SAN DIEGO – USD volleyball head coach Jennifer Petrie calls November ‘Gratitude Month,’ a new team tradition where players decorate a tree outside the coaches’ office with what they’re grateful for.
On Saturday, the Toreros might have been collectively grateful to escape the Jenny Craig Pavilion with a win.
After going down two sets to one to the St. Mary’s Gaels, the Toreros held their breath and fended off a match point in the fourth set to win in five, 22-25, 25-20, 19-25, 27-25, 15-5.
The Gaels (8-14, 6-5 WCC) came into Saturday’s matchup brimming with confidence. St. Mary’s had won six straight and were looking to avenge an Oct. 2 sweep by the frontrunner Toreros (19-4, 12-0 WCC). The Gaels also had an exuberant fan base, likely helped by a roster featuring 10 Californians, including one, Amanda Prior, from San Diego, and another, Miley Thunstrum, from nearby Murrieta.
The Toreros entered Saturday riding an eleven-match win streak, including back-to-back sweeps, and all the pressure to keep it rolling.
In other words, the setup was ripe for an upset, and it nearly happened.
“It was certainly a battle. Kudos to St Mary’s for getting better all season long. They’re playing good volleyball now,” said Petrie. “I was just really proud of our girls for being able to weather that storm, because (St. Mary’s) came out guns blazing, and they put us on our heels. We had to make some adjustments, they took some people out of their game and out of our rhythm, but we were able to sustain in the long haul.”
The teams split the first two sets, staying close in both until the end. In the first, USD led 20-19 and were tied at 21-21 when the Gaels went on a 4-1 run to close out the set. In the second, the teams were tied at 17 when USD went on a 5-1 run to go up 23-18. They won the set 25-20 on a block by Kennedy Osunsanmi and BayLea Sparks.
The Gaels took an 11-10 lead midway through the third and never relinquished it, winning 25-19 on a Gaels serve that dribbled over the net for an ace. The Toreros were now down two sets to one.
The fourth set was especially intense. The Toreros were up 23-20 and appeared ready to force a fifth when the Gaels won three straight. USD had set point after a dink kill by freshman Ava Durgan, only for St. Mary’s Thunstrom to earn a kill of her own.
The Gaels later had a set and match point at 25-24, but the Toreros tied it with a Gaels attack error. USD won the next two points to squeak out the set, 27-25. Breathe.
“Our message is always just to stay in the present. You can’t think about the past points. You can’t think about what’s going to happen in the future. You just have to be able to think about, ‘What do I need to do right now?’” said Petrie. “They had to rest hard on that when we were down in game four. … it’s not about the score anymore. ‘Let’s just execute this point, one point, this one point.’”
The Toreros finally had an uncomplicated set, leading the fifth from start to finish. They stretched their 6-4 lead to 11-4. At 13-5, Reese Bates served up a dribbled-over-the-net turnabout-is-fair-play ace to set up match point. The Toreros won out 15-5.
Isabel Clark, Beach, Kali Engeman, and Durgan all turned in double-digit kills, while setter Kylie Munday contributed 51 assists.
“Kylie is the one that makes us go and made some good decisions and put people in good positions and steadied them,” said Petrie.
Munday also contributed 12 digs, three aces, four block assists, and two kills.
St. Mary’s was especially prepared for USD’s kills leader Nemo Beach. They doubled up on her attack.
“Every time we got into a timeout, I would talk to our bench to see, ‘Hey, what did you see or what is something I can do differently?’” said Beach. “Then I started working on putting balls where they weren’t and getting them on their bellies or getting them out of system so we can trap their pins. When that started working, I was able to go down the line or hit the seam.”
“Nemo does a really graceful job of carrying a heavy load for our team,” said middle blocker Engeman. “She never complains about having to do more, having to find a new shot, because they’re doubling up on her. She is just so powerful and smart.”
Notable
USD alum Jennifer Wrightson Baklenko was recognized as a 2025 USD Hall of Fame Inductee. Playing for USD from 1992-1994, she was named to the All-West Coast Conference First Team three seasons, and in 1994 was the WCC Player of the Year. She had 1,151 kills, 863 digs, and 118 aces, and led USD to the 1993 NCAA Tournament and a 66-30 career record.
One move successfully executed by Engeman during the match was the slide, a set play where the player runs behind the setter and makes the attack on the run, off of one foot. The movement means the blockers have to move, too, and so don’t have as much time to set up defensively. “It’s something that she takes a lot of pride in,” said Petrie. “And her and Kylie have worked really hard on creating that connection, and have a lot of confidence in it.”
The Four Pillars of the USD Volleyball program are GPAS: Get on board, Always Compete, Protect the team, and Stay brave.
Engeman’s gratitude? “I am really grateful for this team. I’m new here. This is my first season, and everyone has welcomed me with really open arms, and I feel like we’ve all connected and bonded, which doesn’t happen everywhere.”
Beach’s gratitude? “My coach, Jennifer Petrie. She’s really helped me push through my tough storms and whatnot. I’m really grateful for her, and just really grateful for this team and how much we have bonded over this season.”
For those who have never watched volleyball live (and if you haven’t, what are you waiting for?), one of the components is the organized cheering from the bench players. Each team has specific situational cheers and choreographed moves. For example, one may be for a “side out,” and another may be dancing in a circle after an ace, as the Gaels did on Saturday.
The Toreros have their longest win streak (12) since 2022 when the team won an extraordinary 28 straight and made it to the NCAA Final Four.