A Senior Day win for volleyball

With a strong performance from their seniors, the Toreros cruise to 3-1 victory over Santa Clara

Eric Boose / Asst. Sports Editor / The USD Vista

First-year outside hitter Katie Lukes hammered down her 16th kill of the afternoon to end the fourth set and seal a 3-1 victory for the Toreros against the Santa Clara Broncos last Saturday. Lukes racked up a team-leading 19 points for the Toreros, who earned their 15th win of the season and their 12th in the West Coast Conference. 

Despite being heavy underdogs, with a 1-14 record in West Coast Conference (WCC) play going into the game,  the Broncos started strong in the first set, at one point leading 11-8. The Toreros finally pulled away from the visitors, scoring nine of the next 12 points to take a 17-14 lead. San Diego led from that point on and won the first set 25-20.

The second set began much like the first, with both teams trading points, and neither establishing a strong lead. The Toreros were hurt by some attacking mistakes, as net serves and errant attacks kept the Broncos close. The Toreros led 12-10 when senior Addie Picha slammed the ball down, bringing the crowd inside the Jenny Craig Pavilion to their feet. After the match, Picha said that moments like that had extra meaning for the team on Senior Day.

“If that happened in any other game, it would still be really exciting,” Picha said. “But you could just tell because it was Senior Day and you get kills like that, or make plays like that, or even my teammates get really big plays it’s just, that was for Senior Day, that was leaving your mark on the program, on the court, on the fans, everything.”

The Toreros took control of theAsecond set, with Picha slamming home two more emphatic kills, one of which set up game point for the Toreros. Fellow senior Lauren Fuller, whose entry into the game moments earlier was greeted with applause from fans and teammates, aced the serve for game point and the Toreros took the second set by a score of 25-19.

Coming into the third set, the Toreros looked primed to sweeten their Senior Day with a sweep over the Broncos. However, the visitors out-played San Diego in the third set, going up 3-0 early. The Broncos played the entire set without trailing, and despite the Toreros’ best efforts, they could not come within three points of Santa Clara and lost the set 25-18.

Before the fourth set, head coach Jennifer Petrie talked to her team about their mindset and competing in every set.

“We talked about the fact that you have to be 100 percent at the beginning of the game, you can’t sort of ease your way in,” Petrie said. “That’s what we did in the fourth game, we came out a lot stronger, had a lot more energy, a sense of urgency from the beginning instead of trying to get it going in the middle of the game.”

After the match, Picha noted that the team’s demeanor after the surprising third-set loss was different than normal.

“Usually after we drop sets like that to teams we shouldn’t, it’s sort of a tense feeling, and usually myself, I tend to get pretty worked up, but it was different, after that game it was really loose,” Picha said. “I told the team ‘I really appreciate everyone wanting to give us a fourth set and give us more time to play on our Senior Day, but we’re good here, this is it, one more set and we’re good.’ But it was really, everyone was really relaxed and it was a calm vibe.”

San Diego began the fourth set stronger than any other set, jumping out to a 7-3 lead. The Broncos fought back to come within one point, but Lukes registered a strong kill to set off a 9-3 scoring run for the Toreros. Picha led the team in the final stages of the set, the Toreros rallying around their seniors. Picha registered four consecutive points before Lukes’ kill won the fourth set, 25-19.

Despite dropping a set, coach Petrie was pleased with her team’s performance. 

“I thought that defensively we did a good job today,” Petrie said. “We had a lot of opportunities to take swings in the middle of rallies, our passers hung in there and created some opportunities, so it was nice to see them get to a point and then sort of surge forward.”

For Picha, the whole day was a wonderful finale to her career at USD, and the win was a wonderful way to cap it off.

“I mean, everyone dreams of winning, not only winning on their Senior Day, you just look forward to your Senior Day throughout the four years and you never think it’s going to come, and last night it was surreal, because it was like, it’s here, it’s tomorrow,” Picha said. “To win on Senior Day, I can’t explain how good of a feeling it is. I know they played extra hard, even though we dropped the third set, they played extra hard, and I know they wanted to get this win not only for me, but for all of our seniors, and it’s an incredible feeling.”

Picha and Fuller were honored before the game, along with seniors  Kaity Edwards and Ally Eylers. While the game was their last in the Jenny Craig Pavilion, the Torero seniors still have something to play for. Currently in second place in the West Coast Conference, the Toreros must win their final three games on the road to keep their hopes of playing in the NCAA Championship Tournament alive. Two of those games are against third-place Pepperdine and fourth-place St. Mary’s. Knowing what the team needs to do, Picha prefers the pressure.

“I would much rather be in a situation where you have to win than be in a situation where you’re not playing for anything,” Picha said. “It would be really easy for us to just kind of give up and not want to work hard in these matches coming up, but I would hate that. I would much rather be in a situation where you have to win this, you have to play for something, and I would much rather play for something than play for nothing.”

USD plays Pacific on the road in their next game, before paying visits to St. Mary’s and Pepperdine. None of the games will be televised or streamed, though live statistics and tweets will be available on the USD volleyball Twitter account and website. USD will discover their postseason fate on Sunday, Nov. 25, when the NCAA Tournament bracket will be announced at 5:30 p.m. The selection show will be televised on ESPNU.