SAN DIEGO — Minutes before first serve at the Jenny Craig Pavilion,
Jennifer Petrie met USD athletic director
Kimya Massey at center court, and was presented with a bouquet of flowers and a photo collage commemorating her 500th victory as head coach.
Win number 501 came exactly two hours later.
The most recent entry in Petrie's record-setting ledger came via a dominant defensive effort that saw USD (7-6, 2-1 WCC) rack up 22 total blocks while holding Pacific (10-5, 0-3 WCC) to a minuscule .046 hitting percentage.
Headlined by six block assists from
Kristen Erland and two solo efforts from
Nemo Beach, six different Toreros notched multiple stuffs on Thursday as they overcame an early deficit to beat Pacific by a 3-1 margin. San Diego flushed a 25-23 defeat in the opening frame and responded with 25-16, 25-18, and 25-18 victories in sets two, three, and four to take a key West Coast Conference decision over a surging Tiger team that had prevailed in nine of its last 11 matches heading into Thursday night.
USD's success wasn't limited to defense. Freshman outside hitter
Isabel Clark totaled a team-high 15 kills. Beach, the reigning WCC Freshman of the Year, added another 11, and
Haylee Stoner (Mission Hills High School) and Erland tallied seven apiece while hitting .312 and .400, respectively.
The match began with a back-and-forth first set in which neither team hit higher than .102. After watching a 15-15 tie turn into an uncharacteristic defeat as it struggled to find its footing, USD came out with a vengeance in set two, outhitting the Tigers .367 to .059 to even the match at 1-1 as it received a quintet of kills from Clark.
It was Beach and freshman opposite
Kennedy Osunsanmi who carried the load in set two, pushing the Toreros to their most dominant result of the evening as they combined for nine kills in a frame that USD opened on a 8-2 run.
Pacific hung tough in Thursday night's fourth and final frame, but once Osunsanmi and Stoner went back-to-back on solo blocks down the stretch to make it a 10-point, 20-10 San Diego advantage, the match was out of reach.
NOTABLE:
- Freshman setter Kylie Munday recorded 37 assists, four kills (.500), 18 digs, and three block assists to achieve the seventh double-double of her young college career. She has totaled 30 assists or more in 10 of her last 11 matches.
- Senior libero Madi Allen chipped in 15 digs and seven assists.
- Stoner had a team-high two service aces.
- Thursday night marked USD's first home match in 19 days.
UP NEXT
The Toreros are back in action on Saturday afternoon, when they host WCC newcomer Oregon State in the JCP to conclude Alumni Weekend.
First serve is set for 12:00 p.m., and USD's 2004 Sweet 16 Team is set to be honored between sets two and three.
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