SAN DIEGO — Gabby Blossom made history, Katie Lukes turned in yet another dynamic offensive performance, and No. 3 San Diego volleyball (19-1, 10-0 WCC)  continued its winning ways on Thursday night in the Jenny Craig Pavilion, sweeping visiting Portland (9-13, 2-9 WCC) 3-0 for its 16th consecutive victory and eighth consecutive win in straight sets.

The Toreros took the first set 25-21, hung on for a 26-24 win in the second, and finished strong with a 25-17 decision in the third to secure the sweep.

Led by 45 assists from Blossom — the 10th of which marked her 4,000th career kill across 382 sets at Penn State and 66 more in San Diego — and a match-high 15 kills from Lukes (.400), USD out-hit the Pilots .276 to .179.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set - No. 3 San Diego, 25-21

• A single kill from junior middle blocker Leyla Blackwell (La Jolla High School) followed by three more from senior opposite/setter Grace Frohling got the Toreros out to a hot start as they began Thursday night's match on a 4-0 run.
• After a bout of back-and-forth play, Portland quickly answered to even the score at seven points apiece, the first of 12 ties in the evening's opening frame.
• The Pilots and Toreros continued to trade points down the stretch, and neither team established a lead of more than two points until the 23-20 mark, when Lukes (redshirt senior) put her team up by three with a well-timed kill.
• A service ace from junior libero/defensive specialist Madi Allen and another kill from Blackwell followed to seal a 25-21 win for USD in the first, pushing San Diego ahead of Portland by a score of 1-0  in the match.

First Set Notables:

• Lukes: Eight kills (.467) and two digs
• Blackwell: Four kills (.375) and a block assist
• Blossom: 19 assists and three digs
• Redshirt senior libero Annie Benbow: Six digs and two assists
• Allen: Two digs and two service aces

Second Set - No. 3 San Diego, 26-24

• Portland led by as many as four points early on in the second, jumping ahead of the Toreros 8-4 on an attack error from graduate transfer Breana Edwards (Indiana) before the outside hitter earned the point back with a kill to make it 8-5.
• Edwards got her team back within one with another kill at 9-8, but the Pilots again pulled away, this time creating a five-point lead.
• The Toreros chipped away at Portland's advantage throughout the middle stages of Thursday night's second set, an arduous process that was completed when Edwards found her mark to knot the score at 16.
• Both teams failed to take control after that deadlock, resulting in a 24-24 tie as the set wound down.
• True to form, Frohling proceeded to break the tie by hammering a kill home to give her team a late 25-24 advantage, then Lukes finished the job with a kill of her own, earning USD a hard-fought 26-24 victory in the second to push San Diego to a commanding 2-0 lead in the match over Portland.

Second Set Notables:

• Edwards: Eight kills (.312)
• Lukes: Five kills (.312), five digs, and a block assist
• Blossom: 14 assists, one service ace, and five digs
• Blackwell: One kill (.000), and two block assists
• Benbow: Five digs and an assist
• Allen: Three digs and a service ace

Third Set - No. 3 San Diego, 25-17

• USD began its most dominant set of the evening by jumping out to a 3-1 lead, an advantage that was punctuated by a service ace from Frohling.
• Back-and-forth play and ties ensued throughout the middle stages of the frame, culminating in one final deadlock at 13 points apiece.
• Edwards again broke the tie in the third, putting her team up 15-13 with clutch back-to-back kills.
• San Diego never looked back after the tandem scores from Edwards, pushing their advantage to four down the stretch at 20-16 on a kill from Frohling before finishing the frame on a 6-0 run.
• A bad Portland set, a Pilot service error, another service ace from Frohling, an attack error from Portland, a kill from Frohling, and a kill from sophomore middle blocker Haylee Stoner followed to close it out, earning the Toreros a decisive 25-17 win in Thursday's third and final set that secured them a 3-0 sweep of Portland at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

Third Set Notables:

• Frohling: Six kills (.857) and two service aces
• Edwards: Three kills (.333)
• Lukes: Two kills (.500), two digs, and a block assist
• Stoner: Two kills (.250), two digs, and a block assist
• Benbow: Two digs

TORERO TIDBITS

• Lukes led the Toreros in kills for the third consecutive match, tallying 15 as she hit an even .400 alongside nine digs and two block assists.
• She is now just five kills away from reaching 1,200 for her career.
• Edwards was just behind with with 14 of her own (.294), also adding a pair of digs and a single block assist.
• She now needs just 22 more to reach 1,500 for her career.
• Frohling did a little bit of everything on Friday, notching 11 kills (.207) to go with an assist, two service aces, four digs, and a block assist.
• Blackwell provided six kills (.333) while anchoring the San Diego defense by tying the match-high with three block assists.
• Stoner hit .000 but added three kills to go with three digs and a block assist.
• Blossom set forth 45 assists, her most since September 29 at Gonzaga, when she had 48. The graduate transfer (Penn State) also added a service ace and 10 digs — more digs than any Portland player compiled on Thursday night.
• She has recorded 30 assists or more in 18 of the Toreros' 20 matches so far in 2022, including a season-high 53 in USD's 3-2 win over No. 6 Pitt on August 26.
• Blossom, who now has 4,035 kills, is just the third player to reach the 4,000-kill milestone while wearing a San Diego uniform.
• Katie Lindquist (1996-1999) finished her USD career with 4,402, which ranks second all-time in Torero history, and Lindsey Sherburne (2002-2005), San Diego's all-time assists leader, finished with 5,961.
• Benbow racked up a match-high 13 digs, also chipping in a trio of assists.
• She now needs just 48 more to move into second place on San Diego's all-time digs list, and with 73 more she will become the Toreros' all-time digs leader.
• Allen led the match and tied her season high with three service aces, also contributing six digs.
• San Diego has now won 16 consecutive matches, including eight straight sweeps.
• USD's most recent and only loss so far in 2022 came on September 2 at then-No. 3 Louisville.
• The Toreros have won 24 sets in a row dating back to September 29th's sweep at Gonzaga.

UP NEXT
The Toreros conclude their homestand this Saturday (October 29) when they host Gonzaga. First serve in the Jenny Craig Pavilion is set for 12:00 p.m.