SAN DIEGO — San Diego volleyball returned to the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Thursday night and ran its winning streak to five games, all sweeps, beating San Francisco 25-7, 25-16, 25-22 in its Dig Pink match.
The Toreros (12-8, 7-3 WCC) came in leading the West Coast Conference and ranking seventh nationally in opponent hitting percentage (.147), and they held San Francisco (10-13, 2-8 WCC) to .057 while hitting .315. The Dons made 22 attack errors, nine of them on San Diego blocks, and BayLea Sparks was in on six of the nine.
San Diego scored 10 straight points early in the first set to turn a 2-2 tie into a 12-2 lead, with Lauren Lynch, the WCC's Defensive Player of the Week, serving the last nine. Kierstyn Barton had four kills in the run and seven on nine swings in the set, and Meghan Scholz served the set's final five points, the last an ace.
The 25-7 result in the opening frame was San Diego's most lopsided win since Sept. 8, 2023, when the Toreros swept Marist 25-7, 25-9, 25-12 at the Trojan Invitational in Los Angeles. San Francisco hit -.037 in the period.
The Dons made a game of the second set, which had 10 ties, and led 12-10 before four straight San Francisco errors, three of them attack errors on Barton's serve, put San Diego ahead 14-12. From a 14-14 tie, the Toreros closed on an 11-2 run. Tatum Lane served five straight points, one of them an ace, for a 22-15 lead, and after Kylie Munday's ace made it 24-16, Sparks ended the set with a solo block.
Down 16-12 in the third set after four straight Dons points, San Diego chipped away to mount its comeback, and the second of two Emma Brewer kills off Lynch sets pulled it within 18-17. Barton then served five straight points, three of them on San Francisco errors, for a 22-18 lead.
After the Dons got within 23-22, Nemo Beach put away a Belle Groomes set to bring it to match point, and Groomes and Sparks combined on a block of Andjela Sojic to end it.
Barton's 15 kills, a match high, came on 24 swings with two errors for a .542 clip, and she added seven digs, three blocks and an ace for a match-high 18.0 points.
Brewer, the league's Freshman of the Week, had seven kills without an error and passed 8-for-8 in serve receive, and Beach added eight kills. Munday totaled 19 assists in two sets, Groomes added nine assists and two kills in the third, and Lynch led all players with 16 digs.
San Diego hasn't lost to the Dons at home since 1989, a run of 37 straight wins, and has won 20 of the last 21 meetings between the two teams. Before Thursday, the Toreros had last held San Francisco to single digits in a set on Oct. 6, 2022, when a 25-8 third set sealed a home sweep.
UP NEXT
San Diego hosts Santa Clara on Saturday, Oct. 31, at noon at the Jenny Craig Pavilion, with the match streaming on ESPN+. The Toreros have won 20 straight meetings with the Broncos.
