Dec. 1, 2008
Complete Volleyball Release in PDF Format 
WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE: The 15th-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team (23-4) will head to Los Angeles for the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament this weekend. On Friday the Toreros will square off against the host and 12th-ranked University of Southern California in a 7 p.m. match. Should USD defeat the Trojans, they will advance to Saturday and play the winner of the sixth-ranked University of Hawaii and Belmont University in a 6 p.m. match.
LAST TIME OUT: Amy Mahinalani DeGroot's match-best 16 kills paced the 16th-ranked University of San Diego women's volleyball team to a 3-0 win over Yale University Tuesday evening in the season-finale at USD's Jenny Craig Pavilion. With the win, the Toreros finish the regular-season with a 23-4 overall record. With the loss, the Bulldogs fall to 19-5 overall. DeGroot recorded her 16 kills on 36 attempts, while only committing three attack errors to post a .361 attack percentage. DeGroot also recorded 11 digs to post a double-double. Andrea Csaszi recorded a match-best 14 digs and Jessica Nyrop recorded 29 assists in helping direct the USD offense to a .379 attack percentage.
THE POLLS: The Toreros have moved up one spot to No. 15 in the latest Bison/AVCA top-25 poll after sweeping Yale in the regular season-finale. USC checks in at No. 12 and Hawaii is ranked No. 6. Belmont is not ranked in any of the top-25 polls.
SCOUTING THE TROJANS: The Trojans are entering the NCAA Tournament with a 16-11 overall record after falling to UCLA this past week to conclude their regular-season. USC and the Toreros have met on five occasions with the Trojans winning all of them, including a 3-0 win on Sept. 6 in Los Angeles. Offensively, USC is led by freshman outside hitter Alex Jupiter, who has a team-best 329 kills (3.26 kps) and is hitting at a .198 clip. The floor leader for Southern California is junior setter Taylor Carico, who has 1,035 assists, while helping direct the Trojans offense to a .228 attack percentage.
SCOUTING THE RAINBOW WAHINE: Hawaii enters the NCAA Tournament with an overall record of 28-3 and are ranked No. 6 in the latest Bison/AVCA top-25 poll. Hawaii owns a 2-0 all-time record against the Toreros. Offensively, the Rainbow Wahine turn to Jamie Houston, who has a team-leading 398 kills (4.06 kps) and is hitting at a .257 clip. The floor leader for UH is Dani Mafua, who has 951 assists in helping direct the Rainbow Wahine offense to a .292 attack percentage.
SCOUTING THE BRUINS: Belmont enters the Tournament with an overall record of 25-7 and are champions of the A-Sun Conference. The Toreros and Bruins have never played each other in volleyball. Offensively, Belmont is led by Cat Mundy, who has a team-best 407 kills (3.45 kps) and is hitting at a .216 clip. The floor leader for the bruins is freshman setter Channing Salava, who has 1,182 assists, while helping direct the bruin offense to a .241 attack percentage.
THREE-PEAT COMPLETE: For the first time in program history, the University of San Diego volleyball team has won three consecutive West Coast Conference championships after sweeping both Loyola Marymount and Pepperdine this past week. San Diego has now won four of the last five conference championship, as they shared the crown last season with Santa Clara in 2007, won it outright in 2004 and 2006 and finished second in 2005.
TOREROS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: San Diego is making its 13th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and eighth consecutive trip. The Toreros are 9-12 all-time in the tournament and have advanced to the Sweet 16 in two of the last four years.
LIVE FREE VIDEO STREAM THIS WEEKEND: All of this weekends matches will have a live free video stream avaliable at usctrojans.com.
Amy Mahinalani DeGroot NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: San Diego junior outside hitter Amy Mahinalani DeGroot took home the West Coast Conference Player of the Year award after leading the Toreros to their third consecutive West Coast Conference championship, and the fourth in five years. DeGroot, a 6-1 junior from Frenchtown, Mont., takes home her second consecutive first-team honor after pacing the Torero offense with her team-leading 381 kills (4.28 kps) and was second on the team in digs with 220. DeGroot was also named the MVP of both the Aztec Invitational tournament and the USD Tournament. On the season, DeGroot won the conference's player of the week award three times, the most of any player this year.
FOUR TOREROS EARN ALL WCC HONORS: Four Toreros have earned All-West Coast Conference accolades this season. Joining Amy Mahinalani DeGroot on the first team honors were, senior setter Jessica Nyrop and sophomore right side Ali Troost. Junior libero Andrea Csaszi took home All-WCC honorable mention honors.
- Nyrop, a 5-11 senior from Harrison, Idaho, led the team with 967 assists on the season, and helped lead the USD offense to a .278 attack percentage, good for fifth best team attack percentage in the nation. Nyrop took home all-tournament honors at both the Aztec Invitational and USD Tournament and also earned one WCC Player of the Week award.
- Troost, a 6-2 sophomore from Hemet, Calif., was third on the team in kills with 208, while also hitting for an impressive .312 clip. Troost recorded 101 digs and had 38 blocks on the season.
- Csaszi, a 5-10 junior from Oceanside, Calif., led the Toreros with 375 digs (4.21 dps) and helped anchor down the Torero defense. She was named Libero of the Tournament for both the Aztec Invitational and USD Tournaments.
THE COACH: 10th-Year head 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 and 2008 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 eight complete seasons as head coach, Petrie has led San Diego to seven appearances in the NCAA Tournament (1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007 & 2008) with her 2004 team reaching the Sweet-16.
SWINGING FOR THE RECORD BOOKS: Sophomore middle hitter Ashton Basch had one of the best performances of her career in the win over Texas A&M on Sept. 13, as she recorded 12 kills, committed no errors on 15 swings and hit for a career-high .800 attack percentage, which places her third in the single-match attack percentage record book at USD. On the season, Basch is second on the team in kills with 227 and is hitting at a .263 clip.
TOREROS PICKED TO THREE-PEAT: San Diego has been selected as the preseason favorite to take home the 2008 West Coast Conference regular season title, narrowly edging out Pepperdine University and Santa Clara University, as voted on by the head coaches in the conference. The Toreros, who shared the 2007 WCC crown with Santa Clara, received three first place votes for a total of 56 points. This marks just the second time since the 2000 season that San Diego has been selected as the WCC preseason favorite. Following close behind the Toreros in the voting was Pepperdine, which totaled 55 points and also received three first place votes, and Santa Clara, which totaled 53 points and garnered one first place vote. Rounding out the top half of the poll is Saint Mary's College and the University of San Francisco, both of which tallied 34 points with the Gaels receiving the last first place vote. Loyola Marymount University was tabbed sixth with 29 points, followed by Gonzaga University with 18 points, and the University of Portland with 9 points. The Toreros return five starters and 11 letterwinners from last year's squad, including 2007 All-WCC first team member Amy Mahinalani DeGroot and All-WCC honorable mention selections Andrea Csaszi and Torey Ellick. DeGroot led the Toreros and ranked seventh in the conference with 3.99 kpg. San Diego also returns Jessica Nyrop and Kelsi Myers, both of whom saw significant time at setter last season. Nyrop (979) and Myers (547) combined for 1,526 of the Toreros' WCC-leading 1,693 assists last season.
SCORING CHANGE: A big change in collegiate volleyball this season will be the scoring change, from a 30-point game to a 25-point game. According to the NCAA rules committee, contests that were played to 30 points seemed to show a decrease in the intensity during the middle of those sets. The rules committee cited a desire to increase player focus and fan excitement as the major reason for the change. The fifth game still will be played to 15 points. All five games will still be played in a rally-scoring format.
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