SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Redshirt senior Katie Lukes continued an offensive tour de force on Thursday night at Santa Clara, racking up a match-high 19 kills at the Leavey Center in No. 2 San Diego volleyball's 3-0 sweep of Santa Clara to mark her fifth consecutive contest with 15 kills or more and extend the Toreros' win streak to 18.

USD (21-1, 12-0 WCC) took the first set by a score of 25-16, hung tough for a 25-22 win in the second, and finished strong with another 25-16 victory in the third to secure its 10th straight sweep.

Under the direction of graduate setter Gabby Blossom and her match-best 45 assists, Lukes (.394) was one of four Toreros to hit .350 or better on the evening as San Diego outhit the Broncos (8-17, 4-9 WCC) .347 to .130.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set - No. 2 San Diego, 25-16

• In a sign of things to come, Lukes (outside hitter) got Thursday night's scoring started with a kill to give USD an early 1-0 lead.
• The Broncos quickly answered with a kill of their own to tie it but got no closer, with the 1-1 deadlock marking the frame's lone tie in a set in which the Toreros never trailed.
• Things were as close as three points midway through at 11-8 in favor of USD before Lukes went to work and San Diego began to create distance in earnest.
• Back-to-back kills from the San Clemente, California native forced an SCU timeout, which was of no avail. She found her mark yet again right out of the break then passed the baton to senior opposite/setter Grace Frohling, who hammered home a kill of her own to make it 16-8.
• A kill from graduate outside hitter Breana Edwards stretched the Torero advantage to 10 points at 21-11, a lead Frohling helped her team maintain down the stretch with another kill to bring the opening frame to set point at 24-14.
• Lukes proceeded to end Thursday night's first set as she started it, connecting on her ninth kill to earn her team a 25-16 win and a 1-0 lead in the match.

First Set Notables:

• Lukes: Nine kills (.538), three digs, and a block assist
• Frohling: Three kills (.429), one assist, and two digs
• Graduate setter Gabby Blossom: 14 assists and three digs
• Junior middle blocker Leyla Blackwell: One kill, one dig, and one solo block
• Redshirt senior libero Annie Benbow: Four digs and an assist

Second Set - No. 2 San Diego, 25-22

• Thursday night's second set marked the match's most competitive frame, featuring eight tie scores and four lead changes.
• USD jumped out to a 2-0 lead behind kills from Blackwell and Frohling, but the Broncos rallied back to tie it at four after a bit of back-and-forth play.
• The two teams traded points up to a 6-6 tie, then two more kills from Frohling and another from Blackwell put the Toreros up 10-8.
• A service ace from junior libero Madi Allen made it a three-point, 11-8 USD lead, but SCU hung tough and put together another surge to tie it, doing so at 11 and 12.
• Another service ace — this time from Benbow — helped San Diego reestablish its advantage through the middle stages of the set, keeping USD ahead by either one or two points until Santa Clara tied it at 22 later on.
• A 3-0 San Diego run followed to quickly extinguish the SCU surge, with Blackwell notching a kill, Frohling and sophomore middle blocker Haylee Stoner teaming up for a block, and Lukes once again finding her mark with another kill to seal a 25-22 decision in USD's favor to push it ahead 2-0 in the match.

Second Set Notables:

• Blackwell: Five kills (.667)
• Stoner: Five kills (.500) and two block assists
• Frohling: Four kills (.429) and a block assist
• Lukes: Three kills (.111) and two digs
• Blossom: 18 assists, two digs, and a block assist
• Benbow: Three digs, a service ace, and an assist
• Allen: One dig and one service ace

Third Set - No. 2 San Diego, 25-16

• The Toreros returned to their more dominant form in Thursday night's third and final frame, opening up the set on an 8-0 run that marked a continuation of their 3-0 run that concluded the second.
• Two service aces from Allen, two kills from Lukes, and kills from both Blackwell and Frohling put USD up by nearly ten points before the Broncos got on the board.
• San Diego never trailed or tied with SCU in the third and maintained a significant lead throughout it, pushing its advantage to seven points down the stretch when Allen notched yet another service ace.
• A combo block from Lukes and Stoner made it 10 points at 23-13 before Lukes smashed her third consecutive set-clinching kill, securing the Toreros a 25-16 win in the set and a 3-0 sweep of Santa Clara in the match.

Third Set Notables:

• Lukes: Seven points (.455), three digs, and a block assist
• Frohling: Three kills (.400)
• Blackwell: Three kills (.600)
• Blossom: 13 assists and two digs
• Benbow: Six digs and two assists
• Allen: Two digs and three service aces

TORERO TIDBITS

• Lukes led the Toreros in kills for the fifth consecutive match, tying her season-high with 19 of them while hitting .394 and adding eight digs and two block assists.
• Frohling was next with 10 kills (.421) alongside an assist, two digs, and a block assist.
• Blackwell hit a robust .571 while racking up nine kills and the match's lone solo block.
• Stoner (.462) added seven kills to go with a dig and a match-high four block assists.
• Blossom totaled 45 assists for the second time in three matches, also contributing seven digs and a block assist. It's the 10th time in 22 San Diego matches she has recorded 40 or more.
• The St. Louis, Missouri native has set forth 30 assists or more in 20 of the Toreros' 22 matches so far in 2022, including a season-high 53 in USD's 3-2 win over No. 6 Pitt on August 26.
• Benbow had 13 digs, four assists, and a service ace.
• She's now just 21 away from having the second-most digs in USD history and 46 away from becoming San Diego's all-time digs leader.
• Allen set a new season high with four service aces to go with five digs.
• Freshman libero/defensive specialist Olivia Bennett had four digs.
• San Diego has now won 18 consecutive matches, including 10 straight sweeps. They have been victorious in each of their last 28 sets in a row dating back to September 24th's five-set win over Loyola Marymount, and their lone loss so far this season came at the hands of then-No. 3 Louisville at the Cardinal Classic on September 2.
• USD is now just one win away from matching the longest win streak in San Diego volleyball history (19 matches), which has been accomplished twice: once in 1997 and once in 2004.
• 1997's team went 26-4 (13-1 WCC) and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament under former head coach Sue Synder.
• 2004's squad finished 24-5 (14-0 WCC) and reached an NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinal in head coach Jennifer Petrie's sixth season at the helm in San Diego.
• That group remains the only Torero volleyball team to finish undefeated in West Coast Conference play and is one of just four to reach a Regional Semifinal, something San Diego last accomplished in 2018.

UP NEXT
The Toreros will remain on the road this weekend in the Bay Area, traveling to San Francisco for a matchup against the Dons. First serve at War Memorial Gym on Saturday afternoon is set for 1:00 p.m.