Complete Release in PDF Format

WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE: The 14th-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team (24-5) will open play in the NCAA Tournament this Friday, as they travel to UCLA's Pauley Pavilion to take on Baylor University in a 5:30 p.m. match. Should USD win, they would advance on to play either UCLA or Murray State on Saturday at 7 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT: Three Toreros recorded double-digit kills, but it wasn't enough, as the 11th-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team was upset by Pepperdine University, 3-1, in the regular-season finale on Nov. 22, 2016 at the Firestone Fieldhouse. Lisa Kramer led the Torero offense with 16 kills, and added in two digs. Thana Fayad had a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs, while Lauren Schad recorded 10 kills as well. Both Kristen Gengenbacher and Anna Newsome posted double-doubles with each recoding 28 assists, and Newsome had 14 digs and Gengenbacher had 13 digs. Hunter Jennings paced the defense with 20 digs. As a team, USD hit for a .198 clip, while Pepperdine hit .245. The Toreros recorded 74 digs, to Pepperdine's 63, and USD recorded 64 kills, while Pepperdine had 57. USD was out blocked 15-5.

TOREROS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: San Diego is making its 20th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and seventh consecutive trip. The Toreros are 14-19 all-time in the tournament and have advanced to the Sweet 16 three times, in the 2004, 2006, and 2013 seasons. USD has never faced Baylor in the NCAA Tournament, and are 1-0 all-time against the Bears. The Toreros and Bruins have squared off three times in the NCAA Tournament with UCLA coming out on top in all those matches. USD has never faced Murray State in the history of the program.

THE RANKINGS: The University of San Diego women's volleyball team dropped three spots to No. 14 the latest AVCA top-25 poll. UCLA is ranked No. 8 in the latest top-25, but neither Murray State, nor Baylor are ranked in this week's top-25 poll.

STREAMING THIS WEEKEND: All three matches of the Los Angeles first and second rounds will feature a live video stream on UCLABruins.com. USD will take on Baylor first at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, followed by UCLA and Murray State at 8 p.m.

SCOUTING THE BEARS: The Baylor Bears enter the NCAA Tournament with a 21-11 overall record, after dropping their final match of the season to No. 4 Kansas. The Bears offense is paced by Katie Staiger, who has a team-leading 664 kills (5.53 kps), and she is hitting at a .265 clip. The defensive leader for the Bears is Jana Brusek, who has 552 digs, and the floor leader for Baylor, is setter Morgan Reed, who has 1,259 assists. The Bears are under the direction of second-year head coach Ryan McGuyre. San Diego is 1-0 all-time vs. Baylor, with the lone meeting coming on September 8, 1988, a 3-2 USD win in San Diego.

SCOUTING THE BRUINS: The Bruins enter the Tournament with a 24-6 overall record, after knocking off cross-town rival USC to close the regular-season. The Bruins offense is paced by Reily Buechler, who has a team-leading 362 kills (3.18 kps), and she is hitting for a .207 clip. The floor leader for the Bruins is Ryann Chandler, who has 882 assists (7.55 aps), while helping steer the Bruin offense to a .243 team attack percentage. UCLA is under the direction of seventh-year head coach Michael Sealy. USD is now 1-10 all-time against the Bruins, as San Diego handily defeating UCLA, 3-1, in San Diego this season, back on September 10 in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

SCOUTING THE RACERS: Murray State enters the tournament with an overall record of 23-8, after claiming the OVC Tournament title, to earn the OVC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Racers are led offensively by Scottie Ingram, who has a team-best 506 kills (4.32 kps), and is hitting at a .202 clip. The floor leader for MSU is Hannah Stultz, who has 945 assists (10.5 aps), and has helped steer the Racers offense to a team attack percentage of .206. Murray State is under the direction of 19th-year head coach David Schwepker. USD and Murray State have never met in the sport of women's volleyball.

KRAMER TABBED WCC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: A two-time All-WCC selection, Lisa Kramer has been named the WCC Player of the Year. Kramer led the league in kills during conference play (4.11) and was second in points per set (4.33) and eighth in hitting percentage (.305) as the primary attack option for a team ranked as high as No. 5 nationally in 2016. Kramer is the 10th Torero to earn Player of the Year honors and the first since Chloe Ferrari was tabbed in 2013. A USD student-athlete has now captured Player of the Year honors five times since 2008.

SIMPLY THE BEST: Senior libero Hunter Jennings has become the all-time leader in career digs at USD with 1,467, three ahead of former Torero great Jackie Bernardine. Jennings has also moved her name into the USD single-season digs list with her 411 digs on the season, good for ninth best in a single-season. Jennings has recorded double digit digs in all but three matches this season, with a season-high of 29 coming in a win over UCLA.

SCHAD CRACKS ALL-TIME BLOCKS LIST: Senior middle hitter Lauren Schad has cracked into the USD all-time career blocks list at No. 10, as she recorded her 280th block against Pepperdine in the regular-season finale. Schad is now just now 16 blocks behind ninth place.

LEADING THE NATION: San Diego, as a team, is currently leading the nation in both kills-per-set (14.99), and in assists-per-set (13.96). As a team, USD has recorded 1,533 total kills, and 1,429 total assists.

FIVE TOREROS EARN ALL-WCC ACCOLADES: Five University of San Diego women's volleyball players have earned All-West Coast Conference honors, the league announced Monday afternoon. Lisa Kramer, Lauren Schad and Hunter Jennings were named first-team All-WCC and Kramer was tabbed the WCC Player of the Year. Taking home honorable mention honors were both Kaity Edwards and Kristen Gengenbacher.

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.