MALIBU, Calif. - Rachel Ahrens had 19 kills and Rose Ballo added nine for No. 25-ranked Pepperdine which utilized an efficient offensive attack to down Santa Clara volleyball 25-16, 25-18, 25-20 in Saturday's West Coast Conference matchup.
Julia Sangiacomo had 12 kills and Michelle Shaffer contributed nine for the Broncos (11-15, 7-9) who had their three-match winning streak snapped.
Grace Chillingsworth had eight kills and Meg Brown seven for the Waves (21-5, 13-4) who outhit Santa Clara .380 to .161 to claim their fourth-consecutive victory.
Ballo had a blistering .808 attack percentage and Ahrens was at .469, including .500 in the first set when she registered six of the team's 14 kills.
After not trailing in the opening set, the Waves were pushed by the Broncos in second and third.
Santa Clara led the all the way in the third set until Pepperdine finally went ahead 16-15 on a kill from Brown. Ahrens then helped close out the match, posting the team's final three kills.
The Broncos had seven of their first 10 points in the second set, but a five straight by the Waves erased that lead. Pepperdine followed by scoring five of six points to take a 15-11 advantage and didn't trail again.
Sophia Tulino had seven kills and Kat Georgiadis tallied eight digs for the Broncos.
NOTES
- Julia Sangiacomo (12) posted her team-best 22nd match with double-digit kills.
- Anna Stucchi and Michelle Shaffer each had two of the team's five aces. The Broncos entered the match No. 2 in the WCC in service aces per set at 1.76.
- Pepperdine now holds a 48-33 all-time lead in the series.
NEXT UP
The Broncos finish the season on Tuesday with road match against Pacifc. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
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