SAN DIEGO — No. 4 San Diego volleyball (18-1, 9-0 WCC) asserted its West Coast Conference dominance with authority on Friday night, dispatching rival No. 17 BYU (14-5, 7-2 WCC) in straight sets before a raucous crowd of 2,623 in the Jenny Craig Pavilion for a decisive 15th consecutive win.

The Toreros took the first frame 25-20, prevailed by a 25-21 margin in the second, then finished strong with a 25-18 decision in the third to secure its 13th sweep of 2022 and seventh consecutive win in straight sets.

Dominant offense led the way for USD in the win, with San Diego out-hitting the Cougars .288 to .163 behind a match-high 15 kills from redshirt senior outside hitter Katie Lukes.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set - No. 4 San Diego, 25-20

• BYU struck first for an early lead but the Toreros quickly answered back to establish an advantage of their own, pulling ahead at 4-3 on a Cougar attack error before going up by three at 7-4 on a kill from graduate transfer outside hitter Breana Edwards (Indiana).
• USD maintained that lead until the set neared its midpoint and BYU evened the score at 12.
• Lukes provided a rapid response just a point later, however, pushing her team back in front at 13-12 with a kill to give the Toreros a lead they would not relinquish.
• Kills from senior opposite/setter Grace Frohling, sophomore middle blocker Haylee Stoner (Mission Hills High School), Lukes, and Edwards followed, then Edwards struck again with a kill to make it 21-17 in favor of the home team down the stretch.
• Junior middle blocker Leyla Blackwell (La Jolla High School) and Lukes proceeded to find their marks to open up a 24-20 USD lead, then a service error from the Cougars finished it, earning San Diego a 25-20 win in Friday night's first set that gave the Toreros a 1-0 advantage over BYU in the match.

First Set Notables:

• Edwards: Six kills (.417)
• Lukes: Four kills (.154) and three digs
• Frohling: Three kills (.286), two service aces, two digs, and a block assist
• Graduate transfer setter Gabby Blossom (Penn State): 14 assists, two digs, and a kill
• Liberos Madi Allen (junior) and Annie Benbow (redshirt senior): Five digs apiece

Second Set - No. 4 San Diego, 25-21

• USD jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in Friday night's second set, doing so behind an early kill from Lukes that developed into a three-point, 6-3 advantage before BYU found an answer and tied it at eight.
• San Diego, however, held strong and did not allow the Cougars to pull ahead, trading points with BYU up to an 11-11 tie ahead of another go-ahead kill from Lukes to make it 12-11.
• More back-and-forth play ensued, with short Torero leads interspersed throughout, eventually culminating in a 18-18 deadlock that was snapped by Lukes yet again, this time putting her team up for good at 19-18.
• Well-timed kills from Edwards and Stoner were next for USD to close it out, earning San Diego a commanding 2-0 lead over BYU in the match with a 25-21 win in the second set.

Second Set Notables:

• Lukes: Five kills (.231), one service ace, and four digs
• Edwards: Five kills (.455) and a block assist
• Blackwell: Two kills (.667) and two block assists
• Frohling: One kill (.125), and two block assists
• Blossom: 16 assists and one dig
• Benbow: Four digs
• Allen: Three digs

Third Set - No. 4 San Diego, 25-18

• In a final frame that featured two tie scores and two lead changes, USD struck first again for a 1-0 lead, doing so on an early attack error from the Cougars.
• BYU rallied back to tie it at 2-2, then a Cougar attack error pushed San Diego back in front to spark a modest run for the Toreros.
• Back-to-back kills from Frohling gave way to another pair of kills from Lukes and Stoner, putting USD up 8-3.
• Stoner kept her team's lead at five points by adding another kill, then Frohling found her mark to make it 15-7.
• An attack error and a bad BYU set followed to gift USD its largest advantage of the evening at 17-7 before the Cougars regrouped for one final rally.
• BYU cut the deficit to three at 19-16 but got no closer, suffering a 25-18 defeat at the hands of the West Coast Conference's top team after a signature clutch kill from Edwards and one last attack error from the Cougars closed it out, earning San Diego a 3-0 sweep over a fierce WCC rival.

Third Set Notables:

• Lukes: Five kills (.231), one assist, and two digs
• Frohling: Four kills (.250)
• Blackwell: Two solo blocks
• Blossom: Six assists, four digs, and a service ace
• Benbow: Five digs and an assist
• Allen: Four digs and two assists

TORERO TIDBITS

• Lukes paced the match with 15 kills while hitting .205, also adding an assist, a service ace, and nine digs, which ranked second for USD.
• Edwards was just behind with 13 kills of her own while hitting a team-high .429 alongside a dig and a block assist.
• Frohling put together eight kills (.222), a match-high two service aces, two digs, and three block assists.
• Stoner hit .385 while recording seven kills, two digs, and a block assist.
• Blackwell had four kills (.250), a tied-for-match-high two solo blocks, and three block assists. She has racked up 30 assists or more in all but two of the Toreros' 19 matches so far in 2022, including a season-high 53 in USD's 3-2 win over No. 6 Pitt on August 26.
• Blossom compiled 36 assists, two kills, seven digs, and a block assist.
• Benbow set forth 14 digs and four assists.
• Allen, who transferred to USD from BYU over the summer, notched 12 digs and two assists against her former team.
• Freshman libero/defensive specialist Olivia Bennett had four digs and two assists.
• San Diego has now won 15 consecutive matches, a streak that dates back to September 3rd's sweep of No. 8 Ohio State in the Cardinal Classic.
• USD has now won each of its last seven matches in straight sets, including seven of its nine WCC contests so far.
• The Toreros have now won 45 sets in a row, and last dropped a frame on September 24 as part of their 3-2 win over Loyola Marymount.
• Friday night's win over BYU marked No. 4 San Diego's fourth win of 2022 over an AVCA Top 25 opponent.
• USD is now 4-1 against ranked teams and remains 2-1 against the AVCA's Top 5.
• The Toreros' Friday night victory snapped a four-game losing streak to the Cougars and was USD's first win over BYU since November 11th, 2019, when San Diego took down the then-tenth-ranked Cougars at the JCP in five sets.
• USD's win on Friday was the team's first sweep of BYU since September 30, 2016, when the Toreros beat the Cougars 3-0 at the JCP.

UP NEXT
The Toreros remain at home next week as they continue WCC play against Portland on Thursday night. First serve against the Pilots at the Jenny Craig Pavilion is set for 7:00 p.m.