HONOLULU — Both of San Diego volleyball's first two matches at the Stan Sheriff Center over the weekend went the distance, spanning five sets apiece and more than five hours combined across the Toreros' victories over Utah State and Marquette.

The result of the highly anticipated Sunday finale between USD and tournament host Hawaii?

A San Diego sweep, of course, with the Toreros (3-0, 0-0 WCC) needing just three sets to beat Hawaii, collect the 2025 Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic championship trophy, and hop on an overnight flight back home.

"I was super proud of the way that we entered that match," said head coach Jennifer Petrie, whose team endured an hour-long delay while the preceding game concluded before facing UH (0-3, 0-0 Big West). "The confidence grew with every match that we played, especially those two five-game matches. We started to trust the process and trust our systems."

Her team won the four-team event and secured a wire-to-wire 25-21, 25-17, 25-16 victory over the Rainbow Wahine with help from a trio of familiar faces. 2024 WCC Setter of the Year Kylie Munday was a dig shy of a double-double, helping reigning WCC Freshman of the Year Isabel Clark pace the match with 14 kills and a healthy .440 hitting percentage as 2025 All-WCC Preseason Team selection Nemo Beach — who was named WCC Freshman of the Year herself in 2023 —added 12 more while hitting at a .333 clip.

"That's the best I've seen her play," Petrie said of Beach, who was named the tournament MVP after totaling totaling 59 kills and three service aces across all three matches. "Playing with a lot of savvy, hard swings as well as smart shots. Her volleyball IQ has grown so much…it's exciting to see how it all came together for her this weekend."

After a back-and-forth start to the opening set, USD rarely trailed in the match, and had its way with a struggling Hawaii offense that hit .000 in the final frame. It seemed to be the Toreros' composure, as much as their performance, that allowed them to silence a hometown crowd of 5,431 in Honolulu on Sunday.

"We had a bunch of returners who had been in that same arena last year, and they're getting very comfortable playing in Hawaii," Petrie described. "With all three of our opponents being preseason favorites in their conference, our performance against them showed us a lot of where we could be."

The ease with which San Diego navigated the Stan Sheriff Center extended to its newcomers, as well. High Point transfer BayLea Sparks tallied a game-high six blocks on Sunday as USD whittled Hawaii's hitting percentage down to a minuscule .049. Kali Engeman, a graduate transfer from Minnesota, took home All-Tournament honors alongside Munday.

"They were huge," Petrie said. "Both BayLea and Kali made an immediate impact on us."

After the match, the Toreros headed straight to the airport, still reveling — understandably— in their strong start as they climbed aboard their flight home with a wooden championship trophy and a handful of individual tournament honors. The extra baggage, it seemed, made the all-nighter and its daunting 7:30 AM arrival time back in America's Finest City pass by in the blink of an eye.

"We're going to sleep well," said Petrie, now 3-0 to begin a season for the first time since 2022. "There's nothing that's gonna keep us from nodding off…we're just going to enjoy the fact that we won, until we can get back and train hard for the next weekend."

As for the picturesque Wahine Volleyball Classic, where Petrie and her team had been winless in their last two trips prior to this weekend's dominant championship run?

"We're gonna need to go every year."