San Diego (20-7, 14-4 WCC) • Rice (19-6, 12-0 C-USA)

December 2  | Gregory Gymnasium (4,000) • Austin, Texas

Live Stream  •  ESPN+ |  Live Statistics  • TexasSports.com

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AUSTIN, Texas — San Diego volleyball (20-7, 14-4 WCC) will begin play in its 12th straight NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon, taking on Rice (19-6, 12-0 C-USA) at the University of Texas' Gregory Gymnasium in what marks the program's 25th overall appearance in the postseason.

The Toreros' first-round match with the Owls is set for 2 p.m. PST (4 p.m. local time) and will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Paul Sunderland (play-by-play) and Salima Rockwell (analyst) on the call.

Live statistics will be available on TexasSports.com.

BACK WHERE THEY STARTED
• Thursday's first-round match will mark the second time this season that USD has played in Austin; the team began their 2021 campaign there with a match at then-No. 1 Texas on August 27.

ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS RICE
• The Toreros are 0-1 against the Owls all-time, with the USD's lone previous match against Rice coming in September of 1987 on the road, a 3-0 Torero loss.

LAST TIME OUT
• San Diego dropped a tough 3-1 decision to No. 4 BYU at the Jenny Craig Pavilion last time out on November 23 as it concluded its regular-season schedule.

• The Toreros lost the first set 25-10, prevailed in the second set by a 25-14 margin courtesy of a Herculean effort from senior outside hitter Katie Lukes, then were defeated in the match's final two frames by scores of 25-21 and 25-22.

• Lukes began the second set with a kill, three straight service aces, a kill, and another service ace to put San Diego ahead 7-0 early on. She finished with 13 kills and four service aces, and sophomore Kylie Pries added 13 of her own, with the pair tied with the Cougars' Kenzie Koerber for the most in the match.

• Junior opposite/setter Grace Frohling had seven kills, senior Laura Madill had a season-high four, and sophomore middle blocker Leyla Blackwell and senior middle blocker Gabby each had two.

• Frohling led the way with three block assists, Blackwell, Madill and Goddard had two, and Stoner had one.

• Libero Annie Benbow was one off the Cougars' Kenzie Koerber's match-high 14 with 13 digs, aided by Frohling's 11. Lukes turned in eight digs, and Madill set forth five.

SEVEN TOREROS EARN ALL-WCC HONORS
• Benbow, Blackwell, Frohling, and Lukes earned All-WCC First Team honors, Pries was an All-WCC Honorable Mention, and first-years Haylee Stoner (middle blocker) and Emily Wilson (outside hitter) were named to the All-WCC Freshman Team, the conference announced on Monday afternoon.

• USD's seven total yearly conference accolades this season were tied with Pepperdine for the second-most in the WCC, behind only conference champion BYU (10).

TOREROS NEAR THE TOP
• Multiple Toreros finished the 2021 regular season at or near the top of the West Coast Conference's statistical leaderboards for kills, blocks, digs, and assists.

Those players are, by category:

Blocks:
• Leyla Blackwell, 1st (129)

Kills:
• Grace Frohling, 3rd (392)
• Katie Lukes, 6th (315)

Assists:
• Isadora Terçariol, 5th (786)

Digs:
• Annie Benbow, 2nd (424)

FROHLING FLOURISHING
• Junior opposite/setter Grace Frohling has paced the Torero offense with a team-best 392 kills so far in 2021, a mark that leads the roster by 64 kills and ranked second in the WCC.

• The Los Angeles, California native, who was selected to the All-WCC First Team earlier this week, has tallied a team-leading 35 service aces in addition to her wealth of kills, and her 100 total blocks and 168 digs rank second and third on the team.

• On November 18 at Saint Mary's Frohling set forth a career performance, totaling 28 kills as she led the Toreros to a 3-1 win.

• She surpassed the 20-kill mark for the fifth time this season with a 21-kill afternoon at Pacific on November 20, the third consecutive match in which she's turned in 20 or more.

• Frohling racked up 151 kills in her final 10 regular-season matches of 2021, including 19 at both Gonzaga and Portland (11/4 and 11/6), 21 versus Pepperdine (11/13), 28 at Saint Mary's (11/18), and 21 at Pacific on November 20.

LUKES LEADING
• Senior outside hitter Katie Lukes has provided a potent one-two punch for the Toreros this year in addition to Frohling.

• She erupted for a career-high 27 kills in the Toreros' match at Gonzaga on November 6, leading USD to a 3-1 win over the Bulldogs at the Martin Centre.

• Lukes, who was selected to the All-WCC First Team earlier this week, recorded 15 or more kills in ten games this season, reached the 20-kill mark on three occasions, and notched at least seven kills in every match she appeared in.

• She racked up 146 kills in her final 10 regular-season matches of 2021, including 15 against both Santa Clara (10/28) and San Francisco (10/30), 27 at Gonzaga (11/6), 3 versus Pepperdine (11/13), 17 at Saint Mary's 11/18), and 13 versus No. 4 BYU on November 22.

• With the exception of a nine-kill performance on November 4, Lukes recorded double-digit kills in each of her last 10 matches to conclude the 2021 regular season.

• Despite only playing in 24 of the Toreros' 27 matches due to a mid-season injury, the San Clemente, California native finished sixth in the WCC for total kills (328), which marked the most among conference players who played in 24 matches or less.

BLOCK PARTY FOR BLACKWELL AND TOREROS
• Through 27 games in 2021 so far, middle blocker Leyla Blackwell and the Toreros have found themselves near the top of the national leaderboards for blocks.

• Blackwell, a 6-4 sophomore from San Diego, California who was selected to the All-WCC First Team this week, leads the Toreros and the WCC with an average of 1.30 blocks per set, a mark that ranks 21st in all of NCAA Division I.

• Her 129 total blocks in 2021 ranks 37th in the nation and also leads the WCC.

• As a team, USD has totaled an average of 2.75 blocks per set, a mark that leads the conference and also ranks eighth in all of NCAA Division I.

• The Toreros' 275.5 total blocks in 2021 lead the WCC and rank 24th in the nation

STONER SHINING
• Freshman middle blocker Haylee Stoner has also emerged as a defensive force to be reckoned with as she's racked up 30 total blocks (two solo) in her last seven matches.

• The San Marcos, California native put together a strong finish to the season, setting forth five block assists against LMU on November 11 before she set a new career high with 10 block assists and one solo block against Pepperdine on November 13, then added four on 11/18 at Saint Mary's, and five at Pacific (11/20).

• She's totaled 33 blocks and has earned an All-WCC Freshman Team selection in her first college season.

CAN YOU DIG IT?
• Libero Annie Benbow has been a mainstay for the Toreros on defense, totaling a team-best 424 digs through USD's 27 games so far in 2021, a mark that ranks second in the WCC.

• She set a career high on November 18 at Saint Mary's, racking up 31 digs as the Toreros took down the Gaels 3-1, and has set forth 15 digs or more on 13 occasions this season.

• With her 13 digs in USD's regular-season finale on November 23 Benbow moved into 10th place for career digs in program history, passing Jennifer Lofftus' mark of 1,142 with 1,155 of her own.

• The Frisco, Texas native is now in her fourth year with USD, and has earned All-WCC honors on four occasions (2021, first team; 2019, honorable mention; 2020-2021 and 2019, academic honorable mention).

A HELPING HAND
• Setter Isadora Terçariol has been at the center of the Toreros' success so far this season, with 786 assists under her belt in 2021.

• She added 29 on November 11 versus LMU, then nearly reached her career high (49) with 45 assists on November 13 against Pepperdine, the eighth time she's reached 40 and the third time she's tallied 45 or more so far this season.

• Terçariol, a redshirt sophomore from Bauru, Säo Paulo, Brazil, has already bested her assists total from a season ago (239), and has appeared in 26 of USD's 27 matches.

HOW SWEEP IT IS
• USD's sweep over Portland on November 4 marked the team's 10th of 2021, and its ninth out of 13 WCC games.

• The Toreros have swept Hawaii (Sept. 3), Cal Poly (Sept. 4), Saint Mary's (Sept. 23), Pacific (Sept. 25), San Francisco (Sept. 30), Gonzaga (Oct. 7), Portland (Oct. 9), Santa Clara (Oct. 28), San Francisco (Oct. 30), and Portland (Nov. 4).

• They have only been swept twice in 2021, both times by Top-10 teams — No. 1 Texas on August 27 and No. 8 BYU on Oct. 22.