No. 20 San Diego (14-4, 8-1 WCC)  •  Santa Clara (8-12, 4-6 WCC) •  San Francisco (0-18, 0-10 WCC)

Oct. 28 and 30 | Jenny Craig Pavilion (5,100) • San Diego, California

Live Stream  •  WCC Network |  Live Statistics  • USDToreros.com

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SAN DIEGO — Up another spot in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 and winners of eight of their last nine matches, No. 20 San Diego volleyball returns home this week for a pair of matches with West Coast Conference opponents, hosting Santa Clara on Thursday night before it welcomes San Francisco to the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Saturday afternoon.

Thursday's matchup with the Broncos is set for 7 p.m., and Saturday's contest versus the Dons will get going at 12 p.m. Both will be streamed live on the WCC Network, with Jack Cronin on the call on Thursday and Braden Surprenant on the call for Saturday. Live stats for both matches will be available on USDToreros.com.

IN THE RANKINGS
•The Toreros moved up a position in the AVCA Weekly Coaches' Poll for the third consecutive week on Monday (Oct. 25), grabbing the No. 20 spot in Week Nine.
 
• The ranking marks USD's highest since August, when they began the 2021 campaign as the preseason No. 20 team in the ACVA Top 25.

• 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.

ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS SANTA CLARA
• The Toreros are 41-32 against the Broncos all-time, with the two programs' most recent meeting coming earlier this season on October 2, a 3-1 USD win in Santa Clara.

• San Diego has won each of its last 13 matchups with the Broncos, including five straight victories versus SCU at the JCP, a streak that dates back to September of 2015.

• Overall USD is 21-13 against Santa Clara at home, and Thursday night's match marks the first time SCU and USD have met in San Diego since October of 2019.

LAST TIME OUT AGAINST SANTA CLARA…
• USD won the first two sets by scores of 25-17 and 25-19 before dropping the third by a 25-19 margin, then finished things how it started, closing the match out with another 25-17 win in the fourth.

• Katie Lukes tallied 17 kills and Grace Frohling added 16 of her own as USD earned a 3-1 decision on the road.

• Leyla Blackwell paced the Toreros with nine blocks, complemented by a six-block performance from Frohling and four from Lukes.

ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS SAN FRANCISCO
• The Toreros are 56-18 against the Dons all-time, with the two programs' most recent meeting coming earlier this season on September 30, a 3-0 USD sweep in San Francisco.

• San Diego has won each of its last 13 matchups with the Dons, including seven straight victories versus San Francisco at the JCP, a streak that dates back to September of 2015.

• Overall the Toreros are 32-5 against the Dons at home, with the last matchup between the two teams in San Diego coming in February as part of the Spring 2021 campaign, a 3-0 USD win.

• Dating back to 2011, the Toreros have won 20 of their last 22 games against USF.

LAST TIME OUT AGAINST SAN FRANCISCO…
• USD took the first set 25-20, won a close 26-24 decision in the match's middle frame, then cruised to a 25-15 win to secure the 3-0 match victory in the third set

• Lukes led the way for San Diego with 11 kills, two service aces, and a pair of digs, while Grace Frohling wasn't too far behind with 10 kills, a service ace, and nine digs.

• Setter Isadora Terçariol had 20 assists, followed by Laura Madill with 11. Libero Annie Benbow led USD with 12 digs.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Toreros dropped a tough 3-0 decision to No. 8 BYU last time out on Friday, October 22, falling to the Cougars at the Smith Fieldhouse.

• The loss snapped an eight-game win streak for USD and marked its first West Coast Conference loss of the 2021 season.

How It Happened
First Set - (BYU, 25-17)
• The Cougars jumped out to an early lead but a booming kill from sophomore Leyla Blackwell cut the BYU lead in half and made it 6-3.

• Junior Grace Frohling then placed a dig-kill over the net to pull USD a point closer, but the Cougars went on a run to extend their lead.

• Senior Katie Lukes got on the board with her first kill of the night to make it a 15-9 set in favor of BYU and freshman Emily Wilson notched three kills in the set's final five points to make it close, but the Cougars took the first set by a score of 25-17.

Second Set - (BYU, 25-13)
• USD struck first after Grace Frohling notched her third kill of the game.

• Blackwell then put together a dynamic kill-block assist-kill sequence to vault USD ahead by a 4-1 margin.

• Freshman Annika Hester checked in after a BYU scoring run and notched back-to-back kills to pull USD within six points, then senior setter Laura Madill put together a kill to keep BYU in check.

• The deficit remained at six late until late in the set as the Toreros trailed by a score of 19-13, but the Cougars pulled away and finished strong, earning a 25-13 set win to pull ahead by a 2-0 margin in the match.

Third Set - (BYU, 25-13)
• Senior middle blocker Gabby Goddard helped USD get out to a fast start, notching a block, then a kill to put her team up 8-7 early on in the third set.

• The Toreros kept things close until midway through the set, making it a one-point game at 11-10 BYU before the Cougars surged ahead by four points and made it 15-11.

• USD got a point back on a kill by Lukes to make it 15-12 but would get no closer, scoring one last time an attack error from the Cougars before they finished on a seven-point run to secure the 25-13 win in the set, and the 3-0 sweep in the match.

Torero Tidbits
• Wilson totaled five kills, while Blackwell and Frohling each added four.

• Annie Benbow led the way with eight digs, and Lukes, Blackwell, and Goddard each had two blocks.

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 1.57 blocks per set, a mark that ranks fourth in all of NCAA Division I.

• As a team, USD has totaled an average of 3.01 blocks per set, a mark that leads the conference and also ranks second in all of NCAA Division I.

FROHLING FLOURISHING
• Junior opposite/setter Grace Frohling has paced the Torero offense with a team-best 245 kills so far in 2021, a mark that leads the roster by 50-plus kills and ranks sixth 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 69 total blocks and 123 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 65 kills in her last four matches, including back-to back career highs of 20 and 21 versus No. 24 Pepperdine and LMU on October 14 and 16, and 12 at No. 8 BYU last Friday night.

• Despite having only played in 15 of the Toreros' 18 matches so far this year due to a mid-season injury, the San Clemente, California native ranks second on the USD roster with 194 kills in 2021, a mark that is 12th in the WCC and the most among conference players who have played 15 matches or less.

CAN YOU DIG IT?
• Libero Annie Benbow has been a mainstay for the Toreros on defense, totaling a team-best 272 digs through USD's 18 games so far in 2021, a mark that ranks fourth in the WCC.

• She added to that total last week against No. 24 Pepperdine and LMU, tallying a combined 36 digs against the Waves and Lions on October 14 and 16 before she recorded eight at No. 8 BYU on Friday night.

• 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 530 assists under her belt in 2021.

• She added 84 assists across two matches at No. 24 Pepperdine and LMU on October 14 and 16 before she recorded 12 at No. 8 BYU last Friday.

• Terçariol, a redshirt sophomore from Bauru, Säo Paulo, Brazil, has already bested her assists total from a season ago (239), and after appearing in 17 of USD's 18 matches thus far has also already surpassed her previous season high of sets played (29) with 58.