SPOKANE, Wash. — A signature performance from Amber Stivrins on Thursday night helped San Diego volleyball dominate Gonzaga from start to finish, earning the Toreros (6-6, 0-0 WCC) a decisive 3-0 sweep of the Bulldogs (3-11, 0-3 WCC) at Martin Centre as the graduate transfer notched her 1,000th career kill.

USD took the first set 25-13, prevailed 25-14 in the second, and rolled to a big 25-10 win in the third to seal its third straight-set victory of 2023.

Stivrins, who spent a season at Louisville and three years at Georgia before joining USD as a graduate transfer this summer, paced the match with 13 kills while hitting at a robust .600 clip.

Local talent Haylee Stoner (Mission Hills High School) matched Stivrins' hitting percentage while also leading all players with six block assists.

The Toreros out-hit the Bulldogs .476 to .033 and out-blocked the Zags 9-2 as they earned their sixth win in their last eight matches and secured their 20th consecutive conference victory.

First Set - San Diego, 25-13

• Thursday night's first frame began with back-and-forth play that saw both teams trade points enroute to a 3-3 tie.
• Capped by a service ace from Kylie Pries, USD then used a 5-0 run to create a 7-3 lead.
• Isadora Tercariol and Haylee Stoner followed with a combo block, running the Torero lead to 9-4.
• Kills from Nemo Beach and Amber Stivrins and a service ace from Olivia Bennett sent San Diego into the media timeout ahead by seven at 15-8.
• Bennett found her mark again out of the break with another ace, keying off a 6-1 USD scoring run that pushed the Torero lead to 10 and prompted a Gonzaga timeout.
• A service ace from Stivrins brought things to set point at 24-11, then Beach hammered her fourth kill of the evening to push her team ahead 1-0 in the match.

Second Set - San Diego, 25-14

• San Diego was tied with the Zags at 3-3 early on but quickly surged ahead with a 5-0 run that was punctuated by a Stivrins service ace, forcing a Gonzaga timeout.
• The Toreros kept on rolling out of the break, establishing a 12-5 lead on a service ace from Kate Galvin.
• USD stayed ahead for the remainder of the frame, then Ella Durham sealed a victory in set two with a kill to give her team a commanding 2-0 advantage.

Third Set - San Diego, 25-10

• Two kills from Blackwell and a service ace from Tercariol helped the Toreros open up Thursday's third and final set on a 4-1 run.
• Stoner, Stivrins, Pries, and Tercariol combined for another 4-1 run later in the frame, this time forcing a Gonzaga timeout after the USD lead stretched to 11-4.
• Tercariol found her mark again to put USD up by a match-high 13 when she made it 22-9, then Stivrins brought the game to match point at 24-10 with one final kill.
• A Bulldog attack error followed to finish it, earning San Diego a decisive 25-10 win in the set and a dominant 3-0 sweep of Gonzaga in the match.

TORERO TIDBITS

• Stivrins led the match with 13 kills and three service aces while hitting at a .600 clip.
• She also added an assist, seven digs, and two block assists.
• Stoner was next with seven kills of her own and an identical hitting percentage, also adding a match-high six block assists.
• Blackwell chipped in six kills (.417) and two block assists, while setter Isadora Tercariol matched that kill total in remarkable fashion, hitting .857 alongside a match-high 31 assists, a service ace, a block assist, and three digs.
• Nemo Beach hit .276 while recording five kills that went with a dig and a block assist.
• Pries (.333) had four kills, two service aces, five digs, and two total blocks, including the Toreros' lone solo effort of the evening.
• Freshman Ella Durham (.400) added a pair of kills, an assist, two digs, and two block assists in just her third college appearance.
• Madi Allen had a match-high 17 digs and nine assists.

UP NEXT
The Toreros will remain on the road this weekend to continue WCC play, traveling to Portland for a matchup against the Pilots. First serve on Saturday at the Chiles Center is set for 1:00 p.m.