STOCKTON, Calif. — San Diego volleyball cruised to a third straight West Coast Conference road sweep on Thursday night, hitting .420 in a 25-9, 25-15, 25-15 win over Pacific at the Alex G. Spanos Center.
Pacific (4-17, 0-9 WCC) hit -.010, the lowest mark by a San Diego opponent this season. Portland had set the previous low at .047 on Saturday, and the Toreros (10-8, 5-3 WCC) came into the week holding opponents to .152 hitting, best in the conference and eighth in the nation.
Kierstyn Barton's kill on the opening rally started a 7-0 run, with Lauren Lynch serving the last six points, and San Diego later led 11-1 and 20-4. The Toreros hit .542 in the first set with 14 kills and one error, and the Tigers managed only three kills against eight errors.
Meghan Scholz, the WCC's reigning Defensive Player of The Week, totaled 6.5 points in the set on four kills in five swings, a solo block and three block assists. Lynch went back to the line at 22-9 and served out the set, which ended with Scholz in on back-to-back blocks.
The second set opened with Pacific's only lead of the night, 1-0, but BayLea Sparks and Barton tied it with a block and Nemo Beach followed with three straight points on her serve. After the Tigers got within 7-6, San Diego pulled away with a 14-3 surge, the last six points on Kylie Munday's serve, including an ace.
Belle Groomes ran the offense in the third set, and Barton's five straight points on serve, one of them an ace, made it 9-1. Emma Brewer had six of her 10 kills in the set, three of them in a four-rally span that pushed the lead to 22-12. Groomes, whose ace ended her college debut against Pacific on Sept. 26, put away match point Thursday with a kill.
Barton and Brewer shared the match lead with 10 kills apiece. Barton added nine digs, four block assists and an ace for a match-high 13.0 points, and Brewer finished with 11.5 points and three block assists.
Beach turned 10 swings into eight kills without an error, hitting .800. Scholz hit .500 with seven kills and finished with a match-high five blocks for 10.0 points, and Sparks, who came in hitting .519 in league play, added five kills on nine error-free swings and two blocks.
Munday, the league's Setter of The Week, had 24 assists and two aces in two sets, and Groomes added 11 assists, three kills on four swings and five digs in the third. Lynch had a match-high 19 digs and was error-free on 13 serve receptions as San Diego out-dug the Tigers 51-30.
Hanna Vorhies led Pacific with six kills on 16 error-free swings, and Nicole Zake added five. The Tigers finished without a block.
San Diego now leads the all-time series 27-1 and has won 10 straight matches against Pacific, eight of them sweeps, since the Tigers' 3-1 win at the Spanos Center on Nov. 20, 2021. Each of the Toreros' five WCC wins this season has come in straight sets.
UP NEXT
San Diego closes its four-match road trip at Saint Mary's on Saturday, Oct. 24, at 2 p.m. at UCU Pavilion in Moraga, with the match streaming on ESPN+. The Gaels beat the Toreros in five sets at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Sept. 24.
