No. 21 San Diego (14-3, 8-0 WCC)  •  Loyola Marymount (18-1, 8-0 WCC)

Oct. 22 | George Albert Smith Fieldhouse (5,000) • Provo, Utah

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PROVO, Utah — Up a spot in the AVCA Top 25 and the winners of their last eight straight matches, No. 21 San Diego volleyball (14-3, 8-0 WCC) will continue a road swing this Friday, traveling to Provo, Utah to take on No. 8 BYU (18-1, 8-0 WCC) at the George Albert Smith Fieldhouse in a clash of two unbeaten West Coast Conference teams.

First serve is set for 6 p.m. PST and the match will be broadcast live on BYUtv alongside live stats on BYUCougars.com.

ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS BYU
• The Toreros are 10-12 against the Cougars all-time, with the two programs' most recent meeting coming in March of 2021 as part of the Spring 2021 campaign, a 3-0 San Diego loss in Provo.

• Though they boast a 7-5 record against them at home, USD is 3-7 on the road versus BYU all-time, and most recently won at the George Albert Smith Fieldhouse in October of 2019, a 3-2 victory over the then-ninth-ranked Cougars.

• Sixteen of the last seventeen matchups between the Toreros and BYU have come with the Cougars in the AVCA Top 25, including each of the last 15 times the two programs have played.

• The Toreros, who have appeared in the national top-25 poll for 24 consecutive seasons with 22 top-10 appearances, have defeated BYU seven times when they are a ranked opponent, including wins over the Cougars in Provo when they are ranked No. 8 (October 2017), and when they are ranked No. 9 (October 2019).

BLACKWELL AND FROHLING SWEEP WEEKLY WCC AWARDS
• USD swept the West Coast Conference's weekly awards for the second time this season when Leyla Blackwell was named the WCC Defensive Player of the Week and Grace Frohling were named the WCC's Offensive Player of the Week, the conference announced on Monday afternoon.

FOR BLACKWELL... it's her third WCC accolade of the 2021 season after she earned the award on both September 13 and October 11.

FOR FROHLING...it's her first WCC weekly award of 2021 and the second of her career after previously earning it on February 22, 2021 as part of the Spring 2021 campaign.

BLACKWELL... continued her defensive dominance for USD this week, helping propel her team to another two conference victories by totaling 14 block assists and five solo blocks across a pair of away matches at No. 24 Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount.

• On Thursday at the Waves the San Diego, California native had eight block assists and two solo blocks in the Toreros' hard-fought 3-2 win, and on Saturday at the Lions the middle blocker posted six block assists and three solo blocks as USD rallied for a 3-2 comeback win at the Gersten Pavilion.

FROHLING... was also key in both of her team's wins this week, setting career highs in kills in successive matches as the Toreros took down No. 24 Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount on the road.

• On Thursday at the Waves Frohling one-upped the career-best 19 kills she posted in August versus UTSA with 21, then on Saturday the junior opposite/setter proved to be the difference in the Toreros' furious 3-2 comeback win at LMU, posting 24 kills for a new career high as she added five blocks and five digs.

FOR THE TOREROS...it's the second time this season they've won both weekly awards and their fifth and their sixth total conference accolades of the season after sophomore outside hitter Kyle Pries took home the offensive honor and Blackwell earned the defensive one on September 13, and senior outside hitter Katie Lukes was named the WCC Offensive Player of the Week on October 4.

IN THE RANKINGS
•The Toreros moved up a position in the AVCA Weekly Coaches' Poll for week eight (Oct. 18), grabbing the No. 21 spot.
 
• The Toreros have appeared in the national top-25 poll for 24 consecutive seasons, with 22 top-10 appearances. USD's highest ranking was No. 2 overall (Sept. 16, 2013).
 
• USD's highest-ranked victory came on Sept. 13, 2013 against No. 1 USC (3-1) in the Jenny Craig Pavilion. It marks the only time the Toreros have defeated a top-ranked team.

LAST TIME OUT
• Two days after outlasting No. 24 Pepperdine on Thursday in a hard-fought 3-2 win at the Firestone Fieldhouse, the Toreros battled for a gritty comeback win over LMU last time out on Saturday afternoon, rallying from a 2-0 deficit to take down the Lions at the Gersten Pavilion to stretch their win streak to eight straight matches.

• USD dropped the first two frames by scores of 25-20 and 25-23 before storming back to prevail in the next three in a row, beating LMU with 25-16, 25-23, and 15-13 decisions to conclude the match and secure the 3-2 win.

• Junior outside hitter Grace Frohling led the charge for the Toreros, setting a career high in kills for the second straight match with 24.

• Senior outside hitter Katie Lukes wasn't too far behind, tying her career high in kills of 21 (which she set on Thursday at No. 24 Pepperdine).

• Sophomore middle blocker Leyla Blackwell had nine total blocks (six solo), senior libero Annie Benbow posted 14 digs, and setter Isadora Terçariol racked up 42 assists.

First Set - (Loyola Marymount, 25-20)
• Both teams traded points before Blackwell tied things up at eight with her first kill of the afternoon.

• Frohling gave USD a one-point lead with a kill to make it 12-11 in favor of the Toreros

• LMU pulled away in the later stages of the set, prevailing by a 25-20 margin to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Second Set - (Loyola Marymount, 25-23)
• San Diego fell behind early but battled back when Frohling hammered a kill to cut the LMU lead to 6-3.

• An Annie Benbow ace brought the Toreros to within two at 10-8 LMU, then a Frohling kill later in the set cut the Lions' lead to one point at 21-20, but USD would get no closer, falling in the set 25-23 despite another clutch last-chance kill from Frohling.

Third Set - (San Diego, 25-16)
• Elly Schraeder entered at the beginning of the set and made an instant impact, placing a kill over the net to put USD out to a 1-0 lead.

• After a back-and-forth battle early on, a kill from Blackwell made it an 8-7 game in favor of USD.

• Freshman outside hitter Emily Wilson expanded the USD lead to three points with a kill, making the score 12-9.

• Several points later, the freshman capped a 5-0 scoring run from the Toreros with another kill, a stretch that moved the score to 17-10 in the frame and forced a Lions timeout.

Fourth Set - (San Diego, 25-23)
• Lukes got the Toreros off to a hot start by pulverizing her 10th kill of the afternoon, then added an ace to make it 7-4 in favor of USD.

• The Toreros fell behind in the set's middle stages, but a block from Blackwell pulled USD back within one.

• She'd be a factor on offense in the set as well, pushing USD ahead by an 18-17 margin with a kill.

• Lukes tied it at three with another kill, then a kill from Frohling and a block from Blackwell earned USD a 25-23 win in the set to bring the match score to 2-2.

Fifth Set - (San Diego, 15-13)
• Another closely contested set was back-and-forth early, then Lukes notched a clutch kill to make it 6-4 USD.

• Elly Schraeder smashed a kill to make it a two-point, 12-10 USD lead, then three attack errors by the Lions sealed a 15-13 San Diego win in the set, and a 3-2 win in the match.

BLOCK PARTY FOR BLACKWELL AND TOREROS
• Through 17 games in 2021 so far, middle blocker Leyla Blackwell and the Toreros have found themselves near the top of the national leaderboards for blocks.

• Blackwell, a 6-4 sophomore from San Diego, California, leads the Toreros and the WCC with an average of 1.61 blocks per set, a mark that ranks third in all of NCAA Division I.

• As a team, USD has totaled an average of 3.09 blocks per set, a mark that leads the conference and also ranks third in all of NCAA Division I.

FROHLING FLOURISHING
• Junior opposite/setter Grace Frohling has paced the Torero offense with a team-best 241 kills so far in 2021, a mark that leads the roster by nearly 60 kills and ranks fourth in the WCC.

•The Los Angeles, California native has tallied a team-leading 20 service aces in addition to her wealth of kills, and her 62 total blocks and 118 digs rank second and third on the team.

LUKES LEADING
• Senior outside hitter Katie Lukes has provided a potent one-two punch for the Toreros this year in addition to Frohling.

• She's totaled 52 kills in her last three matches, including back-to back career highs of 20 and 21 versus No. 24 Pepperdine and LMU last week.

• Despite having only played in 14 of the Toreros' 17 matches so far this year due to a mid-season injury, the San Clemente, California native ranks second on the USD roster with 182 kills in 2021, a mark that is 10th in the WCC and the most among conference players who have played 14 matches or less.

CAN YOU DIG IT?
• Libero Annie Benbow has been a mainstay for the Toreros on defense, totaling a team-best 264 digs through USD's 17 games so far in 2021, a mark that ranks third in the WCC.

• She added to that total this week against No. 24 Pepperdine and LMU, tallying a combined 36 digs against the Waves and Lions on Thursday and Saturday.

• The Frisco, Texas native is now in her fourth year with USD, and has earned All-WCC honors on three occasions (2019, honorable mention, 2020-2021 and 2019, academic honorable mention).

A HELPING HAND
• Setter Isadora Terçariol has been at the center of the Toreros' success so far this season, with 518 assists under her belt in 2021.

• On Thursday against No. 24 Pepperdine she added 42 assists, then added another 42 more against LMU on Saturday.

• Terçariol, a redshirt sophomore from Bauru, Säo Paulo, Brazil, has already bested her assists total from a season ago (239) and after appearing in 16 of USD's 17 matches thus far has also already surpassed her previous season high of sets played (29) with 58.