SAN DIEGO—No. 21 San Diego opened its spring 2021 campaign with a 25-14, 25-22, 25-16 sweep of Saint Mary's on Sunday afternoon in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
 
The Toreros (1-0, 1-0 WCC) hit .297 as a team, led by Roxie Wiblin's 16 kills and Grace Frohling with 11. Thana Fayad finished one kill shy of a double-double, recording a team-high 13 digs and adding 9 kills.
 
USD's defense held the Gaels (1-4, 1-4 WCC) to a .087 clip with 47 digs and seven blocks. Along with Fayad, Camryn Tastad also collected double-digit digs, finishing with 12 on the day. Freshman Elly Schraeder led the Toreros at the net with four blocks and Lauren Turner and Laura Madill both added three.
 
The Toreros were tough behind the service line, collecting seven aces on the day, including three from Madill. Madill also paced the team with 35 assists in her new role as USD's six-rotation setter.
 
Madill kicked off the season with a four-point service run in the first set, including three aces to give USD the early lead. The Gaels battled back to make it 6-8 before the Toreros put together a 6-2 run to secure a comfortable lead. USD hit .323 in the first frame and cruised a 25-14 first-set victory.
 
It was the Gaels who came out swinging in the second set, taking an early 7-2 lead, but the Toreros answered quickly with a dominating 12-2 run. Wiblin collected 4 of her 16 kills in the run and Madill added three to give USD a 14-9 lead. SMC battled back to tie the set 20-20, before back-to-back kills from Wiblin gave San Diego the edge and eventually the set, 25-22.
 
The teams traded the lead to begin the final set before San Diego tallied eight consecutive points behind pivotal plays from Wilbin and Turner to take a commanding 17-10 lead and USD never looked back.
 
The Toreros will face Saint Mary's in the second match of the series on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. PT in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.