Aug. 22, 2016 Complete Release in PDF Format 
WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE: The University of San Diego women's volleyball team will open its 2016 campaign this weekend at the Cardinal Classic, hosted by Stanford University. The Toreros will open play as the featured match on Friday, against the host, and No. 11 ranked, Cardinal at 7 p.m. USD then will take on No. 3 Minnesota on Saturday in a 4 p.m. match.
TOREROS IN SEASON OPENERS: The University of San Diego women's volleyball team has posted a 14-2 record in season-openers under the direction of 17th-year head coach
Jennifer Petrie, with the only losses coming in the 2004 and 2010 seasons. As a program, USD has posted a 27-10 overall record on opening day in the Division I era.
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.
THIS WEEKEND'S COVERAGE: All matches involving USD this weekend will have both a live stats link, and watch link located on the USD volleyball schedule page.
SCOUTING THE CARDINAL: Stanford returns 10 letterwinners to the squad, which went 23-7 in 2015 and advanced to its nation-best 35th straight NCAA Tournament (tied with Penn State). The Cardinal returns three All-Americans in redshirt senior middle blocker Inky Ajanaku, who missed the 2015 season due to injury, redshirt junior middle blocker Merete Lutz and 2015 AVCA National Freshman of the Year Hayley Hodson. Stanford's six-member freshman class was rated No. 1 in the nation by PrepVolleyball.com. Ajanaku, Lutz and Hodson all earned spots on the Preseason All-Pac-12 squad. Stanford led all teams with three selections. Arizona and Washington each had two players selected. Stanford was also picked to win the Pac-12 title, according to the preseason coaches poll.
THE SERIES VS. STANFORD: USD has posted an all-time record of 0-5 against the Cardinal. The last meeting came on September 19, 2014 in San Diego, a 3-1 Stanford win. That marked the first time in the series history, that USD was able to take a set off the Cardinal. USD is 0-1 against the Cardinal in San Diego, 0-2 in Palo Alto, and 0-2 on neutral courts.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN GOPHERS: Minnesota returns 13 letter winners from last year, including six starters last season, off a squad that posted an overall record of 30-5, and reached the sweet-16 of the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Gophers are led offensively by first-team All-American Hannah Tapp, who recorded 365 kills, was third on the team in blocks with 140, and was a starter in all 35 matches last season. Samantha Seliger-Swenson is the floor leader for Minnesota, as the sophomore setter recorded 1,510 assists last season, en route to a second-team All-American honor. The Golden Gophers are under the direction of fifth-year head coach, Hugh McCutcheon.
THE SERIES VS. OKLAHOMA: USD has posted all-time record of 3-2 against the Golden Gophers. The last meeting came on September 18, 2010, a 3-2 USD win over the then No. 12 ranked Golden Gophers in San Diego. USD has posted a 3-1 record with matches played in San Diego, and they posted a 0-1 record in a neutral match against Minnesota.
Kristen Gengenbacher is one of two Toreros named preseason All-WCC.
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 recorded 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 also finished the regular-season with 127 digs and 73 blocks.
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. Now over the last 13 years, USD has won seven of the WCC championships.
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 as well. 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.
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.
