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WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE: The fifth-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team (19-2, 10-0 WCC) will begin a 2-week road trip this week, with a crucial West Coast Conference match against No. 16 BYU. This match will air live on BYUTV, and will be held at the Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah at 6 p.m. (PST).

LAST TIME OUT: USD posted another perfect 2-0 record this past week, defeating both Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine University by scores of 3-1. In Thursday's win over the Lions, Lisa Kramer led all players with her match-best 20 kills on 31 swings, to hit for a .516 clip, while recording one block. Lauren Schad was the only other Torero in double digit kills, as she had 13, while hitting .444, and she had three blocks. Kristen Gengenbacher recorded 30 assists, while Hunter Jennings anchored down the defense with 13 digs. As a team, USD hit for a .331 clip, while holding LMU to a .165 attack percentage. San Diego out blocked the Lions 9.0-4.0, and USD recorded 55 kills, to LMU's 46. USD also recorded 46 digs, while LMU had 40. Then in Saturday's win over Pepperdine, Kaity Edwards and Lauren Schad paced the USD offense with 12 kills apiece, while Edwards hit .429, and added in two blocks, Schad hit .579 with five blocks. Kramer was the third Torero in double digit kills, as she had 11. Addie Picha recorded a career-high 10 blocks, one solo, and Jennings had 17 digs. Gengenbacher managed to record a double-double, with 26 assists and 11 digs. As a team, USD hit for a .243 clip, while Pepperdine hit .149. USD recorded 56 kills to the Waves' 50, and both teams had 49 digs. USD also managed to out block the Waves 13.0-12.5.

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 seventh consecutive week USD has been ranked in the top-10. USD's highest ranking ever was No. 2, back in the 2013 season. BYU checks in at No. 16 in the AVCA top-25.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: Friday's volleyball match between USD and BYU will be aired live on BYUTV. Spencer Linton will be calling all the live play-by-play action, and Kristen Kozlowski will be providing color commentary. This will be USD's second televised match of WCC play, having defeated LMU, 3-2, in Los Angeles back on Sept. 27 on ESPNU.

SCOUTING THE COUGARS: BYU enters the match with an overall record of 19-3, and a 8-2 mark in the WCC after posting a 2-0 record this past week, with wins over Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine. BYU has now won three consecutive matches. The BYU offense is paced by Whitney Howard, who has a team-leading 318 kills (4.13 kps), while hitting .279. The floor leader for BYU is setter Lyndie Haddock, who has 749 assists (10.40 aps), while helping steer the Cougar offense to a team attack percentage of .292.

SERIES VS. BYU: San Diego leads the all-time series at 7-6, which includes sweeping the Cougars in the first meeting this season in San Diego, back on Sept. 30. USD has posted a 5-2 record against BYU in San Diego, and are 1-4 in matches played in Provo. USD's last win in Provo came in the 2011 season, when USD swept the season series.

RPI UPDATE: With the first half of WCC play now in the books, USD is not only ranked No. 5 in the latest AVCA top-25 poll, but the Toreros RPI is holding steady at No. 5 as well. San Diego is currently the highest rated West Coast, and are in a good position to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. USD is even battling for one of the top-4 national seeds. Still a lot of volleyball to be played, but thus far, USD is in pretty good shape for the postseason.

BLOCK PARTY: Sophomore middle hitter Addie Picha was a brick wall for the Toreros in Saturday's win over Pepperdine, as she recorded a career-high 10 blocks, one solo. On the season, Picha has now recorded 54 blocks, second on the team, only behind Lauren Schad's 56.

KRAMER TABBED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: The West Coast Conference has named its Volleyball Player of the Week for October 24, 2016, and it is USD's senior opposite Lisa Kramer. Kramer once again lifted No. 5 San Diego with another big week. The All-American averaged 3.88 kills on .270 attacking and 3.94 points as the Toreros remained unbeaten in WCC play (10-0) while extending their winning streak to a whopping 18 matches. Kramer opened the week with a 20-kill performance in a four-set win against SoCal rival Loyola Marymount, hitting at a .516 clip and then followed with an 11-kill effort in a four-set victory against Pepperdine.

LEADING THE NATION: San Diego, as a team, is currently leading the nation in kills-per-set at 14.88, and in assists-per-set at 13.95. As a team, USD has recorded 1,116 total kills, and 1,046 total assists.

GOING STREAKING: With USD's 2-0 record this past week, the Toreros have increased their winning streak to 18, pulling USD to within one win of tying the 1997 squad for longest winning streak in program history at 19. During this streak Lisa Kramer has recorded 244 kills (4.36 kps), while hitting .313. Three other Toreros have recorded 100 or more kills in this stretch, including Lauren Schad (182 kills), Lauren Fuller (146 kills), and Kaity Edwards (130 kills). As a team, USD has recorded 954 kills, while holding opponents to 706 kills.

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.

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 1,351, which places her second all-time, 114 behind the all-time leader Jackie Bernardine. Senior middle hitter Lauren Schad is closing in on breaking into the top-10 list on career blocks, as she currently has 270, which is just nine 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.