SAN DIEGO — A career night from graduate outside hitter Breana Edwards on Friday night propelled two-seed No. 3 San Diego volleyball (29-1, 18-0 WCC) to its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2018, leading the Toreros to a 3-1 win over seven-seed No. 24 Washington State (23-10, 14-6 Pac-12) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament before 2,228 in the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

USD took the first two sets 25-19 and 25-22 before dropping the third 25-21. The Toreros then responded with their most dominant frame of the evening, securing the 3-1 decision with a 25-15 win in the fourth.

Edwards paced the match with a season-high 23 kills while hitting a team-best .447. Her performance headlined a dominant offensive effort for San Diego that saw it out-hit the Cougars .289 to .232 and tally seven service aces to WSU's two. USD's defensive proved to be dominant as well, with the Toreros out-blocking Washington State 12.0 to 5.0.

The victory advanced USD to the fifth NCAA Regional Semifinal appearance in program history (2004, 2006, 2013, 2018, and 2022). The Toreros will take on third-seeded No. 15 Kentucky on Thursday, December 8th. The location of USD's next game is to be determined, pending the results of tomorrow's match between LSU and one-seed No. 5 Stanford in Palo Alto.

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Set - No. 3 San Diego, 25-19

• The Toreros fell behind 1-0 to begin Friday night's match but never trailed again in the first set, quickly rallying to take a 2-1 lead before sophomore middle blocker Haylee Stoner stretched the lead to three points at 8-5 with a kill.
• WSU rallied to tie the frame at 18 down the stretch, but a clutch kill from redshirt senior outside hitter Katie Lukes and a combo block from Stoner and graduate setter Gabby Blossom pushed San Diego back ahead at 19-17.
• The Cougars got no closer, as USD finished the frame on a 5-0 run that featured two kills from Edwards sandwiching back-to-back blocks from junior middle blocker Leyla Blackwell.

First Set Notables:

• Edwards: Six kills (.500)
• Senior opposite/setter Grace Frohling: Five kills (.500) and two block assists
• Blackwell: Two kills (.400), one dig, one solo block, and two block assists
• Blossom: 13 assists, two digs, and a block assist
• Redshirt senior libero Annie Benbow: Four digs and an assist

Second Set - No. 3 San Diego, 25-22

• Friday night's second set began with back-and-forth play, and San Diego trailed by as many as three at 11-8 through the midpoint of the frame.
• USD quickly responded with two kills from Edwards, one from Lukes, and two service aces from junior libero/defensive specialist Madi Allen to pull back ahead at 12-11.
• A service ace from Frohling stretched that advantage to three points at 16-13 before Washington State climbed back within one later on at 21-20, prompting a San Diego timeout.
• A Blackwell kill and a combo block from Blackwell and Frohling followed the break to make it 23-20, then Edwards brought the frame to set point at 24-22 with a kill of her own.
• Lukes then secured the 25-22 win in set two with another kill, giving the Toreros a commanding 2-0 lead over WSU in the match.

Second Set Notables:

• Lukes: Six kills (.214)
• Edwards: Five kills (.286) and a block assist
• Blossom: 12 assists, four digs, and a block assist
• Benbow: Four digs and two assists
• Frohling: Two kills (.167), one service ace, three digs, and one block assist
• Allen: Two digs and two service aces

Third Set - No. 24 Washington State, 25-21

• Frohling began the third set with a kill to put USD up 1-0 over the Cougars, but San Diego wouldn't lead again in the frame, and were tied with WSU just once — at 1-1.
• After trailing for the majority of set three, the Toreros cut into a late, nine-point deficit to get within four down the stretch at 23-19.
• Back-to-back kills from Edwards helped USD stave off back-to-back set points before the Cougars notched a 25-21 win in Friday night's third set to get on the board and move the match score to 2-1, San Diego.

Third Set Notables:

• Frohling: Six kills (.556)
• Edwards: Five kills (.308), one dig and one block assist
• Stoner: Two kills (.500), one solo block, and one block assist
• Blossom: 13 assists, two digs, and a kill
• Benbow: Four digs and an assist

Fourth Set - No. 3 San Diego, 25-15

• USD led for virtually the entirety of Friday's fourth and final set, taking an early 2-1 lead that it would not relinquish on a WSU ball handling error before Benbow made it 4-2 with a service ace.
• Blossom stretched the USD advantage to three with a service ace of her own at 10-7, then Frohling bookended a Washington State timeout with two more service aces of her own, making it 17-11 in favor of the Toreros.
• One kill from Lukes and four more from Edwards followed to bring the frame to set point, then Blackwell and Frohling teamed up to finish it with a combo block, earning San Diego a dominant 25-15 win in the set, and a 3-1 victory over Washington State in the match to advance to the Sweet 16.

Fourth Set Notables:

• Edwards: Seven kills (.875)
• Frohling: Four kills (.444), two service aces, three digs, and two block assists
• Lukes: Four kills (.214) and three digs
• Blackwell: One kill (.250), one dig, and two block assists
• Blossom: 11 assists, one service ace, and four digs
• Freshman libero/defensive specialist Olivia Bennett: Three digs and an assist
• Allen: Three digs
• Benbow: Two digs, a service ace, and an assist

TORERO TIDBITS

• Edwards led the match with a season-high 23 kills while hitting a team-best .447.
• She also added a dig and two block assists.
• Frohling was just behind with 17 kills of her own while hitting .441 to go with a match-high three service aces, six digs, and five block assists.
• Lukes had 11 kills (.125), an assist, and 12 digs.
• Stoner tallied six kills, an assist, two digs, one solo block, and three block assists.
• Blackwell had four kills (.053), two digs, two solo blocks, and a match-high six block assists.
• Blossom racked up 49 assists for the second consecutive match, also adding a service ace, a kill, 12 digs, and two block assists.
• She has tallied 30 assists or more in 27 of San Diego's 30 matches in 2022, including 40 or more on 14 occasions, and 50 or more three times.
• Benbow recorded 13 digs to go with a service ace and five assists.
• Allen tallied seven digs and two service aces, and Bennett was one dig shy of her career-high with six and contributed two assists.
• USD has now won a program-record 26 consecutive matches dating back to September 3rd's sweep of No. 8 Ohio State in Louisville as part of the Cardinal Classic.

UP NEXT
The Toreros will continue play in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday with a Sweet 16 matchup against third-seeded No. 15 Kentucky. The location of USD's next game is to be determined, pending the results of tomorrow's match between LSU and one-seed No. 5 Stanford in Palo Alto.