MALIBU, Calif. — San Diego volleyball (14-8, 9-3 WCC) gets its rematch with Pepperdine (20-4, 12-1 WCC) on national television Thursday, taking a seven-match winning streak into Firestone Fieldhouse against the WCC co-leader that handed the Toreros their last loss. San Diego is third in the conference, two and a half games behind Pepperdine and LMU, and visits both co-leaders this week, finishing the trip at LMU on Saturday.
First serve is set for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12. The match will be televised nationally on ESPNU, with Anne Marie Anderson on the play-by-play call and Nicole Branagh providing analysis.
Live statistics will be available on StatBroadcast.
LAST TIME OUT: TOREROS SWEEP DENVER, RUN WIN STREAK TO SEVEN
• San Diego ran its winning streak to seven with a 25-21, 25-22, 25-18 sweep at Denver on Nov. 7, finishing the season series against the WCC newcomers without dropping a set. All seven wins in the streak have come in WCC play and six have been sweeps, and the Toreros have won 21 of 22 sets since an Oct. 10 loss to Pepperdine.
• The Toreros hit .393 (50-8-107) and out-blocked the Pioneers 9.0 to 2.0. Emma Brewer had seven kills on 14 error-free swings in the first set, three of them as San Diego turned a 7-7 tie into a 12-8 lead capped by a Kierstyn Barton ace, and Denver never drew even again.
• The second set had 17 ties and nine lead changes. Denver scored three straight for a 16-13 lead before Ryann Knuth, who checked in at 4-4, answered with back-to-back kills to start a three-point run that tied it. BayLea Sparks' kills tied it again at 18 and 20, Lauren Lynch served three straight points for a 23-20 lead and Meghan Scholz ended the set with a solo block of Izabela Molina.
• San Diego blocked five Denver attacks in the third set, with Sparks in on four, as the Pioneers hit .171. Belle Groomes came on to serve at 17-12 and opened with an ace, Knuth accounted for the Toreros' next four points, all on kills, to make it 22-16, and Scholz ended the match with a kill off a Kylie Munday set.
• Brewer finished with 15 kills on .406 hitting, matching the second-highest total of her career, and a match-high 16.5 points. Barton posted a double-double with 12 kills and 15 digs, Sparks hit .750 (9-0-12) with a match-high six blocks and Knuth went error-free with nine kills on 16 swings in two sets. Munday handed out 42 assists, and Lynch had a match-high 16 digs, her fifth straight match leading all players, while passing 13-for-13.
MUNDAY, BREWER EARN THIRD WCC WEEKLY HONORS OF 2026
• Kylie Munday was named the WCC Setter of the Week and Emma Brewer the Freshman of the Week on Nov. 9, each for the third time this season. Munday also won on Aug. 31 and Oct. 19, and her three awards are tied with Santa Clara's Macy Hinshaw for the most by a setter this season. Brewer won on Sept. 21 and Oct. 26 and is tied with Portland's Kalaweloilehua Chock for the most freshman awards.
• Munday handed out 42 assists at Denver, 14.00 per set, as San Diego hit .393, spreading them among six hitters with at least eight each to Kierstyn Barton, Brewer, Ryann Knuth and BayLea Sparks. The Toreros hit .469 (17-2-32) in the third set, when she set Knuth for kills on their next four points after an 18-12 lead and then set Meghan Scholz for the match-ending kill. She added eight digs, a kill and two blocks for her seventh career Setter of the Week award.
• Brewer led San Diego with 15 kills and a match-high 16.5 points, averaging 5.00 kills per set, and hit .406 (15-2-32) with an ace, five digs and a block assist. Seven of her kills came on 14 error-free swings in the first set, and her kills put the Toreros up 20-16, 22-16 and 23-18 late in the set.
• San Diego has 10 WCC weekly awards in 2026, tied with Santa Clara for the most in the conference: four Defensive Player of the Week honors and three each for Freshman and Setter of the Week. A Torero has been honored in each of the last four weeks, with multiple Toreros honored in three of them.
ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS PEPPERDINE
• Pepperdine leads the all-time series 46-40, but San Diego has won 21 of the last 29 meetings, dating to 2012. The Waves' 25-15, 25-22, 25-23 sweep at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Oct. 10 snapped the Toreros' four-match winning streak in the series.
• San Diego is 16-27 all-time at Pepperdine but has won its last two matches there, both in four sets, on Nov. 27, 2024, and Sept. 25, 2025, and is 9-4 in Malibu since 2012.
• The Toreros won both meetings in 2025, 3-1 in Malibu on Sept. 25 and 3-0 at the JCP on Nov. 20 before a season-high crowd of 1,103, on the way to an 18-0 WCC season. Jennifer Petrie is 30-25 against Pepperdine since taking over in 1999.
STATISTICAL STANDOUTS: LAST TIME OUT AGAINST PEPPERDINE
• Pepperdine swept San Diego 25-15, 25-22, 25-23 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Oct. 10. The Toreros led in all three sets, but the Waves rallied each time, hitting .304 while holding San Diego to .184, and served 10 aces, five by Iva Popovic, to the Toreros' five. Neither team has lost since.
• Nemo Beach's back-to-back kills started a 4-0 first-set run, capped by a Kierstyn Barton ace for an 8-5 lead, but Pepperdine answered with five straight points, the last four on Ella Piskorz's serve, and never trailed again. The Waves broke the set open from 15-12 with eight straight, seven of them on Laine Briggs' serve, and hit .424 in the set.
• San Diego led 6-1 early in the second set, and Kylie Munday later served three straight points to turn a 13-12 deficit into a 15-13 lead. Barton's kills accounted for the next three Torero points and Beach's kill made it 20-17, but Pepperdine came out of a timeout with five straight, four on Tristen Raymond's serve, and closed out the set 25-22 after BayLea Sparks tied it at 22.
• In the third, Meghan Scholz served San Diego from 8-8 to 11-8, with an ace in the run, and the Toreros led 16-14 before Popovic served three straight aces to put the Waves ahead 17-16. Down 24-20, San Diego saved three match points on Sparks' kill, Lauren Lynch's ace and Barton's sixth kill of the set before Chloe Pravednikov put the match away out of a Pepperdine timeout.
• Barton led San Diego with 11 kills on .400 hitting and 12.5 points, adding eight digs and an ace, and Sparks hit .750 with nine kills on 12 error-free swings, three in each set. Munday had 25 assists, and Lynch had a match-high 15 digs while passing 23-for-24. Mariia Nikol Dvornikova led all players with 14 kills, Pravednikov added 11, Piskorz hit .615 with nine kills on 13 swings, Irelynd Lorenzen was in on six blocks and Raymond had 37 assists and 10 digs.
2026 WCC WEEKLY HONORS
• Kylie Munday, Setter of the Week (Aug. 31): 115 assists (11.50 per set), 33 digs, 6.0 blocks and three aces as USD went 2-1 in Honolulu. Fifth career Setter of the Week honor.
• Emma Brewer, Freshman of the Week (Sept. 21): 23 kills (3.29 per set), 16 digs, 7.0 blocks and two aces in wins over Arizona and San Diego State. First career weekly honor.
• Lauren Lynch, Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 5): 11 digs, four assists and an ace in a 3-0 win over Denver, passing 5-for-5 in serve receive. First career weekly honor.
• Meghan Scholz, Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 19): 12.0 blocks (2.00 per set), 16 kills on .387 hitting and two aces in sweeps at Seattle U and Portland. First career WCC weekly honor.
• Kylie Munday, Setter of the Week (Oct. 19): 65 assists (10.83 per set), 11 digs, 6.0 blocks and two aces as USD hit .376 in sweeps at Seattle U and Portland. Sixth career Setter of the Week honor.
• Lauren Lynch, Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 26): 35 digs (5.83 per set), 22-for-22 in serve receive, five assists and an ace in sweeps at Pacific and Saint Mary's. Second career weekly honor.
• Emma Brewer, Freshman of the Week (Oct. 26): 25 kills (4.17 per set) on .345 hitting, 27.5 points and 4.0 blocks in sweeps at Pacific and Saint Mary's. Second career weekly honor.
• Lauren Lynch, Defensive Player of the Week (Nov. 2): 37 digs (5.29 per set), 21-for-21 in serve receive, 14 assists and an ace in wins over San Francisco and Santa Clara. Third career weekly honor.
• Kylie Munday, Setter of the Week (Nov. 9): 42 assists (14.00 per set), eight digs, two blocks and a kill as USD hit .393 in a sweep at Denver. Seventh career Setter of the Week honor.
• Emma Brewer, Freshman of the Week (Nov. 9): 15 kills (5.00 per set) on .406 hitting, a match-high 16.5 points, an ace and five digs in a sweep at Denver. Third career weekly honor.
NATIONALLY RELEVANT NUMBERS
• San Diego is holding opponents to .151 hitting, ninth in the nation and tops in the WCC, according to NCAA statistics through Nov. 8. The Toreros also rank 38th nationally in both hitting percentage (.257) and blocks per set (2.53), 62nd in kills per set (13.32), 63rd in assists per set (12.35) and 92nd in digs per set (14.90).
• Lauren Lynch ranks 31st nationally in digs per set (4.59), Kylie Munday is 37th in assists per set (10.29) and Meghan Scholz is 77th in blocks per set (1.19), with BayLea Sparks 108th (1.13). Kierstyn Barton is 110th in points per set (4.11).
• San Diego has hit .328 (654-158-1510) over its last 14 matches, starting with the Sept. 17 sweep of Arizona, after hitting .163 through its first eight. In 12 WCC matches, the Toreros are hitting .324 to their opponents' .147 and averaging 2.71 blocks per set to 1.21.
• The Toreros have hit .284 or better in every match of their seven-match winning streak and .367 (320-66-692) over the run, including .393 at Denver. Their .457 against Arizona on Sept. 17 remains the season high.
TOREROS IN THE NCAA RPI
• San Diego is 61st in the NCAA RPI through games of Nov. 8, up three spots from 64th, and third among WCC teams behind Pepperdine (39th) and LMU (43rd). The Toreros' nonconference RPI ranks 47th nationally.
• USD is 4-7 against teams in the RPI top 100 — 0-4 against the top 25, 1-2 against Nos. 26-50 and 3-1 against Nos. 51-100 — and 10-1 against teams ranked 101st or lower, the lone loss coming in five sets to Saint Mary's (145th) on Sept. 24. Both losses to Nos. 26-50 came at the JCP in October, against this week's opponents, LMU and Pepperdine.
• Thursday's opponent, Pepperdine, is 39th in the RPI, up from 40th, and 6-3 against the top 100, with a nonconference RPI of 38th. Pepperdine and LMU are the last top-100 teams on San Diego's regular-season schedule. Elsewhere in the WCC, Santa Clara is 125th, Saint Mary's 145th, Denver 183rd, San Francisco 197th, Portland 221st, Pacific 298th and Seattle U 327th, and the WCC ranks 13th among conferences in conference RPI.
• The Toreros are 8-2 in their last 10 matches and 6-1 on the road.
HOW THEY STACK UP IN THE WCC
• San Diego leads the WCC in hitting percentage (.257), opponent hitting percentage (.151) and digs per set (14.90) and ranks second in the league in blocks (2.53), kills (13.32) and assists (12.35) per set, according to NCAA statistics through Nov. 8. The Toreros are also third in total blocks (197.0), fourth in attacks per set (33.96) and seventh in aces per set (1.41).
• Lauren Lynch has moved into the WCC lead in digs per set (4.59), ahead of Denver's Madison Winkler (4.55), and her 358 digs rank fourth. Kylie Munday (10.29 assists per set) and Meghan Scholz (1.19 blocks per set) each rank second, behind Santa Clara's Macy Hinshaw (11.02) and Pepperdine's Ella Piskorz (1.36), and Munday's 772 assists rank fourth.
• Kierstyn Barton is fifth in the WCC in both kills per set (3.48) and points per set (4.11), BayLea Sparks is fourth in blocks per set (1.13) and Nemo Beach is 11th in kills per set (2.96).
• In 12 WCC matches, Sparks is hitting .543 (76-6-129) and Scholz .344 (70-18-151). Barton has 130 kills on .351 hitting and 15 of her 19 aces in 38 league sets, Emma Brewer is averaging 3.14 kills per set against WCC opponents and Munday 10.37 assists per set.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
#7 KIERSTYN BARTON | SENIOR | 6-1 | OUTSIDE HITTER | CHANDLER, ARIZ. | CORONA DEL SOL HS
Through 22 Matches (2026)
• Barton leads the Toreros in kills (261, 3.48 per set) and points (308.0, 4.11 per set) through 75 sets. Her kills and points per set both rank fifth in the WCC, and her points per set rank 110th nationally. She is hitting .268 and has added 195 digs, 53.0 blocks and 19 aces.
• She posted a double-double at Denver with 12 kills and 15 digs, adding three block assists and an ace for 14.5 points. Her ace capped the first-set run that turned a 7-7 tie into a 12-8 lead, and her kill brought up set point at 24-20.
• Against Pepperdine on Oct. 10, she led San Diego with 11 kills on .400 hitting and 12.5 points and added eight digs and an ace. Her kills accounted for three straight Torero points in the second set, and six came in the third, the last of them pulling San Diego within 24-23 after the Waves led 24-20.
• Her season high is 20 kills against SMU, followed by 19 in her USD debut against Baylor and 18 against San Diego State. Her .542 (15-2-24) against San Francisco ties BayLea Sparks' mark against UC Davis for the best by a Torero with at least 12 kills this season, and she has been charged with nine reception errors on 198 serve-receive attempts (.955).
#12 KYLIE MUNDAY | JUNIOR | 5-10 | SETTER | POST FALLS, IDAHO | POST FALLS HS
Through 22 Matches (2026)
• The WCC Setter of the Week for Aug. 31, Oct. 19 and Nov. 9, Munday has 772 assists through 75 sets. Her 10.29 assists per set rank 37th nationally and second in the WCC, behind Santa Clara's Macy Hinshaw (11.02), and her assist total ranks fourth in the league.
• She handed out 42 assists at Denver, 14.00 per set, tying her high for a three-set match this season, with at least eight to each of Kierstyn Barton, Emma Brewer, Ryann Knuth and BayLea Sparks. She added eight digs, a kill and two blocks, including a solo block that tied the third set at 1-1.
• Against Pepperdine on Oct. 10, she had 25 assists and served three straight points, on kills by Sparks, Barton and Nemo Beach, to turn a 13-12 second-set deficit into a 15-13 lead. Her ace made it 13-9 in the third.
• Her 55 assists against UC Davis are a season high and one shy of her career high of 56, set in the five-set win over Arizona on Sept. 13, 2025. She set a season high with 25 digs against UC Davis and added 5.0 blocks and two aces while running an offense that produced 66 kills; according to Evollve/Avid Volleyball, that line made her just the second player in the past seven seasons to finish a match with at least 55 assists, 25 digs and five blocks.
• She has eight double-doubles in 2026 — 39 assists and 12 digs against Baylor, 42 and 19 against Georgia Southern, 55 and 25 against UC Davis, 35 and 10 against Oregon, 38 and 10 against San Diego State, 43 and 16 against Saint Mary's, 40 and 14 against LMU, and 35 and 12 against Santa Clara.
• Munday leads the Toreros with 21 service aces, including a season-high three against LMU, and ranks third on the team with 193 digs (2.57 per set). She has added 40.0 blocks and 35 kills on .268 hitting.
#1 NEMO BEACH | SENIOR | 5-11 | OUTSIDE HITTER | CHANDLER, ARIZ. | HAMILTON HS
Through 22 Matches (2026)
• Beach reached 1,000 career kills, all at San Diego, in the Sept. 6 match against USC. She ranks second on the team with 219 kills through 74 sets, and her 2.96 kills per set rank 11th in the WCC. She is hitting .243.
• Against Pepperdine on Oct. 10, she had seven kills and an ace. Her back-to-back kills started the 4-0 first-set run that put San Diego ahead 8-5, and her kill made it 20-17 in the second set to force a Pepperdine timeout.
• She had 12 kills on .333 hitting, three blocks and an ace for 15.5 points against Santa Clara on Oct. 31. In the second set, she had five kills on nine error-free swings and two solo blocks and ended the set with a kill, and her kill on a successful San Diego challenge put the Toreros ahead 24-23 in the fourth.
• Her season high is 22 kills, set against UC Davis on a season-high 61 attempts, and her 12 digs that night made it one of her three double-doubles in 2026. The other two came in sweeps, with 11 kills and 11 digs apiece at Hawaii and against Arizona.
• Beach ranks second on the team with 250.0 points (3.38 per set) and third with 244 serve-receive attempts (.918), and has added 118 digs, 15 aces, 11 assists and 25.0 blocks. Against LMU, she served eight straight points to turn a 4-1 first-set lead into 12-1.
#13 EMMA BREWER | FRESHMAN | 6-1 | OUTSIDE HITTER | SALEM, ORE. | SPRAGUE HS
Through 22 Matches (2026)
• The WCC Freshman of the Week for Sept. 21, Oct. 26 and Nov. 9, Brewer ranks third on the team in kills per set (2.60) and points per set (2.97), with 151 kills and 172.5 points through 58 sets. She is hitting .251 and has added 81 digs and 31.0 blocks, and she is averaging 3.14 kills per set in WCC play.
• She led San Diego with 15 kills on .406 hitting (15-2-32) and a match-high 16.5 points at Denver, matching the second-most kills of her career, and added an ace, five digs and a block assist. Seven of her kills came on 14 error-free swings in the first set, three of them as the Toreros turned a 7-7 tie into a 12-8 lead.
• She had a career-high 19 kills on 45 swings against Santa Clara on Oct. 31 and added a team-high 20.5 points, eight digs and three block assists while passing 15-for-15 in serve receive. Five of San Diego's final eight points in the first set came on her kills, and she teamed with BayLea Sparks on the block of Morgan Hayes that ended the match.
• Her first two career double-doubles came in back-to-back matches: 13 kills on .440 hitting with 14 digs against San Diego State, then 12 kills and 13 digs against Saint Mary's on Sept. 24.
• Against Arizona on Sept. 17, she checked in with the Wildcats ahead 13-12 in the first set and had four kills in the 8-1 run that followed, finishing with 10 kills on .474 hitting off the bench.
#2 LAUREN LYNCH | SOPHOMORE | 5-5 | LIBERO | BURBANK, CALIF. | SIERRA CANYON HS
Through 22 Matches (2026)
• The WCC Defensive Player of the Week for Oct. 5, Oct. 26 and Nov. 2, Lynch leads the Toreros with 358 digs, and her 4.59 digs per set lead the WCC and rank 31st nationally. She has taken 366 serve-receive attempts, far and away the most on the team, with 13 errors for a .964 mark.
• She led all players with 16 digs at Denver, 12 of them in the first set, for her fifth straight match with a match-high dig total, and passed 13-for-13 in serve receive. In the second set, she served three straight points to turn a 20-20 tie into a 23-20 lead, and her set on Emma Brewer's kill brought up match point at 24-17.
• Against Pepperdine on Oct. 10, she had a match-high 15 digs and passed 23-for-24, and her ace saved a match point in the third set. She also passed 24-for-24 in serve receive at Arizona State and 18-for-18 against LMU.
• The libero had at least 14 digs in each of the first 11 matches, topped by a season-high 26 against SMU, and her 21 against Santa Clara are her second-most this season. She has added 91 assists out of the back row.
#8 RYANN KNUTH | FRESHMAN | 6-2 | OUTSIDE HITTER | GLENVIEW, ILL. | GLENBROOK SOUTH HS
Through 22 Matches (2026)
• Knuth leads the Toreros with 0.34 aces per set, and her 20 aces rank second on the team behind Kylie Munday (21). She ranks fourth in both kills per set (1.91) and points per set (2.45), with 111 kills and 142.0 points through 58 sets, and has added 101 digs and 21.0 blocks.
• She had nine kills on 16 error-free swings in two sets at Denver and served an ace. After checking in at 4-4 in the second set, she answered a 16-13 Denver lead with back-to-back kills to start a three-point run that tied it, and in the third she accounted for San Diego's next four points after an 18-12 lead, all on kills.
• She led all players with 13 kills and 13.5 points in the Oct. 3 sweep of Denver, hitting .478 (13-2-23), tied for the fourth-best mark by a Torero with at least 12 kills this season, and had 12 kills and 13 digs against LMU five days later. Her career high is 17 kills against SMU, when she added 13 digs.
• Her four aces against Georgia Southern, three of them in a row as San Diego opened the fourth set on an 8-0 run, are the second-most by a Torero in a match this season. She has also served three in a match twice, against UC Davis and in the Sept. 26 match against Pacific.
#18 BAYLEA SPARKS | REDSHIRT SENIOR | 6-2 | MIDDLE BLOCKER | GRAND JUNCTION, COLO. | FRUITA MONUMENT HS
Through 22 Matches (2026)
• Sparks leads San Diego's regulars in hitting percentage at .455, turning 246 swings into 130 kills with 18 attack errors through 77 sets, and she is hitting .543 (76-6-129) in 12 WCC matches.
• She hit .750 at Denver with nine kills on 12 error-free swings and had a match-high six blocks, four of them in the third set, and her kills tied the second set at 18 and 20. It was the same attack line she posted against Pepperdine on Oct. 10, when she also had nine kills on 12 error-free swings, three in each set.
• Against LMU, she blocked five attacks on her own and assisted on five more for 10.0 blocks, matching her 10.0 against Saint Mary's on Sept. 24 (one solo, nine assists) for the most by a Torero in a match this season. The five solo blocks are a Torero season high, and one of them, on Aleksandra Stojanovic, put San Diego ahead 8-7 at the fifth-set switch.
• Sparks leads the team with 87.0 blocks and has 19 of San Diego's 40 solo blocks. Her 1.13 blocks per set rank fourth in the WCC and 108th nationally.
• Her 8.0 blocks against UC Davis, two of them solo, came with a season-high 14 kills on .542 hitting for 19.0 points, also a season best. She has 183.0 points in 2026, third on the team.
#15 MEGHAN SCHOLZ | SENIOR | 6-3 | MIDDLE BLOCKER | TOMAHAWK, WIS. | TOMAHAWK HS
Through 22 Matches (2026)
• The WCC Defensive Player of the Week for Oct. 19, Scholz leads the Toreros with 1.19 blocks per set and ranks second on the team with 83.0 blocks through 70 sets. Her average ranks 77th nationally and second in the WCC behind Pepperdine's Ella Piskorz (1.36).
• She ended the second set at Denver with a solo block of Izabela Molina and closed out the match with a kill off a Kylie Munday set. Against Pepperdine on Oct. 10, she had four kills, four block assists and an ace, and she served San Diego from 8-8 to 11-8 in the third set to force a Waves timeout.
• She has put up at least 5.0 blocks in nine matches — Georgia Southern, Hawaii, UC Davis, Oregon, San Diego State, Saint Mary's, Seattle U, Portland and Pacific. Her 9.0 blocks against San Diego State are her season high, followed by 7.0 against both Saint Mary's and Portland.
• Her most efficient match came against Georgia Southern, with 10 kills on 15 swings and no attack errors for a .667 clip. She has 109 kills on .263 hitting this season, including .344 (70-18-151) in WCC play.
