Waves Win Twice, Post Program's Best Start to a Season Since 2008

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The #21 Pepperdine women's volleyball team went 3-0 at the Gaucho Invitational over the weekend, finishing the second day with a four-set win over San Diego State and a five-set thrilling victory over tournament-host UC Santa Barbara in the Thunderdome to come out as tournament champions.

With the pair of wins today, Pepperdine has begun the 2021 season with a 6-0 start, the best start to a campaign for the Waves since 2008 when that team went 13-0 with 10 sweeps to begin. Pepperdine won in four against SDSU with 25-19, 25-16, 21-25 and 25-18 set scores, and then turned around to best the Gauchos with 26-24, 16-25, 25-27, 25-23 and 15-6 final set scores.

In the opening match of the day, the Waves impressed with 15 team aces, fueled by five players who tabbed an ace during the match and four who picked up more than one. The standout at the service line was senior Rachel Ahrens, who amassed a new career-high ace effort with seven total. She had previously hit the six-ace mark four other times throughout her career.

In the most exciting match of the day, against tournament-host UC Santa Barbara, the Waves trailed 2-1, but rallied back to force a fifth set. To begin the fifth, the Waves busted out of the starting gate to a 6-1 lead in the fifth, heavily impacted by Gaucho errors, along with an Ahrens kill and block collaboration alongside Ballo sprinkled in. Pepperdine kept fueled by that momentum, eventually reaching a 9-3 score on a Zelaya ace to force a UCSB timeout. In the final moments of the match, Meg Brown and Emma Ammerman found the floor to finish things off 15-6.

Gaucho Invitational All-Tournament Team
Rachel Ahrens (MVP) - Pepperdine
Isabel Zelaya - Pepperdine
Haley Warner - Kansas State
Mackenzie Morris - Kansas State
Victoria O'Sullivan - San Diego State
Abrielle Bross - UCSB

MATCH 1 | Pepperdine vs. San Diego State
BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 18 kills, .293 hitting %, 7 aces, 6 digs, 5 blocks
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 14 kills, .344 hitting %, 3 blocks
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 14 kills, .320 hitting %, 2 aces, 5 blocks
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 51 assists, 5 digs
Rosie Ballo (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills HS): 5 kills, .312 hitting %, 6 blocks
Emma Ammerman (Parker, Colo./Chaparral HS): 7 kills, 2 blocks
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 17 digs, 1 ace
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 11 digs, 2 aces
Kayla Joyce (Chico, Calif./Pleasant Valley HS/FRC/CSU Chico): 4 digs, 3 aces

WAVES VS. AZTECS
Pepperdine led the match with 59 kills on a .273 hitting percentage, while giving up only 47 kills on a .242 clip to San Diego State. The Waves were unstoppable at the service line with the 15 aces and were equally as solid in the back row, only giving up one to the opposition. That ace marks currently ranks 2^nd in the Pepperdine women's volleyball record books for most team aces in a single match during the rally scoring era. Though the Aztecs posted 50 digs to the Waves 46, Pepperdine out-blocked their opponents 11.0 to 8.0.

PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          16        3          30        .433
2          14        6          36        .222
3          14        9          36        .139
4          15        3          37        .324
TTL      59        21        139      .273

SAN DIEGO STATE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        4          30        .333
2          9          5          37        .108
3          11        3          19        .421
4          13        6          34        .206
TTL      47        18        120      .242

MATCH 2 | Pepperdine at UC Santa Barbara
BIG WAVES
Rachel Ahrens (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS): 22 kills, .296 hitting %, 7 digs, 2 blocks, 1 ace
Isabel Zelaya (Tomball, Texas/Concordia Lutheran HS): 51 assists, 7 digs, 3 blocks, 2 aces
Meg Brown (Santa Ana, Calif./Mater Dei HS): 9 kills, 6 blocks
Rosie Ballo (Dana Point, Calif./Dana Hills HS): 7 kills, 5 blocks
Emma Ammerman (Parker, Colo./Chaparral HS): 9 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks
Grace Chillingworth (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS): 13 kills, 8 digs, 2 blocks
Madison Shields (El Dorado Hills, Calif./Oak Ridge HS): 13 digs, 4 assists, 1 ace
Trinity Stanger (Los Angeles, Calif./Viewpoint HS): 12 digs, 1 ace

WAVES VS. GAUCHOS
Pepperdine posted 61 kills on a .258 clip throughout the match, close in stats to the Gauchos 62 kills on a .190 output. The Waves totaled five aces, 56 digs and 11 blocks, while UCSB put in 10 aces, 57 digs and 12 blocks.

PEPPERDINE ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        4          37        .270
2          10        2          29        .276
3          16        9          42        .167
4          14        5          30        .300
5          7          2          13        .385
TTL      61        22        151      .258

UC SANTA BARBARA ATTACK BY SET
Set       K          E          TA        Pct
1          14        7          37        .189
2          17        4          31        .419
3          15        5          40        .250
4          12        9          40        .075
5          4          6          16        -.125
TTL      62        31        164      .189

PLAY-BY-PLAY
In the first match against San Diego State, the Waves came out firing and kills form Rachel Ahrens, Grace Chillingworth and Meg Brown brought Pepperdine up to a 9-6 lead. SDSU kept things close throughout the set, but after a 16-16 tied score, smashes from Emma Ammerman and back-to-back aces from Ahrens gave the Waves the edge. It would be a lead the squad would keep to finish the set, ending the set on a final smash from Brown to make it 25-19.

Pepperdine opened the second set with a strong showing to follow, and kills from Chillingworth, followed by a block collaboration from Ahrens and Brown helped the cause to an 8-4 tie. Ammerman pounded a few more smashes down throughout the set to keep the Waves ahead and that, along with an ace from Kayla Joyce made it a 19-11 advantage for Pepperdine. Though the Aztecs were able to piece a few together late in the set, the Waves buckled down and came away with the 25-16 set win after another pair of consecutive aces from Ahrens.

Fueled by the momentum of the second set, the Waves opened things up with a 4-0 run that turned into a 7-1 advantage – featuring back-to-back aces from Joyce and two-straight blocks from Brown with either Chillingworth or Isabel Zelaya. SDSU battled back to tie things up at 10's, however, and then used that energy to pull ahead 20-15. Pepperdine rallied to bring the score within one 20-19, but the opposition was able to shut the door 25-21 to force a fourth set.

The fourth set opened with a little see-saw action, both teams going point-for-point en route to a 10-10 tied score – in which included another pair of aces from Ahrens, her fifth and sixth of the match. Another ace from Trinity Stanger gave Pepperdine a slight lead and an Ahrens, Ballo block opportunity made it 18-14 Waves. Kills from Ballo and another Ballo block, this time with Ammerman gave Pepperdine a nice 20-16 lead late in the action. It was then Ahrens posted her 7^th ace of the match, a new career-high, to extend the Waves' lead to 22-16 and put the squad in a position to close. Chillingworth would be the Wave to close the match with her 14^th-kill.

The second game began a little slow for Pepperdine, with UC Santa Barbara pulling ahead 8-3 to open things up. The Gauchos would keep a small lead throughout most of the set, amassing at most a five-point lead at the 15-10 mark. The Waves were still trailing at the 22-19 mark, but a kill from Ammerman and an ace from Stanger helped the cause. An attack error from across the net tied things up at 22's. The Gauchos were able to fend off one set-point opportunity from the Waves, but when Pepperdine earned the option again, back-to-back kills from Chillingworth and Ahrens gave the squad a 26-24 victory.

Though the Waves had the momentum heading into the second set, UC Santa Barbara once ahead came out intent on pulling ahead early. The Gauchos put down multiple kills and aces to pull ahead 10-6 and used that edge all the way through the set en route to a 19-14 advantage late in the action. It would be a lead Pepperdine would be unable to catch and UCSB eventually worked ahead to a 25-16 set win to tie the overall match.

The third set was a different story, however, with the Waves pulling ahead 8-3 quickly with multiple kills from Ahrens and Ammerman. Pepperdine used the energy to pull ahead 16-10 after a pair of smashes form Ahrens and Chillingworth. Late in the set, the Gauchos rallied to bring the score within one point at the 18-17 mark. Pepperdine pulled ahead by three-points again at he the 21-18 mark, but UCSB countered to even the score at 22-22. In the final moments, the Gauchos were able to use the late momentum to win the set 27-25.

Pepperdine came out swinging in the fourth set and back-to-back kills from Ahrens pushed the squad to a 5-2 lead. UCSB was close behind giving the Waves consistent trouble though, and were able to tie the set at 9's. Numerous kills from Ahrens continued to keep Pepperdine ahead of UC Santa Barbara and her 18^th of the match put the Waves ahead 16-13 and forced a Gauchos' timeout. The Malibu Roofing Company came out to play late in the fourth set and back-to-back rejections from Ballo with either Ammerman or Ahrens started getting the Waves hyped up. Another solo rejection from Ballo to make it 20-15 down the back stretch was thrilling for the Waves in orange and an ace by Shields at the 22-17 mark kept the momentum in Pepperdine's court. Pepperdine held on, however, closing the set off 25-23 with a kill from Ahrens to force a fifth set.

With the game on the line, the Waves came to play in the fifth set, winning the match to remain undefeated at 6-0 to begin 2021.

FOLLOW
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