Aug. 29, 2010

Box Score

HONOLULU, Hawaii - Behind senior outside hitter Amy Mahinalani DeGroot's career-high 27 kills, the 22nd-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team (1-2) ended the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Invitational with a 3-1 (22-25, 25-16, 25-22, 25-15) win over Kansas State University (0-3) Sunday evening.

DeGroot also hit .533 on the afternoon, while also racking up 18 digs to post her second double-double of the season. Both Amber Tatsch and Chloe Ferrari were also in double-digit kills with 10 each, while Kelsi Myers had 48 assists in steering the Torero offense to a .336 team attack percentage.

In the first set, the Wildcats jumped out to a 7-3 lead as they came out firing on all cylinders. After K-State took its biggest lead of the set at 15-9, a Ali Troost kill then sparked a 9-0 Toreros run that was bookended on a DeGroot kill to give USD a 18-15 lead. The Wildcats responded with runs of three, two and four points to come from behind and win the opening set 25-22.

San Diego found its groove in the second set to put a significant lead as the Wildcats only scored consecutive points three times with each just a pair. The Toreros continued to go to outside hitter DeGroot as she posted five kills in the second set to go into the break with 13 through the first two sets. San Diego hit .370 as a team in the second set while K-State hit just .171 after posting .233 in the first.

The Wildcats looked poised to take a 2-1 lead in the match holding a 22-20 lead in the third set, however San Diego again rallied from behind scoring the next five points on the arms of Ferrari and DeGroot as each had two kills and assisted together on a block to end the set 25-22 pushing the Wildcats into a corner as they could not hold onto the lead late in the set.

In the fourth and final set, it was a close battle with both teams taking their turn with the lead, then with the score at 12-10 in favor of the Toreros, USD went on a 9-4 run that was sparked on a K-State service error, and capped on a Tatsch service ace to give USD a 21-14 lead. The Toreros never looked back as they went on to claim the match with a 25-15 win.

San Diego will return to action on Saturday as they host Gardner-Webb in a 12 p.m. match inside the friendly confines of the Jenny Craig Pavilion.