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WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE: The fifth-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team (13-2, 4-0 WCC) will welcome the University of the Pacific to town on Thursday for a 7 p.m. WCC match inside the friendly confines of the Jenny Craig Pavilion. USD then hosts Saint Mary's College on Saturday at 12 p.m. to close out a three-match home stand inside the JCP.

LAST TIME OUT: USD posted another perfect 2-0 record this past week, defeating Loyola Marymount, 3-2, then sweeping No. 11 BYU. These two wins move USD to a perfect 9-0 at home, and runs their winning streak up to 12. In Tuesday's win over LMU, Lisa Kramer led all players with 21 kills, while hitting .366 with three blocks and one dig. Lauren Schad was the second Torero in double digit kills with 12, hit .455 and had six blocks, two solo. Kristen Gengenbacher led all players with 44 assists, while also recording five digs. Hunter Jennings recorded a match-best 13 digs. As a team, USD hit for a .208 clip, while LMU hit .313. The Toreros recorded 46 digs, while LMU had 40 digs. San Diego out-blocked the Lions 13.0-12.0. Then in USD's thrilling sweep of the defending WCC champion BYU Cougars on Friday, Kramer led all players with her 18 kills, while hitting for a .538 clip, and she recorded a pair of blocks. Lauren Fuller also recorded double-digit kills, as she had 11, while hitting .348, and she collected five digs. Kristen Gengenbacher recorded 41 assists, and had seven digs, while Hunter Jennings recorded 10 digs. As a team, USD hit for a .393 clip, while BYU hit .333. The Toreros recorded 35 digs, while BYU had 23. USD was out blocked 7.0-5.5.

THE RANKINGS: The University of San Diego women's volleyball team moved up one spot to No. 5 in the latest AVCA top-25 poll. This marks the fourth 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 Pacific , nor Saint Mary's 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 TIGERS: Pacific enters the match with an overall record of 10-7, and they are in second place in the WCC at 4-1 after being swept by Pepperdine, then bouncing back with a 3-2 win over Loyola Marymount this past week. The Tigers have never defeated USD in eight tries. Pacific's offense is paced by Lexi Elman, who has a team-leading 230 kills (3.54 kps), while hitting for a .166 clip. The floor leader for the Tigers is setter Andie Shelton, who has a team-leading 607 assists. Pacific is under the direction of seventh-year head coach Greg Gibbons.

SCOUTING THE GAELS: Saint Mary's enters the week with an overall record of 8-8, and they are 3-2 in the WCC after dropping a 3-1 decision to LMU, then picking up a 3-1 win over Pepperdine this past week. USD leads the all-time series 48-12. Lindsey Knudsen paces the Gaels offense, as she has recorded a team-leading 180 kills (3.10 kps), and is hitting for a .211 clip. SMC runs 2-setter system, with Mary Hernandez (321 assists) and Hannah Liserra (274 assists) sharing the stetting duty. SMC is under the direction of 11th-year head coach Rob Browning.

KRAMER NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: The West Coast Conference has named its Volleyball Player of the Week for October 3, 2016, and it is USD's Lisa Kramer. Senior opposite Lisa Kramer helped lead San Diego to a 2-0 record this week, including a dominating win over No. 11 BYU to remain unbeaten in WCC play. Kramer led the USD offense with 39 kills (4.88 kps), while hitting for a .435 clip. Kramer recorded a season-high 21 kills in the thrilling five-set win at Loyola Marymount. In this match, the Lions had the Toreros down two sets to none, and behind the inspired play of Kramer, USD won the final three sets to claim the come-from-behind victory. Kramer once again took the team on her shoulders, as the defending WCC champion BYU Cougars came to the Jenny Craig Pavilion. Kramer led all players with 18 kills, hit .536, and added two blocks. The Cougars simply had no answer for Kramer, and San Diego went on to sweep BYU.

Lisa Kramer has been named WCC Player of the Week twice this season.

LEADING THE NATION: San Diego, as a team, is currently leading the nation in kills-per-set at 15.36, and also leading the nation in assists-per-set at 14.45. As a team, USD has recorded 814 total kills, and 766 total assists.

GOING STREAKING: With USD's 2-0 record this past week, the Toreros have increased their winning streak to 12, marking the longest winning streak since 2013, when USD won 17 consecutive matches. During this streak, Lisa Kramer is leading the USD offense with 160 kills (4.71 kps), while hitting .336. Lauren Schad is not far behind with 126 kills (3.07 kps), while hitting .441, and she has 29 total blocks. As a team, USD is hitting .306, while holding opponents to just a .215 attack percentage. USD has recorded 652 kills, to its opponents 458, and USD is out digging the competition 570-456.

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 five different players recorded 30 or more kills, paced by Lisa Kramer's 74. Lauren Schad is right behind her with 48, followed by Lauren Fuller (37), and Kaity Edwards (32).

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 1,253, 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 242, which is just 38 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.