Sep 4, 2013

Complete Release in PDF Format

WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE: The 14th-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team (2-1) will hit the road again this week, and for a second consecutive week they will face a pair of ranked opponents in No. 11 Iowa State on Friday at 4:30 p.m, then USD concludes play in the Iowa State Classic on Saturday with a 10 a.m. (PT) match against No. 18 Illinois.  

LAST TIME OUT: San Diego posted a 2-1 record in the opening week of play.  The Toreros began the season with a 3-1 win over UTEP in the opening game of the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Classic. In this match, Katie Hoekman led all players with 18 kills on 24 swings, while only committing one error to hit for a .708 clip. Alaysia Brown was the second Torero in double-digit kills, as she recorded 14, and Taylor Hollins made her USD debut with 11 kills and eight digs. The final two USD players with double digit kills were Chloe Ferrari and Sandra Lozic, who had 10 kills apiece. C'era Oliveira led the team with 26 digs, while Rachel Alvey (29 assists) and Jianna Bonomi (26 assists) helped steer the Torero offense to a .273 team attack percentage.  USD then took the defending national champion and top-ranked Texas Longhorns to five sets, but was not able to complete the upset win. In this match, Hollins recorded a season-high 19 kills to pace the USD offense, while also recording seven digs. Ferrari recorded 16 kills, while hitting for a .450 clip, and she had a season-high seven blocks. Brown also had a great match with 16 kills, while hitting .350 and the last USD player in double-digit kills was Hoekman, who had 14 kills. Bonomi recorded a team-high 44 assists, and added in 12 digs to post a double-double, while Oliveira recorded a team-best 17 digs. As a team, USD hit 236.  In the final match of the week, USD pulled off one of the biggest upsets in program history, they defeated No. 11 Hawaii, 3-2, on Hawaii's home floor. Lozic led the team with 22 kills, on 54 swings to hit for a .296 clip, and she recorded 12 digs to record her first double-double of the season. Brown recorded 14 kills and had four blocks, while Hoekman 13 kills and hit for a .409 clip. Ferrari recorded 11 kills and she had seven blocks. Bonomi recorded 34 assists and had nine digs, while Oliveira recorded a team-best 25 digs.

SCOUTING THE CYCLONES: The Cyclones began the 2013 season with three wins at the UND Classic in Grand Forks, N.D. ISU earned 3-0 wins over South Dakota State and North Dakota before winning a dramatic 3-1 match against Texas A&M.  Tenisha Matlock was named the MVP of the UND Classic with Mackenzie Bigbee and Kristen Hahn joining her on the All-Tournament team.  The offensive leader for the Cyclones is Bigbee, who leads the team with 41 kills, while hitting .419.  The floor leader for ISU is Jenelle Hudson, who leads the team with 134 assists, while helping steer the team to an attack percentage of .310.  This will be the third meeting between the two programs, with the series split at 1-1.  The last meeting came in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament, when ISU rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Toreros, 3-2.

 SCOUTING THE FIGHTING ILLINI: The Fighting Illini posted a 2-1 record this past weekend at the Long Beach State Mizuno Invitational, as they defeated No. 18 Florida State, 3-0, then lost to the host Long Beach State, 3-1, and bounced back with a 3-2 win over No. 17 Kentucky.  This will be the second meeting between the two programs, with Illinois taking the first meeting.   Jocelynn Birks leads the offensive charge for the Fighting Illini,as she leads the team with 56 kills, while hitting for a .204 clip.  The floor leader for Illinois is Alexis Viliunas, who has recorded 174 assists, while helping steer the team to a .224 hitting percentage.   

HOEKMAN TABBED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Senior middle hitter Katie Hoekman of the 14th-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team has been tabbed the West Coast Conference Player of the Week for September 3, the conference office announced Tuesday morning.  Hoekman played a huge part in the Toreros posting a 2-1 record to open up the season, including a huge upset over No. 11 Hawaii in Hawaii. Hoekman was named to the All-Tournament team, and for the week, she recorded 45 kills, while hitting for a .470 clip. Hoekman began the week with 18 kills on 26 swings, while only committing one attack error to hit for a .708 clip against UTEP. She then followed that up with a 14-kill performance against No. 1 Texas, before closing the week with a 13 kill performance against No. 11 Hawaii.   

WITH HONORS: Senior libero C'era Oliveira and senior middle hitter Katie Hoekman were both named to the All-Tournment team of the Chevron Rainbow Wahine Classic this past week.  Oliveira enjoyed a visit to her native state with a tournament-high 65 digs, while helping the Toreros post a 2-1 record and tie for second place.  Hoekman on the other hand recorded 45 kills, while hitting for a .470 clip.

THE POLLS: The Toreros have jumped into the AVCA top-25 poll at No. 14, after posting a 2-1 record this past weekend, which included an upset win over No. 11 Hawaii.  Iowa State checks in the top-25 at No. 11, while Illinois is also ranked at No. 18.   

WELCOME TO THE TEAM TAYLOR: Senior transfer Taylor Hollins had quite the impressive debut fore the Toreros.  The University of Miami transfer, and first-team All-ACC selection, racked up 37 kills and had 30 digs over the weekend.  Hollins had her best performance come against No. 1 ranked Texas, as the Long Beach, Calif. native recorded a team-best 19 kills.  She also recorded double-digit kills (11) against UTEP in the season opener.  

WELCOME BACK CHLOE: Senior middle hitter Chloe Ferrari made her return to the Torero line-up this past weekend after a nine-month ACL rehab process.  And in return, the Toreros got not a rusty Ferrari, but a dominate one.  For the week, Ferrari  recorded 37 kills, hit for a .409 clip and led the team with 16 total blocks.  She appears to be returned to her All-American form of two years ago.  

WE ARE DOWN WITH THE BROWN: Junior middle/opposite hitter Alaysia Brown picked up from where she left off her All-WCC sophomore year, dominate.  Brown was second on the team this past weekend with 44 kills, while hitting .305 and she had eight blocks.  Brown recorded double-digit kills in all three matches for the Toreros.  

TOREROS TABBED SECOND IN WCC PRESEASON POLL: The defending West Coast Conference Co-Champion University of San Diego women's volleyball team was picked to finish second in a preseason WCC Coaches poll.  BYU was chosen to win the 2013 WCC title after capturing five of the nine possible first place votes and 74 points overall. Just one point shy of the Cougars, USD tallied 73 points and three of the remaining first place votes. The Cougars and Toreros tied for first place in last year's regular season.  Saint Mary's College earned 69 points and two first place votes, while Pepperdine was picked fourth with 58 points. Loyola Marymount University earned 43 points and Santa Clara University tallied 42 points to finish fifth and sixth, respectively. Newcomer University of the Pacific earned 33 points to finish seventh, while the University of San Francisco (32 points), Gonzaga University (16 points) and the University of Portland (10 points) rounded out the preseason poll.

THE COACH: Jennifer Petrie has done an outstanding job directing the fortunes of San Diego volleyball since taking over as the Toreros head coach in 1999. Honored as the 2004, 2008 and 2010 West Coast Conference Coach of the Year, Petrie continues to establish the University of San Diego as one of the top volleyball programs in the nation. In 12 complete seasons as head coach, Petrie has led San Diego to 10 appearances in the NCAA Tournament (1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010 & 2012).