SAN DIEGO — The Toreros (5-6, 0-1 WCC) fell 3-2 (25-10, 19-25, 25-12, 20-25, 14-16) to Saint Mary's (6-7, 1-0 WCC) in their 2026 West Coast Conference opener Thursday night at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.
San Diego out-hit the Gaels .243 to .136, out-blocked them 17.0-5.0, served eight aces to their six and outscored them 103-88 over the five sets. But Saint Mary's scored the final six points of the match after trailing 14-10 in the fifth set.
The Toreros won the first and third sets by a combined 28 points, hitting .489 with one attack error in 45 swings and holding Saint Mary's to negative hitting in both. They scored the first four points of the match, led 18-8 when the Gaels called their second timeout and closed the first set on a 5-0 run, the last two points on back-to-back
Kierstyn Barton aces. Early in the third,
Reese Bates served four straight points during another 5-0 run for a 6-1 lead, and Barton put away five kills on eight swings in a 25-12 set.
Saint Mary's evened the match with a 25-19 second set in which San Diego hit .026. Gaels libero Alayna Pearson served five straight points to turn a 4-3 deficit into an 8-4 lead, and the Toreros climbed out of a 13-8 hole to tie it at 14 on the last of three straight
Nemo Beach kills. San Diego went ahead 16-15, but Pearson was back at the service line for four points of a 5-0 run that broke a 17-17 tie, and the Toreros got no closer than four the rest of the way.
San Diego was six points from a four-set win after a Beach kill made it 19-17 in the fourth, a set with 12 ties and seven lead changes. Saint Mary's called timeout and scored the next six points, five with Mikayla Haner serving, then took two of the last three to force a fifth. Makenzie Jackson and Antonie Kelnárová had three kills apiece over those final nine points.
Freshman
Emma Brewer had three kills in a span of four rallies to put San Diego ahead 5-3 in the fifth set, and the Toreros stayed in front until the Gaels tied it at 14. Bates' ace made it 8-5 at the switch. After Saint Mary's pulled within 11-10, Barton and
Meghan Scholz stuffed Layne Dent, and Barton followed with back-to-back aces, her second pair of the night, for a 14-10 lead.
Dent's kill sided Saint Mary's out and made it 14-11, and Pearson served the rest of the way. San Diego used both of its timeouts during her turn at the line, but the Gaels won all five of those rallies, two on Dent kills and three on San Diego attack errors.
Barton put down a match-high 16 kills on .375 hitting and added five aces, seven block assists and seven digs for 24.5 points, eight more than any other player. Brewer backed up her double-double against San Diego State with 12 kills and 13 digs, and
Kylie Munday's 43 assists and 16 digs gave her a sixth double-double this season.
BayLea Sparks had 10 total blocks, the most by a Torero in a match this season, and hit .625 with five kills and no errors. Scholz added six kills on .417 hitting and seven block assists, Beach had 13 kills and nine digs, and
Lauren Lynch's 14 digs kept her at 14 or more in all 11 matches thus far this season.
Saint Mary's made 32 attack errors but out-dug the Toreros 69-62 and finished with three more kills, 56-53.Â
UP NEXT
San Diego hosts Pacific on Saturday, Sept. 26, at noon at the Jenny Craig Pavilion, with the match streaming on ESPN+.
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