USD Athletics Roundup: Volleyball Stuns Stanford, Ranked 18th

USD Athletics Roundup: Volleyball Stuns Stanford, Ranked 18th

USD Women's Volleyball vs. Stanford

The women’s volleyball season is only two matches in and already the team has a win over a Top 10-ranked program and is now ranked 18th nationally in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll.

The Toreros rallied from an 0-2 games deficit to defeat host Stanford, then ranked 11th in the nation, in five games, 22-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-21, 15-11 at the Cardinal’s Maples Pavilion on Aug. 26. It was USD’s first-ever win against Stanford and it was the Cardinal’s first season-opening loss since 2008. Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Fuller (pictured above) had a career-high 20 kills and added 10 digs and Jayden Kennedy had 13 kills to lead the Toreros.

The win was huge for USD. Even though the Toreros fell 3-1 the next day to then No. 3 Minnesota — USD’s lone win in the four-game match was 31-29 in the third game — they went from unranked to 18th in the Aug. 29 AVCA poll. Stanford actually improved to ninth and Minnesota dropped to sixth in the same poll following a head-to-head match on Aug. 28, won in four games by Stanford.

The Toreros look to build on last weekend’s experience and prepare for another road trip, this time to Madison, Wisc., to face host and No. 2 Wisconsin on Friday, Sept. 2 in a 5 p.m. (Pacific time) match. On Saturday, USD faces Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 2 p.m., also in Madison.

Football, Cross-Country Have Season Openings Sept. 3

The USD fall sports season is underway for volleyball, men and women’s soccer. Finally, on Saturday, Sept. 3, the Toreros’ men and women’s cross-country teams and the football team will complete the season-opening parade.

The football team opens the 2016 season in a 6 p.m. game against nonconference foe Western New Mexico in Torero Stadium. USD, which is 27-2 in home games over the last five seasons, is 5-0 lifetime against WNM, all games taking place at USD’s field.

Fourth-year head coach Dale Lindsey’s team has been chosen as the 2016 Pioneer Football League title favorite in a preseason coaches’ poll. USD went 9-2 overall last year and finished 7-1 in the PFL to claim a share of the title with Dayton. USD has won or shared the PFL title four of the last five seasons.

The cross-country teams are in Brea, Calif., on Saturday to open the year in the Mark Covert Classic at Carbon Canyon Regional Park. The first race starts at 8:15 a.m. This is both USD teams’ lone race until Sept. 17 when they'll host the USD Invitational at Mission Bay. The latter doubles as a West Coast Conference preview meet because the Toreros are hosting the WCC Championships Oct. 28 in Mission Bay.

Men, Women’s Soccer are Road-Tested Teams

The men’s soccer team went 1-0-1 in a pair of games at North Carolina’s Duke University this past weekend.

The men played Duke to a 1-1 draw in its season-opening match on Aug. 26, though USD was up 1-0 with less than a minute to play when the Blue Devils scored to send it to extra time. The Toreros’ lone goal was scored in the 70th minute on a header by Merlin Hoeckendorff which was set up by a Leon Mueller-Wiesen free kick.

USD returned to Duke on Aug. 28 and came away with a 2-1 win over Elon (N.C.) University. This time, Elon scored in the 12th minute, but USD rallied on goals by Michael Turner in the 30th minute to tie it and then Miguel Berry, off a nice pass by Djordje Babic, tallied the game-winner in the 59th minute.

The men return to action on Friday, Sept. 2, when they travel to UC Santa Barbara for a 7 p.m. game. The men’s soccer home opener is Sept. 9 against UC Davis.

The women’s soccer team dropped its lone match last week at Utah, a 3-0 setback in a game they were outshot 20-4. Ada Greenwood’s team fell to 1-2-0 on the season. The team looks to rebound with a three-game homestand, its first regular-season home games of the year, beginning at 7 p.m. this Friday against San Diego State. USD hosts Cal State Northridge on Sept. 4 at 5 p.m. and then DePaul at 7 p.m. on Sept. 8.

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