SAN DIEGO — Like most things in life, conceptualizing the last year and a half for San Diego women's volleyball takes a healthy dose of perspective. View the span from one angle, one that considers the team's dominant run through West Coast Conference play and postseason success, and it might seem as if it's been business as usual in Alcala Park for the Toreros. 
 
"I think at the time, looking back on it now we were just so grateful to be competing and playing at all that it didn't matter what the length (of the season) was, or who we played, or what the season was like," head coach Jennifer Petrie recalls.
"We were excited to get into conference play, we were excited to get into the tournament, just thankful to have some normalcy in a really tough year."
           
Now take into account, however, that USD went more than a year without playing a game, then played an unprecedented conference-only spring schedule, and now will resume with a traditional slate of contests in the fall after a limited offseason. Things get more complicated.
           
"There really wasn't an offseason," Petrie adds with a laugh. "It was just season to season…we didn't do any training in that offseason."
           
With USD's rich tradition of volleyball success upheld and the pandemic successfully navigated after a sweep of Texas A&M Corpus Christi in the NCAA Tournament this April, the Toreros can now turn their collective attention to their next challenge: a traditional fall season beginning just four months after the spring campaign concluded. Back is San Diego's customarily rigorous non-conference schedule, back are the fans in the stands in the beloved Jenny Craig Pavilion and around the country, and back (though they never left) are the championship expectations the program has for itself. 
           
"Pressure is a privilege," senior libero Annie Benbow said of the upcoming season. "This is a year where I truly believe we can go to a Sweet Sixteen, an Elite Eight, and beyond that."
           
The Toreros will attempt to make good on that ambition with a varied roster, one that features four freshmen, five sophomores (one redshirt), one junior, and six seniors. Back are the likes of Benbow and 2021 All-WCC Preseason Team honorees Katie Lukes and Grace Frohling, a group that their head coach described as "tried and tested." And added to the roster are several newcomers, a group that both players and coaches alike have been impressed with, and one that may have forced their way into playing time by virtue of a strong run-up to the season.
           
"There's so much youth being added in with a lot of people that have solid experience," said Petrie, who is now in her 23rd year in San Diego. "The balance is nice, because the young kids are learning so fast and being carried along by a lot of really great leadership."
           
Asked to characterize the team's playing style, Petrie described a balanced, diverse squad, one that doesn't have to rely on any single player to succeed offensively. Lukes referenced a team-wide nickname — "Defensive Divas" — one that refers to the Toreros' expertise on the defensive side of the game. And mindset-wise, Benbow assessed her teammates as "cool, calm, and collected," citing San Diego's depth of experience in big moments and matches. 
           
Ahead of the entire team, this balanced group of cool, calm, and collected defensive divas, is a formidable non-conference schedule, one that will see USD face off against the likes of Texas, UCLA, Utah, Hawaii and USC. For some programs, a pre-conference slate of that caliber would be out of the ordinary. But for the Toreros, it's routine, and for many players, the most coveted portion of the volleyball calendar.
           
"Preseason, oh my gosh, it's like my favorite time," said Lukes, who has appeared in nearly 70 matches for USD over the last three seasons. "This is our time to really show out, I think it really, really tests us. We want to open with the hardest teams, we want to show what we can do."
           
Once the team has wound its way through a difficult road of opponents in August and mid September, San Diego will turn its full attention to West Coast Conference play, in which the USD went 12-4 this past spring.
           
"I think sometimes the West Coast Conference is underrated a little bit, or looked over," Lukes said. "Our upper half (of the conference) is always in the Top 20, the Top 15, there's nothing to be messed with. Every team is talented…we have to expect that every team is going to be on their best game that day."
           
Long before they'll need to worry about their conference, however, USD will be faced with a welcome challenge. On Friday afternoon, the Toreros will make their way onto the hardwood in the historic Gregory Gymnasium at the University of Texas for their first game of the 2021 season. They'll likely be treated to a raucous sellout crowd in the 4,000-seat venue as they attempt to pull off an upset over the nation's top-ranked team. But don't expect USD to be fazed by the moment. Or to shy away from a chance to prove doubters wrong — in the WCC and beyond.
           
"I think people underestimate us a lot," said Benbow. "We are the underdogs for sure but we have a lot of talent, and I don't think people really realize that about us."
           
They'll be cool, calm and collected, prepared for the matchup by weeks of rigorous summer practice and countless big games in the past. Ready to begin their pursuit of greatness anew, and show the country what they're made of.
           
"Opening up with Texas, No. 1, is the biggest statement we can make," Lukes said. "We have a history of being elite athletes and we are elite athletes…we just remember that we are San Diego."
           
A healthy dose of confidence. Which might be the only perspective the Toreros need in 2021.