The fifth-ranked University of San Diego women’s volleyball team (17-2, 8-0 WCC) will return to the friendly confines of the Jenny Craig Pavilion this week, as they host both Loyola Marymount University and Pepperdine University in West Coast Conference action. On Thursday, USD will host LMU in a 7 p.m. match, then on Saturday, USD will welcome the Waves to town for a 12 p.m. match.
LAST TIME OUT: USD posted another perfect 2-0 record this past week, defeating Gonzaga, 3-0, then sweeping away the Portland Pilots, 3-0. In Thursday’s win over Gonzaga, Lisa Kramer and Lauren Fuller each had 10 kills, as the Toreros edged the Zags 26-24, 25-19, 25-16. Kristen Gengenbacher led the team with 18 assists and recorded 11 digs, which tied with Hunter Jennings for a team-high. Anna Newsome also chipped in 14 assists. As a team, USD hit for a .287 clip, while the Zags hit .163. USD recorded 45 kills to GU’s 33. USD had 50 digs, while the Bulldogs recorded 39 digs. Then in Saturday’s sweep of the Pilots, Kramer led all players with her 13 kills on 24 swings, while hitting for a .333 clip, and she recorded three blocks. Lauren Schad also had a good match, as she recorded nine kills, while Lauren Fullerchipped in with seven kills and Thana Fayad had six kills. Hunter Jennings led the defense with 14 digs, while Kristen Gengenbacher recorded 24 assists and Anna Newsome had 19 assists. As a team, USD hit for a .312 clip, while the Pilots hit .157. The Toreros recorded 46 kills, while Portland had 29, and USD out dug the home team, 43-28. The Toreros and Pilots each recorded 6.0 blocks.
THE RANKINGS: The University of San Diego women’s volleyball team held steady at No. 5 in the latest AVCA top-25 poll. This marks the sixth consecutive week USD has been ranked in the top-10. USD’s highest ranking ever was No. 2, back in the 2013 season. Neither Loyola Marymount , nor Pepperdine are ranked in the top-25 this week.
THEW.TV: This season San Diego will once again be featured on the West Coast Conference’s digital platform, TheW.tv, in 14 home matches, and a few select road matches. All 14 plus of those productions will have a multi-camera high definition broadcast with a play-by-play announcer. All watch links for those matches can be found on the USD women’s volleyball schedule page.
SCOUTING THE LIONS: Loyola Marymount enters the week with an overall record of 14-6, and they are 5-3 in the WCC after sweeping both Santa Clara and San Francisco this past week. The Lions lead the all-time series at 39-36, but the Toreros did capture the first meeting this season, 3-2, in Los Angeles back on Sept. 27. The Lions offense is paced by Sarah Sponcil, who has a team-best 270 kills, while hitting .333, and she is second on the team in digs with 210. The floor leader for the Lions is setter Jessie Prichard, who has 504 assists on the year, while helping steer the LMU offense to a team attack percentage of .257.
SCOUTING THE WAVES: Pepperdine enters the week with an overall record of 8-12, and they are 2-6 in the WCC after sweeping San Francisco, then dropping a 3-1 decision to Santa Clara this past week. Pepperdine does lead the all-time series at 33-30, but the Toreros have won eight straight against the Waves. Pepperdine’s offense is paced by Hanah Frohling, who has a team-leading 165 kills (2.14 kps), while hitting .159, and she has 86 digs on the year. Heidi Dyer (393 assists) and Jenna Tunnell (138 assists), split time at setter for the Waves, and they have combined to help steer the Pepperdine offense to a team attack percentage of .182.
DIG PINK MATCH: October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), and the fifth-ranked University of San Diego women’s volleyball team is going to help support NBCAM by teaming up with the Side-Out Foundation with the “Dig Pink” event, on October 22 against Pepperdine University inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion. USD Volleyball players will be collecting donations throughout the month around campus and in the community, as well as engaging individuals in breast cancer awareness; they will also be honoring those affected and lost to breast cancer by wearing pink warm-ups and pink jerseys for all of October.
LEADING THE NATION: San Diego, as a team, is currently leading the nation in kills-per-set at 15.00, and also leading the nation in assists-per-set at 14.09. As a team, USD has recorded 1,005 total kills, and 944 total assists.
GOING STREAKING: With USD’s 2-0 record this past week, the Toreros have increased their winning streak to 16, marking the longest winning streak since 2013, when USD won 17 consecutive matches. During this streak, Lisa Kramer is leading the USD offense with 213 kills (4.44 kps), while hitting .320. Lauren Schad is second in kills with 157 kills (2.85 kps), while hitting .429, and she has 42 total blocks. As a team, USD is hitting .296, while holding opponents to just a .208 attack percentage. USD has recorded 843 kills, to its opponents 610, and USD is out digging the competition 748-594.
EVERYWHERE TO TURN: It should be no big surprise that the Toreros lead the nation in assists-per-set, as San Diego setters Kristen Gengenbacher and Anna Newsome have plenty of options to turn to. Over the past five matches, USD has had four different players recorded 30 or more kills, paced by Lisa Kramer’s 71. Lauren Schad is right behind her with 47, followed by Lauren Fuller (38), and Thana Fayad (38).
RECORD WATCH: A few Toreros are breaking into the all-time top-10 lists in a few categories. Senior libero Hunter Jennings has moved herself into the top-10 list for career digs, now with 1,321, which places her fifth all-time. Senior middle hitter Lauren Schad is closing in on breaking into the top-10 list on career blocks, as she currently has 262, which is just 17 away from cracking into the top-10 list.
RECRUITING CLASS RANKED NO. 9: Volleyball magazine has released its top-10 recruiting classes in the country, and the University of San Diego checks in at No. 9, the only non BCS school on this list. Here is what they had to say about USD’s class… Two interesting names in this group are foreign players Thana Fayad and Anna Newsome “These two are much further along than most freshman,” longtime San Diego associate head coach Brent Hilliard said. “Thana has a chance to be the best outside hitter to ever come through San Diego. She is a full six-rotation player who can hit out of the front and back row. Anna played in the top level of the Italian Series at 18 years of age. She has been setting athletes almost twice her age and is more developed then 99 percent of the setters coming into college.” San Diego is also high on Payton Douglass, a libero from a lesser-known Washington club. Megan Jacobsen will help the team in the middle. “She’s the best middle-hitting prospect we have had in a long time,” said Hilliard. “She can hit hard off one or two feet and has an internal battery that already is tops on our team.” Eylers can set and play the right side, while Priest will help on the defensive end. “This is the best class we’ve had in over a decade,” said Hilliard.
A PAIR OF TOREROS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-WCC: Senior setter Kristen Gengenbacher, and senior outside hitter Lisa Kramer were both named to the preseason All-WCC team. Gengenbacher had a breakout season in her sophomore campaign, recording a career-high 1,095 assists (9.69 aps), while helping steer the Torero offense to a .220 attack percentage. Gengenbacher recorded a team-best 10 double-doubles, and a career-high 68 assists in a win against Pepperdine on Sept. 29. Gengenbacher recorded 30 or more assists on 20 occasions. Kramer, an AVCA All-American last year, paced the USD offense last season with a career-high 494 kills, which moves her into 10th on the single-season kills list at USD. Kramer managed to also set a modern-era record for kills in a match with 31. Since the NCAA switched to the 25-point sets in 2008, no Torero has been able to crack the 30-kill plateau, until Kramer did it on September 29, 2015 against Pepperdine. Last season, Kramer was named WCC Player of the Week twice, and was named to the All-tournament team of the UC Santa Barbara Tournament. Kramer finished the regular-season with 127 digs and 73 blocks.
PICKED TO WIN IT: After making its sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament and 19th overall, San Diego was picked as the favorite to win the 2016 West Coast Conference Volleyball Championship in the annual preseason poll of the WCC’s 10 coaches. The top three teams were separated by 11 votes, with 10 points separating the Toreros from the three-time defending WCC champion and 2015 NCAA Sweet-16 participant, BYU. San Diego collected 78 points and seven first place votes, while the Cougars collected 68 points with one first place vote. Fresh off its second straight NCAA Tournament berth, Santa Clara was tabbed third with 67 votes and picked up the remaining two first place votes. Loyola Marymount marched to the 2015 NCAA Sweet-16 and was picked to finish fourth with 59 points.
23 YEARS OF DOMINATION, AND COUNTING: As we begin the 2016 schedule, lets take a look back over the last 23 years of Torero volleyball, and their impact on the WCC. Since 1994, USD has made the NCAA Tournament 19 times…they have won 15 NCAA Tournament matches…Produced 12 All-Americans…won nine WCC championships…had nine WCC Players of the Year…45 All-WCC honorees…four WCC Defensive Players of the Year…three Sweet 16 appearances…and have taken down one No. 1 ranked team. USD has won seven of the last 10 WCC championships.
I NEED STATS STAT!: All San Diego volleyball home matches can be followed via Gametracker, on the Toreros athletic web site at usdtoreros.com. Gametracker is a real time update of the action. Selected San Diego road matches are also available via Gametracker and Statbroadcast. To see if live stats are available for a match, go to San Diego volleyball schedule page, and if any type of live stats are available, you will see those links there.
Courtesy of USD Toreros
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