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LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Virginia volleyball team opened its west coast swing Thursday evening by dropping a three-set match to No. 25 San Diego at Long Beach State’s Walter Pyramid. Set scores were 25-19, 25-20 and 27-25.

Eight Cavaliers tallied kills for Virginia (5-2), led by sophomore Jess O’Shoney, who knocked down 10, and junior Simone Asque, who tallied eight.

Defensively, senior AJ Cushman led the way with 14 digs, while freshman Emily Rottman contributed 11. At the net, O’Shoney had a match-high five blocks.

For San Diego (3-3), Amy Degroot and Ali Troost landed 10 kills each, while C’era Oliveira picked up a match-high 21 digs.

The Cavaliers opened the first set hanging with the Toreros. It wasn’t until a gradual 10-5 run midway through the frame that San Diego was able to take control of the contest. Ahead only one, at 11-10, the Toreros built their lead to 21-15 before back-to-back kills from Troost secured the 25-19 set win for San Diego.

Behind kills and a double block from Asque and O’Shoney, the Cavaliers scored the first four points of the second stanza and then increased their lead to 8-2 before San Diego came storming back. From there, the Toreros scored 12 of the next 16 points to take their first lead of the game, 14-12. The rally wasn’t enough to quiet the Cavaliers, though. Virginia worked to regain a brief lead, at 18-16, but San Diego eventually knotted the score at 20 and went on to win the next five points to take the set, 25-20.

The third frame came down to the wire, as the Cavaliers forced extra points on their nationally ranked opponent. With the score tied at 16 all, the Toreros pulled ahead 20-17, forcing Virginia to call a timeout. The Cavaliers built some momentum following the short break and cut San Diego’s lead to one, at 23-22, forcing the Toreros to call a timeout of their own. A kill from Asque knotted the score at 23, before a kill and an attack error by San Diego forced extra points. The squads again traded serves to keep the score even, but the Cavaliers committed a service error and the Toreros landed a kill, giving San Diego the win, 27-25.

Virginia will return to action tomorrow, heading to Los Angeles to face No. 8 Southern California. Opening serve is slated for 10 p.m. ET.

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