LOS ANGELES — San Diego fought off three set points in the opener, took the third set going away and saved three match points at the finish Saturday afternoon, but first-place LMU held on for a 3-1 win at Gersten Pavilion.
The Toreros (15-9, 10-4 WCC) came in on an eight-match winning streak, the latest a reverse sweep at Pepperdine on Thursday. LMU (23-3, 14-1 WCC) leads the conference and also took the first meeting this season.
Neither team could pull away in a first set that featured 16 ties and six lead changes. A 4-0 run, the last three points on
Kylie Munday's serve, put San Diego ahead 12-10, and freshman
Emma Brewer's fifth kill of the set made it 23-20, the largest lead of the opener.
When LMU ran off four straight points to reach set point at 24-23,
Kierstyn Barton tied it with a kill, and she did the same at 26-26. San Diego turned away three set points in all before LMU converted its fourth, 28-26.
Senior
Meghan Scholz was perfect in the second set, putting away all four of her attacks as San Diego hit .308 and kept pace through a 17-17 tie. After LMU pushed ahead 20-17, Brewer answered with two kills and the Toreros pulled within 21-20, but the Lions closed it out 25-22.
Out of the intermission, San Diego put together its best set of the afternoon. Scholz had three kills and a block assist in a 6-2 start, and after LMU edged ahead 9-8, Barton tied it with a kill before
Nemo Beach served five straight points for a 14-9 lead.
The lead never dipped below three from there. Beach's kill made it 19-14 and forced another LMU timeout, and she and
BayLea Sparks put away the final two points off Munday sets for a 25-18 win. San Diego held the Lions to a -.021 hitting percentage in the set, with 4.0 team blocks and 21 digs.
Early in the fourth, Sparks was in on three straight points with two blocks and a kill, putting San Diego ahead 5-4, and a Scholz kill later made it 10-9. LMU then pulled away with seven straight points.
Facing match point at 24-16, Brewer put down a kill, and back-to-back kills from Beach erased two more match points and forced an LMU timeout. The Lions closed it out 25-19 on the next point.
Barton's 13 kills led the Toreros, and the senior added 11 digs for a double-double. Brewer posted the third double-double of her career with 11 kills and 12 digs, and Scholz hit .571 with nine kills on 14 attacks.
At the net, Sparks hit .500 with six kills and had five blocks, two of them solo, and Munday matched her five blocks while running the offense for 34 assists. Sophomore libero
Lauren Lynch led all players with 19 digs to reach 400 for the season, and Beach chipped in six kills, 11 digs and two blocks.
As a team, San Diego out-blocked LMU 9.5-6.0, out-dug the Lions 63-60 and had eight service errors to LMU's 21. Over four sets, LMU outscored the Toreros by just four points, 96-92, in a match that finished with 36 ties and 15 lead changes. San Diego still leads the all-time series 50-46.
UP NEXT
San Diego plays its final two regular-season home matches next week, hosting Portland on Thursday, Nov. 19, at 7 p.m. and Seattle U on Saturday, Nov. 21, at noon. Both matches are at the Jenny Craig Pavilion and streaming on ESPN+.
Tickets are on sale now.
