College volleyball: San Diego defeats No. 10 BYU in five-set thriller

SAN DIEGO — No. 24 San Diego knocked off No. 10 BYU, 18-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-16, 15-9, in front of an electric crowd in the Jenny Craig Pavilion on Friday night.
 
The Toreros (21-5, 14-1 WCC) were strong down the stretch, hitting .450 in the final frame of the five-set thriller to earn the season sweep over the Cougars (22-4, 13-2 WCC). It marks the first time the Cougars have been swept by a conference opponent since the 2011 season.
 
Three Toreros reached double-digit kills, led by Megan Jacobsen and Katie Lukes with 15 kills each. Jacobsen hit .480 on the night and finished one kill shy of her career high. Grace Frohling also reached double-digits, adding 13 kills for USD.

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Jacobsen added four blocks (two solo) to finish with a match-high 18 points for the Toreros. Anna Newsome turned in another strong performance, directing the offense to a .215 hitting percentage and collecting 56 assists — two shy of her career high. Newsome added three blocks (1 solo) and was second on the team with 10 digs to register her seventh double-double of the season.

Lauren Turner led the defensive effort at the net with six blocks and Annie Benbow tallied a new career high with 24 digs in the back court. 

How ‘bout the Toreros⁉️

Not only did No. 24 pull off the upset of No. 10 BYU in a five set thriller, they became the first conference foe to have a season sweep of the Cougars since 2011!

— NCAA Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball)

Roxie Wilbin was instrumental in keeping the Cougars out of system, collecting three aces from the service line. Frohling, Thana Fayad and Camryn Tastad also added one ace each.  

Wiblin turned in an all-around strong night, added eight kills, eight digs, and one block assist.
 
The Toreros held BYU to a .178 hitting percentage and -.029 in the fourth set, with only one Cougar reaching double-digit kills (Heather Gneiting, 11). San Diego out-dug BYU, 66-55, while the Cougars held the slight advantage in blocks 13-11.
 
San Diego got off to a slow start, hitting just .094 in the first frame with the exception of Jacobsen and Turner who collected four and three kills respectively. 
 
The Toreros bounced back in the second set, sparked by two aces from Wiblin and five kills from Frohling. The teams stayed knotted as late as 23-23 before a timely ace from Wiblin and a lift call on BYU, gave the Toreros the set and tied the match 1-1.

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The momentum shifted back in favor of BYU in the third set with the Cougars leading by as many as five points early on. USD pulled within one, 21-22, behind five kills from Fayad and four from Lukes. The Toreros fought off three set-points before BYU eventually took the set, 26-24.
 
It was all San Diego in the fourth set as the Toreros stretched a 10-point lead at 20-10 and hit .270 as a team. USD cruised to the 25-16 fourth-set victory behind six kills from Jacobsen to force a deciding fifth set.
USD picked up right where they left off in the final frame, hitting a blazing .450 as a team. BYU picked up just three digs, with everything falling the way of the Toreros. 
 
San Diego now sits alone in first place in the WCC and in control its own destiny in pursuit of the 2019 conference title. 
 
The Toreros will play host to Gonzaga (Nov. 21), Portland (Nov. 23) and Loyola Marymount (Nov. 26) to close out the regular season.