USD women consider NCAA volleyball tourney a given

USD’s women’s volleyball team gathered in the Warren Room high above Jenny Craig Pavilion on Sunday evening to take in the NCAA Selection Show.

Ranked in the top 25 most of the season, the Toreros seemed a lock to earn an at-large bid in the 64-team field. But after three corners of the bracket were released with USD still on the outside looking in, unease filled the room.

“It was pretty tense, that’s for sure,” said USD head coach Jennifer Petrie.

Senior Katie Lukes was holding freshman Annie Jaworowski’s hand.

“I was honestly squeezing and shaking,” said Lukes. “My heart was racing.”

A collective exhale unfolded when the players and coaches heard USD announced. But it was at least another minute before the graphic popped on the screen, revealing the Toreros’ opponent, the Rice Owls.

This afternoon at 2, inside the University of Texas’ Gregory Gymnasium, a tradition continues when USD (20-7) faces Rice (19-6) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It’s the 12th straight season USD has advanced to the tournament and the 24th time in the past 26 seasons.

“That is definitely ingrained in our culture,” said Petrie, regarding the expectation of advancing to the NCAAs. “That’s marked on the players’ calendar. We’re planning on it.”

“Jen talks about the legacy we’ll leave and the legacy left by all the alumni,” said Lukes. “We’re proud to wear Toreros on our back.”

This is Petrie’s 23rd season steering USD’s most successful athletic program, and this year’s edition is anchored by twin towers at the net, 6-foot-5 Grace Frohling and the 6-2 Lukes.

Frohling, who played at Los Angeles’ Marymount High, led the Toreros with 392 kills. Lukes, who prepped at San Juan Hills High in San Clemente, played three fewer matches and totaled 328 kills.

Their styles are different. Lukes packs a powerful swing, including a big jump serve. Frohling lives up to her first name, Grace. There’s more refinement to her game.

“Katie scores a lot through her hard drive and force and speed of her arm,” said Petrie. “Grace has a lot of finesse to her game. But she’s got a lot of power, too.”

Both players earned first team All-West Coast Conference honors this week, as did libero Annie Benbow and 6-4 middle blocker Leyla Blackwell.

USD was ranked as high as 19th in the nation and for the first time in program history beat UCLA and USC in the same season. But the Toreros stumbled at the end of the regular season, losing three of their last four matches.

One of the losses was to Pacific, which hadn’t beaten USD since 1976.

“Losing to Pacific kind of shocked us,” said Lukes.

“If anything,” Frohling said of the slump, “it was more of a reality check.”

The regular season ended with a competitive 3-1 loss to BYU, the nation’s fourth-ranked team at the time.

“The only way to gain our confidence back was to go hard at BYU, and we did,” said Petrie.

The deepest USD has advanced in the NCAA tournament is the Sweet 16, which the Toreros have done four times. But the Toreros pulled off something that was impossible for previous teams to accomplish. With the 2020 season pushed to the spring because of COVID, the Toreros advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice in the calendar year.

Practicing and playing from January to December, with a two-month break in between, the players and Petrie admit has been a grind.

“I am definitely tired,” said Frohling.

“But we’re not going to submit to the tiredness until somebody tells us it’s over,” said Petrie.

Lukes said one of the lures about playing at USD is the balance Petrie creates. There’s the academic-athletic balance. And there’s the balance the coaching staff demonstrates by genuinely caring about the players.

Lukes, who did not have COVID, was in quarantine for 30 days earlier this year because of contact tracing.

“It was a bumpy ride,” she said. “Jen and Alfie (assistant coach Alfred Reft) were constantly checking up on me. It was like family. They never left me in the dust.”

Lukes and Frohling both say they plan to play a fifth season at USD that the NCAA is offering because of COVID hardships.

“I love it here,” said Frohling. “It seems silly to pack up all my things.”

Said Lukes, “I just love this team, this program so much, I won’t be ready to give up volleyball.”

First comes today’s match against Rice. If the Toreros win, they’ll almost certainly play No. 2-ranked Texas in the second round on the Longhorns’ floor. In a bit of symmetry, USD opened the season with a 3-0 loss to Texas, in Austin, on the Longhorns’ floor.

“Should we get and when we get to the second round,” said Petrie, “I think the team will be excited to see how far we’ve developed, how far we’ve come.”

Norcross is a freelance writer.

NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Tournament

Toreros vs. Rice

Thursday: 2 p.m., Gregory Gymnasium, Austin, Texas