#22 Pepperdine Opens at Home Against #9 Washington; Hosts Asics Classic

MALIBU, Calif. — The #22 Pepperdine women's volleyball team faces home-opening weekend in Firestone Fieldhouse with a pair of tough matches scheduled against #9 Washington and Cal Poly for the 23rd annual Asics Classic.

MATCH #7 — Friday (September 10) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #22 Pepperdine vs. #9 Washington at 7 p.m. PT. | Watch: WCC Network

MATCH #8 — Sunday (September 12) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif.: #22 Pepperdine vs. Cal Poly at 5 p.m. PT. | Watch: WCC Network

LIVE COVERAGE — Live stats will be available for all matches. Pepperdine matches will go live on The WCC Network on both Friday and Sunday. Links can be found on PepperdineWaves.com.

TICKETS & SPECTATOR GUIDELINES — Tickets to all Pepperdine home women's volleyball matches in 2021 will be available via e-ticket ONLY. Patrons must purchase tickets to any event prior to arriving on campus. Individuals without tickets to an event will not be allowed on campus. Pepperdine faculty, staff and students must show Pepperdine ID card for entry — no ticket purchase is required.

To purchase e-tickets and read the spectator guidelines, visit: www.PepperdineWaves.com/Tickets. Due to campus construction, nearby parking is limited and guests are advised to arrive early.

Each match costs $10 for adults, $8 for seniors (65+) and $5 for children and non-Pepperdine students.

SOCIAL MEDIA — Follow @WavesVolleyball on Twitter for updates and check out PepperdineWaves.com and Facebook (/WavesVolleyball) for releases and more information.

ASICS CLASSIC — This year marks the 23rd season that Pepperdine has hosted the Asics Classic, beginning the tradition with the inaugural tournament in 1997. The Waves went 23-6 that year, starting out with three-straight wins at the Classic against Fresno State (3-2), Tulane (3-1) and Northern Arizona
(3-2). In the 21-season span of the tournament, the Waves have tallied a 47-18 record against opponents and have gone undefeated on six separate occasions including most recently in the 2018 season. The tournament went on a brief one-year hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

MILESTONE & RECORD WATCH — Junior Rachel Ahrens is close to another career milestone with 975 total career kills. Last season, she amassed 102 total career aces, getting her 100th in the NCAA second round against #12 Baylor. She currently has posed 125 aces throughout her career.

As for the record books, Ahrens has racked up quite a few mentions throughout. So far, she ranks atop the career Pepperdine records with 0.43 aces/set, 4th with 125 total service aces and 7th with 4.14 points/set. Her points/set output makes her the first Wave to crack the points/set top-10 records since Katie Wilkins did so from 2000-03. Ahrens also ranks 1st with 49 total aces in 2019, 2nd in the single-season rally scoring single-season records with 0.44 aces/set, 4th with 4.44 kills/set and 5th with 5.13 points/set.

Isabel Zelaya ranks 6th with 10.45 career assists/set. To cap off the single-season rally scoring records, Madison Shields ranks tied-7th with 4.22 digs/set last season. She also ties for 3rd in the single-match records with 34 digs - both in five sets and overall.

SQUAD GOALS — The Waves have gone 6-0 this season, posting the best start to a campaign since 2008 when that team went 13-0 to open with 10 sweeps. As a team, Pepperdine is producing 13.50 kills, 12.04 assists, 2.12 aces, 11.75 digs and 2.42 blocks per set against opponents, marking 51 aces, 282 digs and 58.0 blocks thus far. The squad has amassed 324 kills on a .268 clip as well throughout the 24 sets of action. The Waves have allowed opponents 12.00 kills/set on a .223 success rate, while giving up 10.71 assists, 1.25 aces, 12.08 digs and 2.06 blocks per set as well.

Rachel Ahrens leads the attack for Pepperdine with an impressive 4.21 kills/set on a .283 hitting percentage, along with 0.96 aces, 1.79 digs and 0.71 blocks per set. She leads the Waves with 133.0 total points thus far. Grace Chillingworth and Meg Brown are also hitting heavy for the squad with 2.83 and 2.67 kill/set respectively. Brown does so on a .366 success rate, while adding 0.33 aces/set and 1.08 blocks/set for her team. Emma Ammerman and Rosie Ballo have put in 1.96 and 1.57 kills/set respectively as well and Ballo leads the team with 28 total blocks to average 1.33 blocks/set.

Isabel Zelaya has been a mainstay for the Waves, dishing out 260 total assists to average 10.83 assists/set. She has also put in 0.83 blocks, 1.12 digs, 0.17 aces and 0.38 kills per set for Pepperdine in an all-around effort. Madison Shields leads a strong back row, posting 3.33 digs/set with 80 digs and is second on the squad with 0.54 assists/set. Trinity Stanger and Kayla Joyce also make an impact passing for the Waves with 2.25 and 1.65 digs/set respectively.

LAST WEEK — Last week, the Waves went 3-0 for the second-straight week, winning the Gaucho Invitational. Rachel Ahrens was named Tournament MVP and to the All-Tournament Team alongside Isabel Zelaya.

In the opener against Kansas State, the Waves came out strong to sweep the opposition with 25-22, 32-30 and 25-22 set scores. The team put up 48 kills on a .283 clip, with 47 assists, two aces, 42 digs and 6.0 blocks. Meg Brown and Rachel Ahrens led Pepperdine with 15 and 11 kills respectively. Brown did so with a .565 success rate on the attack and adding one ace and two blocks including one solo rejection, while Ahrens added four blocks and 12 digs for her first double-double of the season. Madison Shields added 10 digs, and Grace Chillingworth put in nine smashes on a .368 clip. Isabel Zelaya dished out 40 assists and added three kills on a .600 output and five digs.

In the second matchup, a 25-19, 25-16, 21-25, 25-18 win over San Diego State, the Waves capitalized on a strong serving presence by marking 15 team aces which sits at #2 in the Pepperdine women's volleyball record books for most team aces in a single match during the rally scoring era. The squad also produced 59 kills on a .273 clip, with 55 assists, 47 digs and 11.0 team blocks throughout the match. The Waves attack was led by Ahrens, Brown and Chillingworth who put in 18, 14 and 14 kills respectively. Ahrens added a career-high seven aces, surpassing her previous record of six aces which she had hit four times prior. She continued in that impressive performance with six digs and five blocks. Brown added five blocks herself, along with two aces and a .320 success rate on offense and Chillingworth put in three blocks and a .344 clip. Zelaya added 51 assists and Shields and Trinity Stanger led the floor with 17 and 11 digs respectively.

In the final match, a five-set thriller win over tournament-host UC Santa Barbara, the Waves split the first two sets 26-24, 16-25 before going down with a 25-27 third set loss. Pepperdine rallied back to take a close fourth set 25-23 and then dominated the final set 15-6 for the victory to remain undefeated. The team tallied 61 kills on a .258 clip, with 59 assists, five aces, 56 digs and 11.0 blocks. Ahrens led the attack with 22 kills and added seven digs, two blocks and an ace. Chillingworth produced 12 kills, along with eight digs and Shields and Stanger lead with 13 and 12 digs respectively. Zelaya put in 52 assists and two aces, with seven digs and three blocks. At the net, Brown led with six blocks and put in nine kills on a .333 clip, while Rosie Ballo was also good for five blocks including two block solos.

THE COMPETITION — The Waves will face off with the 9th-ranked Huskies and the unranked Mustangs for the first time this season. The Waves hold a 4-2 all-time record against Washington, dating back to 1979 when the Waves took down the Huskies 2-0 on neutral ground. More recently, UW defeated Pepperdine 3-0 at home in 2017. This season, Washington has gone

Cal Poly holds a 25-15 overall record over Pepperdine with an 11-10 record against when playing in Firestone Fieldhouse. The two teams first faced in 1975 when the Waves won 2-1 overall. In 2018 and 2019, the Waves and Mustangs faced, with the opposition taking 3-1 and 3-2 wins.

WEEKLY HONORS — In the opening week of West Coast Conference weekly honors, the Waves swept with Rachel Ahrens and Meg Brown picking up the nod. Ahrens has earned the offensive honor six times throughout her career and Brown has picked up the defensive accolade twice thus far.

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