SAN DIEGO—No. 25 San Diego dropped a tightly contested five-set thriller to No. 2 Nebraska, 3-2 (25-22, 19-25, 25-22, 22-25 and 11-15) on Saturday night in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
 
The Toreros (2-3) gave the Cornhuskers all they could handle falling just short of the upset after leading the match 2-1. With USD on top 22-21 in the fourth frame, Nebraska (4-0) rattled off four-straight points to force a deciding fifth set and eventually complete the comeback. 
 
Grace Frohling and Katie Lukes both collected 17 kills to pace the San Diego offense. Frohling led the Toreros, hitting .371 and recording two blocks, while Lukes hit .295 and added two blocks as well. The Huskers held the slight edge over the Toreros offensively, hitting .252 compared to USD's .235.
 
Roxie Wiblin and Thana Fayad also reached double-digit kills (10 each) and led the team with two aces each.
 
San Diego was aggressive from the service line, collecting five aces on the night but recording 12 service errors in the process.
 
Fayad notched her second double-double of the season with a match-high 19 digs and Annie Benbow also reached double-digits with 12 digs. Anna Newsome tallied 28 assists and Laura Madill collected 25 as part of San Diego's 6-2 offense. 
 
While Nebraska held the advantage with 12.5 blocks to USD's 7.0, the Torero blockers did their part to slow the Cornhusker offense. San Diego rarely allowed a Nebraska ball over the net without getting a hand on it first. Megan Jacobsen led the team with four blocks and Lauren Turner chipped in three (2 solo).
 
Nebraska's Lexi Sun collected a match-high 21 kills, while Lauren Stivrins and Madi Kubik added 14 and 11 kills respectively. Stivrins also tallied a match-high 8 blocks for the Huskers.
 
The Toreros led early in set one, 11-8 before the Cornhuskers went on an 8-1 run to make it 16-12, Nebraska. A Huskers error, a Wiblin ace and a combined block by Frohling and Turner tied the set at 17-all. The teams traded points down the stretch, but the Toreros held on to the slight edge to take set one 25-22.
 
However, Cornhuskers answered quickly, jumping out to an 8-3 lead in set two and never looked back. Nebraska rolled on to a 25-19 victory to even the match at 1-1.
 
Set three was a back-and-forth battle that saw 18 ties and eight lead changes. The teams traded virtually every point up until 19-19 when the Toreros went on a 5-1 run to reach set point. Sun collected back-to-back kills for Nebraska to hold off set point, but Frohling sent one through the block and down for the 25-22 set-three victory.
 
It was more of the same in set four with the teams knotted as late as 21-21. Back-to-back kills by Frohling gave San Diego the 22-21 lead, three-points shy of the upset. But the Cornhuskers would not be denied, collecting four straight points to force the fifth-set decider.
 
Nebraska carried the momentum into the fifth frame, leading 6-4 early. A Wiblin kill, followed by a Wiblin ace tied the game at 6-6 but the Toreros were unable to push ahead. The Huskers outscored USD 9-4 down the stretch clinch the fifth set and complete the comeback victory.
 
The Toreros will hit the road for a three-match weekend at the UCSB Invitational in Santa Barbara, Calif. USD will face host UCSB on Friday at 6 p.m. (PT) and take on both Harvard (10 a.m.) and La Salle (4 p.m.) on Saturday.