2-1 lead heading into the fourth.

The Waves used the momentum from the previous set to propel to an 8-3 lead to start the fourth. LMU stayed close behind, but a block from Isabel Zelaya and O'Harra, followed by smashes from Ballo, Ahrens and Brown put kept the Waves in the lead 17-13. A big Waves' block down the back stretch of the final set, followed by kills from Brown and a slew of Lions' attack errors earned Pepperdine the 25-16 set win for the four-set overall victory.

NEXT UP
Next week, the Waves head down South to take on #21 San Diego on Friday and Saturday, March 26 and 27. The match will be live streamed and have live stats available on www.PepperdineWaves.com.

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.