SAN DIEGO — Kierstyn Barton and
Nemo Beach each recorded a double-double as the Toreros hit .457 and swept Arizona 25-19, 25-15, 25-11 Thursday night at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
The win snapped a two-match skid for the Toreros (4-5, 0-0 WCC) and was their first this season against a power-conference opponent. San Diego has now beaten Arizona (3-6, 0-0 Big 12) in five straight meetings, a streak that dates to 2004.
Behind 37 assists from
Kylie Munday, San Diego hit at least .371 in every set and finished with a 49-25 edge in kills, committing only seven attack errors on 92 swings. Arizona hit .091 and trailed 52-32 in digs and 6.0-4.0 in team blocks.
Freshman
Emma Brewer checked in with Arizona ahead 13-12 midway through the first set, and helped the Toreros answer with an 8-1 run. An Arizona service error tied it,
Lauren Lynch served the next four points, and Brewer supplied four kills in the stretch as the Toreros built a 20-14 lead. San Diego hit .567 in the set with 18 kills and one error, and Barton ended it with a kill.
With Barton putting away seven kills on 11 swings, San Diego led the second set from 2-1 on. Brewer's kill made it 7-4, and she served the next three points for a 10-4 cushion. After
Meghan Scholz's ace made it 21-14, Munday set up Beach twice, Barton once and
BayLea Sparks for the set-winner on the Toreros' final four points, serving the last three herself.
Sparks' kill opened the third set, and San Diego won the next five points with Beach serving, the last two on aces. Beach went back to the line at 16-8, and the Toreros won four more in a row for a 20-8 lead. Arizona hit -.100 in the set as San Diego put up four team blocks, and Brewer finished the match with back-to-back kills.
Barton, a senior from Chandler, Arizona, had a match-high 13 kills on .478 hitting against her home-state school, along with 11 digs and two block assists. Beach, a fellow senior from Chandler, added 11 kills, 11 digs and three of San Diego's four aces, and Munday chipped in eight digs and three kills without an error.
Brewer's 10 kills came on .474 hitting, and she added two block assists. Lynch dug a match-high 15 balls, giving her at least 14 digs in every match this season. Sparks hit .667 with six kills and no errors, and Scholz totaled five kills, an ace and a team-high four total blocks, one of them solo.
The Toreros finished the sweep in 1 hour, 23 minutes, their quickest match of the season thus far.
UP NEXT
San Diego will close non-conference play against crosstown rival San Diego State on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. at the Jenny Craig Pavilion. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+.
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