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WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE: The 10th-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team (5-2) will return to action on Friday, as they remain at home and host its second consecutive tournament, the USD/SDSU Invitational. On Friday, USD takes on Long Beach State at 7 p.m. Then on Saturday, the Toreros will be featured on their home court twice, once at 10 a.m. against Cal State Fullerton, and the night cap will be against UC Santa Barbara at 7 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT: The Toreros posted a 3-0 record this past week, claiming the title of the USD Invitational. The Toreros picked up a 3-1 win over UC Irvine, and a 3-0 win over No. 18 Colorado, then capped the tournament by picking up a 3-1 win over No. 7 UCLA. In Thursday's win over UCI, USD's offense was paced by both Lauren Schad, and Lisa Kramer, who each had 14 kills. Schad hit for a .636 clip, while also recording a pair of blocks, while Kramer hit .125 and had three digs. Jayden Kennedy was the final Torero in double digit kills, as she had 11, and hit for a .286 clip. Kristen Gengenbacher recorded a match-best 43 assists, while Hunter Jennings had a season-high 19 digs. Kaity Edwards was impressive on the serve this evening, as she recorded a career-high six aces, which ties her for third most in USD single-match history. In Friday's sweep of Colorado, Kramer led the USD offense with a match-best 14 kills, while hitting .379, and she added in three digs. Lauren Fuller was the second of three Toreros in double-digit kills, as she had 12, while also recording six digs. Kennedy had a great match as well, as she recorded 11 kills, and hit for a .346 clip, while also recording thee blocks. Gengenbacher recorded 22 assists, while Anna Newsome had 21 assists. Hunter Jennings led the defensive effort with 19 digs. Then in USD's 3-1 win over No. 7 UCLA, Kramer recorded her 24 kills on 44 swings, while only committing four errors to hit for a .455 clip. Schad was the second Torero in double digit kills, as she had 12, while also recording three digs and two blocks. Kristen Gengenbacher had a double-double with 34 assists, and 20 digs, while Hunter Jennings racked up 29 digs, which is tied for sixth most in USD single-match history. Addie Pica was also a brick wall for the Torero at the net, recording a match-best six blocks.

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.

SCOUTING THE 49ERS: Long Beach State enters the week with an overall record of 5-4 after splitting matches this past week, defeating California, 3-1, then getting swept by Washington State. The 49ers lead the all-time series at 15-9, but USD has won eight of the last 10 meetings. LBSU's offense is paced by senior outside hitter Nele Barber, who has a team-leading 133 kills, while hitting for a .253 clip. The floor leader for the Beach is setter Missy Owens, who has 309 assists, while helping steer the LBSU offense to a team attack percentage of .240.

SCOUTING THE TITANS: Cal State Fullerton enters the week with an overall record of 5-6 after splitting their four matches this past week. Fullerton defeated Citadel and Colgate, while dropping decisions to Air Force and Weber State. USD leads the all-time series at 17-11. Fullerton's offense is paced by sophomore outside hitter Shimen Fayad, who is the sister of USD's freshman outside hitter Thana Fayad. Shimen leads CSF with 145 kills, while hitting for a .178 clip. Freshman setter Rachel Hall leads the team with 322 assists, while helping steer the offense to a team attack percentage of .196.

SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS: UC Santa Barbara enters the week with an overall record of 8-2 after going 3-0 this past week, defeating San Francisco, Brown and St. Johns. USD is 10-12 all-time against the Gauchos, but have won the last six meetings. Lindsey Ruddins paces the Gaucho offense with 18 kills, while hitting .258. The floor leader for UCSB is setter Hannah Juley, who has 322 assists (9.49 aps). As a team, the Gauchos hit for a .243 clip.

TOREROS CRACK INTO TOP-10: The University of San Diego women's volleyball team has cracked into the top-10 of the AVCA top-25 poll this week, checking in at No. 10. This marks the third time in program history that USD has been in the top-10, having been in there twice in the 2013 season, reaching as high as No. 2 that season.

KRAMER TABBED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior opposite Lisa Kramer helped lead San Diego to a perfect 3-0 record this past week, including knocking off No. 18 Colorado, and No. 7 UCLA in back-to-back outings. This win over UCLA was the program's first against the Bruins, and it marks the third time since 2013 USD has defeated a top-10 team in the Jenny Craig Pavilion. For the week Kramer recorded 52 kills, while hitting .333 She led off the week with a 14-kill performance against UC Irvine, then recorded 14 kills against No. 18 Colorado, while hitting for a .379 clip. She then closed out the week with a season-high 24 kills against No. 7 UCLA, and hit for a .455 clip. Kramer elevated her game against the Buffs and the Bruins, averaging 5.43 kills per game on .425 attacking with just seven errors on 73 attempts. All told Kramer averaged 4.73 kills per set and added eight digs and two blocks.

ACES WILD: Junior middle hitter Kaity Edwards had quite the performance from the service line this past weekend, as she recorded a career-high six aces in USDs 3-1 win over UC Irvine. How good was this? It ties her for third most in USD single-match history. On the season, Edwards has now recorded 62 kills, while hitting for a .286 clip, and she leads the team with eight aces.

USD VS. THE PAC-12: With USD's thrilling 3-1 win over UCLA this past Saturday, it moved the Toreros' record against the PAC-12 to a perfect 3-0 this season. USD has defeated No. 11 Stanford, 3-2, then swept No. 18 Colorado this past Friday, and then dealt No. 7 UCLA a 3-1 loss.

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 the 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 Serie 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 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.

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. Now over the last 13 years, USD has won seven of the 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.