SAN DIEGO — The Toreros (6-6, 1-1 WCC) swept Pacific (4-10, 0-2 WCC) 25-20, 25-17, 25-15 on Saturday afternoon at the Jenny Craig Pavilion to earn their first West Coast Conference win of the season in dominant fashion.
Two days after dropping its league opener to Saint Mary's in five sets, San Diego hit .360 and held Pacific to .126. The Toreros out-killed the Tigers 44-26, served seven aces to their one and doubled them up in team blocks, 8.0-4.0.
Pacific led 15-12 at the first set's media timeout. Freshman
Ryann Knuth's kill out of the break started a 4-0 run, and she served the rest of it:
Nemo Beach stuffed Hanna Vorhies on consecutive rallies, the second time with
Meghan Scholz, before Knuth's ace put San Diego ahead 16-15. After the Tigers tied it at 17,
Kylie Munday served four straight points following a Beach kill, two of them on
BayLea Sparks kills, for a 22-17 lead. Sparks had five kills on six swings in the set, and Scholz's kill ended it.
Kierstyn Barton's kill put the Toreros ahead for good at 10-9, the last of five lead changes in the second set. A Pacific service error at 16-13 opened a 5-0 run, and freshman
Emma Brewer ended each of the next four rallies with Knuth serving: a kill, a solo block of Vorhies and two more kills. Brewer had six kills on eight swings in the set, and Munday closed it with an ace.
Belle Groomes took over at setter in the third set for her college debut, after an injury kept the sophomore out of her entire 2025 freshman season. Her first assist set up Brewer for a kill on the opening rally, and her first two kills came during a 7-0 run that stretched a 7-6 lead to 14-6. Knuth served the last six points of that run, two of them aces, and Pacific got no closer than seven the rest of the way.
Each of the Toreros' last four points ran through Groomes, who stuffed Nicole Zake with
Allie Dunnion, set up kills by Brewer and Barton, then ended the match with an ace. She finished the set with seven assists, two kills and five digs.
Barton led all players with 10 kills and 12.0 points, hitting .304 with two aces and six digs. Sparks put down nine kills in 12 swings without an error, and Brewer had nine kills in two sets to go with a solo block and two block assists.
Knuth added six kills, a match-high three aces and six digs. Munday handed out 26 assists over the first two sets,
Lauren Lynch had a match-high 11 digs and Scholz hit .429 with four kills and three block assists.Â
With the win, USDÂ moves to 26-1 all-time against Pacific. The Toreros have now won nine straight matches against the Tigers, including seven sweeps.Â
UP NEXT
San Diego hosts Denver on Saturday, Oct. 3, at noon at the Jenny Craig Pavilion, with the match streaming on ESPN+.
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