Los Angeles – The University of Southern California men's volleyball team (11-8), ranked 12th in the rankings, defeated No. 9 Penn State (12-5) in four sets in the first match (25-22, 25-19, 15-25, 25). vs. 23). Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge game on Wednesday, March 6th at the Galen Center Pavilion. The win was the 100th career victory for the ninth-year Trojans head coach. Jeff Nygard.
major players
- Red Shirt Junior OPP jack ducher She reached double digits in her 11th game with 14 kills, and added two digs and one block.
- Father Setter Caleb Blanchett He dished out 40 assists and led the Trojans to a .238 batting average with five digs and a team-high three service aces.
- So.oh Riley Hayne It was her seventh time reaching double digits, and she had 11 kills (2e, 21att) for a .429 batting average while adding four digs and three blocks.
- So.oh Dillon Klein She had 13 kills, marking the 34th double-digit kill mark of her career. He also had two blocks (one solo), nine digs and one ace, and finished with a team-high 15.5 points.
- Senior MB Kyle Paulson She hit .375 with five kills, three blocks, three digs, and one ace.
- Father MB wesley smith By one block, he was hitting .500 and had five kills.
- junior ribs austin steward He had seven digs with three assists.
- For the Nittany Lions, John Kerr led the way with 21 kills (6e, 37att, .405) and had two blocks and four digs. Toby Ezeonu hit .375 with seven kills, three blocks and three digs, including a match-high four aces.
how did it happen
- USC had more kills than the Lions (48-39) and had a 30-23 edge in digs. Penn State finished with an advantage in blocks (6.0-5.5) and aces (7-6), hitting .250 over USC's .238.
- The Trojans piled up 16 kills and hit .290 to beat the Lions' .280 batting average and 10 kills, winning the first set 25-22. USC led by as many as six points, with Klein and Ducher accounting for the majority of the attack with five kills each. Blanchett had 14 assists and hit two aces in the opening frame to help the Trojans win.
- Klein, Ducher and Haine each had five kills as the Trojans hit .440 for a 25-19 win and a 2-0 lead in the second set. Blanchett also had 13 assists and helped USC beat Penn State 7-3, holding the Lions to a .143 batting average.
- Penn State took the third set 25-15. The Lions collected nine kills and hit .261, topping the Trojans' minus .087 percentage. Deucher had three kills, but eight hitting errors prevented USC from gaining any momentum in a set that PSU ran away with.
- In the fourth set, both teams went back and forth until the score was tied at 12, but the Trojans made the last of three lead changes to win 25-23. Hayne had four kills and Klein had two kills and led the Trojan defense with three digs. Blanchett got his third ace and the Trojans held off a late charge by the Lions to seal the victory.
next
- The Trojans will host two games Friday (March 8) at Galen Center Pavilion as part of the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge. The first game of the day will see No. 4 UCLA take on Penn State at 4 p.m. Pacific time, followed by No. 4 USC and No. 8 Ohio State (14-4) at 7 p.m. . Both games will be broadcast live on the USC Live Stream platform.
match notes
- USC improved to 21-12 overall against Penn State.
- The Trojans ended their season losing streak at four.
- USC picked up its fourth win this season against an opponent ranked in the AVCA Top 20.
For more information about the USC men's volleyball team, complete schedule and results, visit USCTrojans.com/MVB. Trojans fans can follow @USCmensvolley on Twitter and Instagram.
