HONOLULU — San Diego volleyball dropped its season opener 26-24, 34-32, 25-23 to No. 21 Baylor on Friday night at the Stan Sheriff Center, a sweep on the scoreboard that was nothing of the sort on the floor.
The Toreros (0-1, 0-0 WCC) out-hit the Bears (1-0, 0-0 Big 12) .194 to .181, out-killed them 50-46 and finished the night six points behind, 85-79. The opening match of the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic ran 2 hours, 8 minutes and produced 29 tie scores and 17 lead changes, and San Diego held a set point in each of the first two sets.
Kierstyn Barton made her Torero debut a busy one. The senior outside hitter, who arrived this offseason after three years at Washington, put down a match-high 19 kills on 45 swings, hit .222 and added three block assists for a match-best 20.5 points.
San Diego opened the match on a 4-0 run and still led 23-20 in the first set before Baylor took six of the final seven points. A Barton kill gave the Toreros a set point at 24-23; the Bears answered with three straight to close it.
The second set alone accounted for 66 points. Down 24-21 and facing three set points, San Diego got a
Ryann Knuth kill and two Baylor attack errors to pull even at 24, and from there neither side could build a cushion. The Toreros erased nine Baylor set points in all and twice served for the set themselves, at 28-27 and 32-31, before the Bears converted their 10th chance.
Baylor never led by more than three in the third. Trailing 24-21, San Diego got kills from Barton and
Nemo Beach to climb within one, and Ksenia Rakhmanchik's 18th kill of the night ended the match.
Four freshmen saw the floor for the Toreros.
Emma Brewer started on the left side and finished with nine kills, nine digs and 18 serve-receive attempts with one error. Knuth came off the bench in the first set, started the last two and delivered five kills, an ace and five digs.
Allie Dunnion drew the start in the third set and recorded two block assists, and
Kalli Lipo added two digs in her first college action.
Meghan Scholz, the senior middle blocker who transferred in from DePaul, chipped in three block assists. Among the returners,
BayLea Sparks hit .444 with nine kills,
Kylie Munday ran the offense for 39 assists and added 12 digs, Beach finished with five kills and a team-high 19 receptions, and libero
Lauren Lynch led San Diego with 15 digs while handling 18 serves without an error.
Serving was the clearest gap in the box score. Baylor put down seven aces to the Toreros' two and blocked 11.0 balls to San Diego's 8.0.
UP NEXT
San Diego stays at the Stan Sheriff Center for the second match of the Classic, facing Georgia Southern on Saturday at 7 p.m. PT. The Toreros close the weekend against host Hawaii on Sunday at 8 p.m. PT on Mountain West+.
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