USD Volleyball 2008

TOREROS GUNNING FOR THIRD STRAIGHT WCC ,CHAMPIONSHIP The University of San Diego is coming off

their second consecutive West Coast Confer– ence Championship and third WCC crown in the past four years and head coach Jennifer Petrie has the Toreros focused on not only winning their third consecutive WCC champi– onship, but also advancing into the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. The women's volleyball program has estab– lished itself as one of the premiere programs in the country over the past 15 years as they have made seven consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and 12 trips in the last 13 years. This season, USO will use its experienced vet– eran laden roster along with several new key additions to propel themselves past the Sweet- 16 and into the Elite Eight. "This season, we will be looking to surpass what we have done in the past," stated head coach Jennifer Petrie. "We want to get back to lJJ the Sweet-16 and get past that and into the 6 Elite Eight. We have a returning squad that was pretty young last year, so they are really eager to out perform last year." One of the key components to this season will be the play of fifth -year senior Jessica Ny- rop, who got great experience playing for the USA A2 national team over the summer. Nyrop set a single-season record for assists in USD's run to the Sweet-16 in 2006 with 1,546. In 2007, Nyrop split time with Kelsi Myers as USO was running a 6-2 offense and recorded a team– leading 979 assists while helping lead the team to a .245 attack percentage. Backing up Nyrop will be the return of sophomore setter Kelsi Myers. In her rookie campaign, Myers got a lot of valuable time on the court in the 6-2 offense USO ran. In 2007, Myers recorded 547 assists while helping direct the Torero offense to a .245 attack percentage. Leading the Toreros offensive attack this season will be the return of AII-WCC first-team honoree, outside hitter Amy Mahinalani De– Groot. DeGroot had a break-out season as a sophomore in which she led the team in kills with 443 (3.99 kpg) and was second on the team in digs with 303. "Amy will be an All-American Candidate this year for sure. She is just an exceptional ath– lete and has the ability to be a go-to hitter for us," stated Petrie. Along with DeGroot on the outside will be senior Jaimarie Sutherland. In 2007, Suther-

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land also came into her own, as she became a go-to type of hitter for the Toreros. She re– corded 191 kills as a junior in 78 games played. Sutherland had several key performances of over 20 kills and the coaching staff is expecting big things from her final season. In the middle, the Toreros will turn to junior Torey Ellick to fill the shoes of the departed Laurel Abrahamson. Ellick also came into her own as a sophomore as she saw extended play– ing time this past season. In 2007, Ellick was fourth on the team in kills with 211, was second on the team with a .344 attack percentage and second on the team with 97 blocks, 26 of which were solo. Sophomore Ashton Basch is also expected to see time on the court as well in the middle along with Ellick. Basch saw limited time on the court in 2007 due to injury, but she is healthy and the coaching staff is expecting her to be a very big contributor this season. Coming out of high school, Basch was a top-50 recruit accord– ing to Volleyball Magazine. Also returning for the Toreros in the middle is sophomore Colleen Carlson. Carlson saw limited time on the court as a freshman and is expected to miss the 2008 season with an in– jury. Two new faces to the Toreros who could also see time on the court as amiddle hitter are fresh-