SAN DIEGO — Nemo Beach recorded the 1,000th kill of her college career Sunday afternoon at Jenny Craig Pavilion, but No. 15 USC took control in the middle of the match and swept San Diego 3-0 (23-25, 13-25, 21-25) to close the Jack Talmadge Volleyball Classic.
Beach reached the mark on her first kill of the day, a swing that pulled the Toreros within 9-7 in the opening set. She finished with seven kills to put her at 1,006 for her career, all of them at San Diego.
The first set went the distance. San Diego (2-3, 0-0 WCC)Â trailed 22-17 and answered with three straight, then fell behind 24-20 and got back-to-back kills from
Emma Brewer and one from Beach to make it 24-23 before London Wijay ended it with a kill from the left side.
Nothing came as easily in the second. The teams were even through eight ties, the last at 11-11, and USC (2-2, 0-0 Big Ten)Â took 14 of the final 16 points from there. The Trojans closed the set with 10 in a row, nine of them with Wijay serving.
San Diego came out of the break with its best stretch of the afternoon, taking four of the first five points and leading 6-2 in the third before USC answered with five straight. The Trojans pushed the lead to 22-16, and the Toreros responded with five in a row — kills by
BayLea Sparks and Beach around three USC attack errors — to get within 22-21. USC scored the last three points to end it.
The margin showed up in the swing totals. San Diego hit .061 in the match on 28 kills and 21 errors in 115 attempts, while USC finished at .206 (38-16-107). The Trojans held an 8.5-1.0 edge in team blocks, with Mia Tvrdy accounting for six block assists on her own. The Toreros also gave away 11 service errors against two aces.
Beach and
Kierstyn Barton led USD with seven kills each, and
Ryann Knuth added five to go with seven digs.
Ella Fulton was the most efficient Torero, hitting .500 with three kills in six swings, while Sparks and Brewer had three kills apiece.
Kylie Munday finished with 23 assists and nine digs, and
Lauren Lynch led all players on the floor for San Diego with 14 digs while handling 24 serve receptions without an error.
Wijay and Abigail Mullen paced USC with nine kills each, and Leah Ford hit .417 with seven. Lilli Etter ran the offense for 27 assists, and libero Taylor Deckert had a match-high 15 digs. Announced attendance was 1,247.
San Diego drops to 2-3 with the loss. USC moves to 2-2.
UP NEXT
The Toreros head to Tempe, Ariz., for the Snyder-Park Classic at Desert Financial Arena. San Diego meets UC Davis on Friday, Sept. 11 at 2 p.m., faces host No. 7 Arizona State on Saturday, Sept. 12 at 5 p.m. on ESPN+ and closes against No. 25 Oregon on Sunday, Sept. 13 at 2 p.m.
Â
