Soto, Frohling Double-Doubles Pace Pepperdine in 3-1 win

MATCH STATS

• Pepperdine def. Northeastern 3-1 (25-14, 24-26, 25-21, 25-20)
• Pepperdine moves to 3-1, Northeastern drops to 1-3
• Malibu, California
• Attendance: 549
• Box Score

Sophomore outside hitter Hannah Frohling and junior setter Blossom Sato managed double doubles and four Wave players posted 10 or more kills as Pepperdine topped Northeastern 3-1 in its home opener Thursday night.

Frohling tallied 17 kills, 12 digs, three blocks and an ace, while Sato dished out 44 assists, while adding 19 digs and three blocks. Sophomore middle blocker  Jasmine Gross (12), junior outside Heidi Dyer (10) and freshman middle Alli O’Harra (10) rounded out the offense with double-digit kills. Gross hit at a team-best .370 clip and chipped in five blocks, while O’Harra followed with a .364 hitting effort to go with her team-best six stuffs. Freshman libero Lexi Barker paced the defense with 22 digs, while sophmore defensive specialist Hana Lishman notched 17 digs.

Freshman outside Athena Ardila put down 13 kills, while senior outside Brigitte Burcescu (11) and sophomore middle Amy Underdown (9) followed to lead the Husky attack. Ardila rounded out a double-double with 13 digs, while Underdown chipped in 15 saves. Senior setter Kristen Walding and freshman middle Gabrielle Tschannen led the team at the net with three blocks apiece. Junior libero Gabrielle Eyl tallied a career-high 30 digs to top the backcourt defense. Freshman setter Samantha Schupe also posted a double double with 24 assists and 13 digs.

The Waves topped the Huskies in kills (57-47), hitting percentage (.237 to .113), blocks (12-6) and digs (87-86). Both teams served up three aces.

Pepperdine used a 6-0 run, including kills by Ashley Harris, Dyer and Gross, to grab an 11-4 lead in Set 1. Northeastern pulled within five at 13-8, but could not break through. Kills by Gross, O’Harra and Frohling pushed the margin back to eight at 16-8. The Huskies were down 10 at 22-12 and fell 25-14 on a Frohling putaway.

Northeastern boasted a 16-9 lead midway through Set 2 as Wave errors piled up to the tune of six points. Underdown also had five kills during the early rally. Pepperdine charged back to within two, scoring five of the next six. A Frohling kill made it a one-point game at 18-17, but the Huskies maintained control, pushing ahead by five again at 23-18 on a Sherrie Wang ace. The Waves answered with five straight points, including two O’Harra blocks to knot the score at 23. Northeastern came through with three of the final four points, winning it at 26-24 on a Pepperdine hitting error.

Momentum swung back to the Pepperdine side after intermission as the Waves scored 10 of the first 14 points, spreading the ball around offensively. Northeastern managed three in a row, but the Waves answered with a 4-0 run of its own to make it 14-7. The Huskies rallied to tie the score at 15 and 16 as Burcescu and Ardila turned in two kills apiece. Pepperdine went up by three at 21-18 on a Gross kill and would not relinquish the advantage the rest of the way. A block by Frohling and Sato gave the Waves their first set point try and Frohling buried a kill two points later to clinch the victory.

Pepperdine took an early 3-0 lead in Set 4 and stayed one step ahead of Northeastern the rest of the set. The Huskies tied it up at 3-all, but could never break into the lead. The Waves went up four at 10-6 and Northeastern was only able to cut the margin to one four times after that, last at 21-20. Pepperdine ended the night on a 4-0 run, capped by a kill and a block by Gross.

PRESS RELEASES

Courtesy: Pepperdine Athletics

The Pepperdine women’s volleyball team downed Northeastern in four sets in the home opener on Thursday night in Firestone Fieldhouse. With the help of four players in double-figure kill territory and Hannah Frohling and Blossom Sato double-doubles, the Waves bested the Huskies with 25-14, 24-26, 25-21 and 25-20 set scores to open the Pepperdine-CSUN Challenge. Sato posted her second Pepperdine career double-double with 44 assists and a career-best 19 digs, while dishing out a .237 hitting percentage for the Waves. Frohling led the team for the third match this season with 17 kills and added 12 digs.

WAVES VS. HUSKIES
The Waves outperformed the Huskies in many categories, tabbing a .237 hitting percentage with 57 kills on 169 swings, while allowing the opposition a low .113 attack output with 47 kills on 177 attempts. Pepperdine and Northeastern each had three aces, but the Waves posted 12.5 team blocks to the Huskies 6.0 and 87 digs to 86 to produce the victory.

BIG PERFORMANCES

Hannah Frohling: 17 kills, 12 digs, 3 blocks, 1 ace

Blossom Sato: 44 assists, 19 digs, 3 blocks

Jasmine Gross: 12 kills, .370 hitting percentage, 5 blocks

Heidi Dyer: 11 kills, .281 hitting percentage, 5 digs, 4 blocks

Alli O’Harra: 10 kills, .364 hitting percentage, 6 blocks

Ashley Harris; 7 kills, 4 blocks

Lexi Barker: 22 digs, 1 ace

Hana Lishman: 17 digs, 5 assists, 22 serve receptions

PLAY-BY-PLAY
The Waves came out strong in the first set, amassing a .231 hitting percentage with 14 kills, while allowing only six kills on a 0.086 output by the opposition. Pepperdine went on an 11-4 run to start the match, fueled off a strong service output by Lishman. The Waves continued on the attack and added blocks from O’Harra, Harris, Gross and Sato to produce a 25-14 set win.The Huskies came out strong off the break, posting a 9-4 run to gain an early lead. The Waves continued to work hard and tied the set at the 23-23 mark with a Dyer, O’Harra block connection. Northeastern kept the advantage, however, and tied the match with a 26-24 second set victory.

The third set was a back-and-forth battle for each side. The Waves rolled through the opening points en route to a 14-7 lead, but the opposition brought it back to a one-point deficit with Pepperdine up 18-17. The Waves held on to the lead, though and earned the set with back-to-back rejections by Frohling with either Sato or O’Harra. With a final kill by Frohling, the Waves won the set 25-21 to go up 2-1 on the night.

In the final set, Pepperdine came out swinging and with an ace from Frohling and big connections by O’Harra and Gross, the Waves went ahead 10-6 early. The Huskies brought the match to a one-point deficit at the 21-20 mark. Then, Lishman found the floor with an ace, Gross continued with a smash and Gross and Dyer closed up shop with a block collaboration for the 25-20 set win and 3-1 match victory.

NEXT UP
Next, the Waves trek to Northridge, Calif. to take on fellow Pepperdine-CSUN Challenge cohosts CSUN at 7 p.m. on Friday, September 1. Pepperdine will close out the weekend back at Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday at noon with Weber State.

Check out these #highlights from today's home opening 3-1 win over Northeastern! #WinningWaves pic.twitter.com/i2WKWK5WR2

— Pepperdine W. Volley (@WavesVolleyball) September 1, 2017

Courtesy: Northeastern Athletics

Junior Gabrielle Eyl racked up a career-high 30 digs in Northeastern’s loss to Pepperdine on Thursday. The Huskies took the second set, but the Waves took the next two to win the match 3-1.

Northeastern at Pepperdine

Eyl led the match with 30 digs, breaking her career high of 27, which she set on September 4, 2015 against South Dakota State.

Freshman Athena Ardila was solid all match for the Huskies, with 13 kills and 13 digs. Both were new career-highs for the Massachusetts native. Amy Underwood tallied up nine kills and 15 digs, a new career high for the sophomore.

Kristen Walding and Gabrielle Tschannen were both strong on the net, both finishing the night with three blocks. Northeastern racked up three aces from Tschannen, Samantha Shupe and Sherrie Wang.

Set One Recap:

• 25-14, Pepperdine
• Kills by Shollin and Ardila gave the Huskies an early 3-1 lead
• Pepperdine went on a 10-1 run to take a 11-4 lead over the Huskies

Set Two Recap:

• 26-24, Northeastern
• The Huskies went on a 6-1 run to take a 9-4 lead over the Waves
• Wang’s ace was the first of the match and gave Northeastern a five-point lead
• On Northeastern’s first set point, Pepperdine tied the set back up
• The Huskies came back to win the set 26-24 and to tie the match up at 1-1

Set Three Recap:

• 25-21, Pepperdine
• The Waves went up 14-7, and forced the Huskies to take a timeout
• Out of the timeout, Northeastern went on a 8-1 run to tie the game at 15-15
• A kill by Pepperdine’s Hannah Frohling gave the Waves the third set

Set Four Recap:

• 25-20, Pepperdine
• Gabrielle Tschannen’s ace put the Huskies two-back from the Waves, 19-17
• A block by Pepperdine’s Heidi Dyer and Jasmine Gross gave the Waves the set and the match

Up Next For Northeastern:
The Huskies will face Weber State on Friday at 7 p.m. (ET). Follow along with live stats and the live stream.