Sept. 6, 2016

Complete Release in PDF Format

WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE: The 15th-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team (2-2) will return to action on Thursday, as they finally get to play in the friendly confines of the Jenny Craig Pavilion. On Thursday, USD will kick off the USD Tournament with a 7 p.m. match against UC Irvine. Then on Friday, the Toreros will take on No. 18 Colorado at 7 p.m., and San Diego will cap the tournament with a 6 p.m. match on Saturday against No. 7 UCLA.

LAST TIME OUT: The Toreros posted a 1-1 record this past weekend to move their overall record to 2-2. USD dropped a 3-0 decision to No. 2 Wisconsin, then cruised to a 3-0 win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi. USD began the week with a 3-0 loss to the Badgers. In this match, USD's offense was paced by senior outside hitter Lisa Kramer's nine kills, while Lauren Schad added in eight kills and Thana Fayad had six kills. Lauren Fuller led the team with 15 digs, while Hunter Jennings had 11 digs. Kristen Gengenbacher recorded 16 assists. As a team, USD hit for a .009 clip, and Wisconsin hit for a .260 clip. USD was out blocked 14.5-3, and USD recorded 41 digs, while the Badgers recorded 45 digs. Then on Saturday, USD bounced back with a 3-0 win over the Islanders. In this match, Fayad led the USD offense with a match-best 12 kills on 27 swings, and she added in eight digs to just miss a double-double. Kaity Edwards recorded 10 kills, while also adding in one block, and both Jayden Kennedy and Schad recorded nine kills apiece. Jennings recorded 10 digs, and Gengenbacher had 27 assists, while Anna Newsome had 20 assists. As a team, USD hit for a .278 clip, while holding the Islanders to a .149 clip. Texas A&M Corpus Christi recorded 11.5 blocks, while USD had five. San Diego recorded 40 digs, while the Islanders recorded 32 digs.

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.

First Serve Luncheon, September 10th, 12 - 2 pm at La Gran Terraza. - Open to alumni, parents and friends of USD Volleyball, it will be an opportunity to get an up-close and personal look at our program while interacting with our coaches and student athletes. Coach Petrie will provide an inside look at the 2016 season and the team, introducing each player in a fun and engaging format. It will also serve as the kick-off to our Match Point Fundraising initiative, which seeks to strengthen and expand support for our student athletes. Registration page

SCOUTING THE ANTEATERS: UC Irvine enters the week with an overall record of 2-4, and they will travel to take on San Diego State on Wednesday, prior to taking on the Toreros. UC Irvine defeated Northeastern, then dropped two consecutive matches to Washington State and California this past week. UCI does have an impressive win, as they upset No. 7 USC in the Galen Center. The Anteaters offense is paced by Victoria Dennis, who has a team-leading 85 kills, while hitting .284. The floor leader for UCI is Ali Koumelis, who has 166 assists in the season, while helping steer the Irvine offense to a team attack percentage of .192.

SCOUTING THE BUFFALOES: No. 18 Colorado enters the week with an overall record of 4-1, after upsetting No. 13 Penn State, and No. 17 Illinois this past week. Colorado is currently ranked No. 18 in the latest AVCA top-25 poll. The Buffaloes have only lost once this season, a 5-set defeat to Portland State. Colorado's offense is paced by Alexa Smith, who has 79 kills (3.43 kps), while hitting .256, and she has the second most digs on the team with 63. The Buffaloes turn to setter Kiara McKibben to be a floor leader with her 188 assists.

SCOUTING THE BRUINS: UCLA enters the week undefeated at 6-0, and they are currently ranked No. 7 in the latest AVCA top-25 poll. The Bruins defeated Missouri State, 3-1, and No. 15 Hawaii, 3-0, this past week to remain perfect in 2016. USD has never defeated the Bruins in program history. UCLA's offense is paced by Reily Buechler, who has a team-leading 75 kills, while hitting for a .212 clip. The Bruins floor leader is setter Ruann Chandler, who has 213 assists on the young season.

LIVE ON TWITTER: Wednesday's match against UC Irvine will not only be aired live on TheW.tv, but it will also be live on twitter. Fans can log onto twitter and follow the match live from that platform, if they wish.

WITH HONORS: Senior middle hitter Lauren Schad and senior libero Hunter Jennings were both selected to the All-Tournament team of the HotelRED Invitational this past weekend. Schad recorded 17 kills, while hitting .250 and she recorded four total blocks, one solo. Jennings was a defensive gem for the Toreros, as she recorded 21 digs.

FAYAD CONTINUES STRONG START: Freshman outside hitter Thana Fayad continues an impressive start to her freshman campaign, as she led the USD offense this past weekend with 18 kills, while also recording 13 digs. She began the week with six kills against No. 2 Wisconsin, then bounced back with 12 kills in USD's 3-0 win over Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

ANOTHER TOUGH WEEKEND: For a third consecutive week, the Toreros will have their hands full with their opponents. In week one, USD took on No. 11 Stanford, beat them 3-2, then fell to No. 3 Minnesota, 3-1. This past weekend, the Toreros faced their second top-10 team in No. 2 Wisconsin, and fell 3-0. Now USD will take on a third straight top-10 opponent in No. 7 UCLA on Saturday, not to mention No. 18 Colorado on Friday night.

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.