Oct. 12, 2016

ON THE COURT: The fifth-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team will hit the road this week, as they resume West Coast Conference play. On Thursday, USD will head to Spokane, Wash. to take on the Gonzaga University Bulldogs in a 6 p.m. match inside of the Martin Centre. Then on Saturday, USD will remain in the Pacific Northwest, and head over to Portland, Ore. to take on the University of Portland in a 1 p.m. WCC match inside the Chiles Center.

LAST TIME OUT: USD posted another 2-0 record this past week, picking up a 3-2 win over Pacific, then sweeping away the Gaels of Saint Mary's College. In Thursday's 3-2 win over the Tigers, both Lisa Kramer and Lauren Fuller led the USD offense with 14 kills each, while Fuller recorded six digs and hit for a .310 clip, and Kramer hit .258 with a pair of blocks. Lauren Schad was the only other Torero in double-digit kills, as she had 11, while hitting .333 and she recorded three blocks, one solo. Kristen Gengenbacher recorded 40 assists, and nearly had a double-double with seven digs. Hunter Jennings added in eight digs, and Lizzy Tardieu had seven digs. Then in Saturday's sweep of the Gales, Kramer led all players with her 16 kills, while also racking up four blocks and four digs. Thana Fayad added in eight kills, while Kristen Gengenbacher led the team with 29 assists, and Hunter Jennings led the defense with 12 digs.

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 BULLDOGS: Gonzaga enters the match with an overall record of 11-5, and they are 4-2 in the WCC after picking up a 3-1 win over Pepperdine, then a 3-2 win over Loyola Marymount this past week. GU is currently riding a four-match win streak, their second of the year. USD leads the all-time series at 49-9, winning every match up since 1995. Gonzaga's offense is paced by both Emmy Allen and Paige Folger, who each have 212 kills on the season. The Zags run a 2-setter system, with Jenna Kuehn (239 assists), and Faith Smith (368 assists). These two ladies have helped steer the Zags offense to a team attack percentage of .224.

SCOUTING THE PILOTS: Portland enters the week with an overall record of 10-8, and they are 3-3 in the WCC after getting swept by Loyola Marymount, then bouncing back with a 3-2 win over Pepperdine. USD is 51-9 all-time against the Pilots. Hannah Troutmann leads the Portland offensive attack with a team-best 260 kills. Cali Thompson is the floor leader for the Pilots, as she has recorded a team-leading 669 assists, while helping steer the team to an attack percentage of .215.

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 fifth consecutive week USD has been ranked in the top-10, as the only non-BCS school in the top-10. USD's highest ranking ever was No. 2, back in the 2013 season. Neither Gonzaga, nor Portland are ranked in the top-25 this week.

LEADING THE NATION:, as a team, is currently leading the nation in assists-per-set at 14.02, and are second in kills-per-set at 14.98.

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.