SAN DIEGO — Fans showed up in costume to San Diego volleyball's match on Thursday night, bringing Halloween vibes to the Jenny Craig Pavilion as the Toreros hosted Santa Clara.

Students packed the bleachers on the north side of the arena, with the more spirited members of the crowd dressed as firemen, doctors, cowboys, and superheroes. In between sets, a young fan dressed as a zombie won a prize pack for being the most frightening.

But outside of the off-court festivities, there was nothing scary about the evening for the Toreros (13-7, 8-2 WCC), who kept their hot streak going with an easy 3-0 sweep of SCU (7-12, 3-8 WCC) that extended their win streak to five as they prevailed for the 11th time in their last 13 matches.

Aided by 10 kills from freshman opposite Kennedy Osunsanmi, the Toreros breezed past the Broncos by scores of 25-16, 25-21, and 25-17 for their fourth consecutive victory in straight sets.

Haylee Stoner (Mission Hills High School) and Kristen Erland backed up Osunsanmi by continuing their torrid efforts at the net, matching each other exactly by adding eight kills apiece while hitting at identical .538 clips. Isabel Clark contributed nine kills of her own, and first-year setter Kylie Munday choreographed their offensive efforts with precision, helping San Diego out-hit Santa Clara .378 to .124 by tallying the 11th double-double of her young college career (31 assists, 10 digs).

Headlined by four block assists from Erland and two apiece from Munday, Stoner, and Ella Durham, USD dominated SCU on defense, too, out-blocking the Broncos 12-4.

Tied 6-6 with Santa Clara in the opening frame, San Diego needed a spark to get things going. It got one when Osunsanmi found her mark to put USD ahead, 7-6, keying off a mid-set surge that secured a wire-to-wire win for her team in set one.

Set two had more drama, featuring the match's only three lead changes, but the back-and-forth came early on. San Diego didn't trail after reigning WCC Freshman of the Year Nemo Beach broke a 9-9 tie with a well-placed kill, USD fending off a pesky Santa Clara effort later in the frame as it hung on to win by four in the middle offering on Thursday night.

Whatever allowed the Broncos to climb back into the second set was gone once the third and final frame got underway. The Toreros opened up the period on a blistering 6-0 run and by the midpoint of the frame led 12-5 after Erland scored again. A service ace from Anna Jaworowski kept the USD advantage at seven points down the stretch before Osunsanmi hammered one last kill to secure a not-so spooky sweep for San Diego.

No tricks, just treats, for the surging San Diego volleyball team.

NOTABLE

• Madi Allen led the match in both digs (16) and service aces (three).
• Beach recorded the evening's lone solo block.
• Durham added two kills (.400) and two block assists.
• At one hour and 13 minutes in duration, Thursday night's match was the shortest of San Diego's 2024 season thus far.
• USD has now won each of its last 19 matches against Santa Clara, a streak that dates back to September 2015.

UP NEXT
The Toreros are back in action on Saturday afternoon, when they remain at home to host first-place LMU in the JCP. First serve against the Lions is set for 12:00 p.m.