Much to the approval of the rowdy Trojan fans inside Galen Center Saturday night, the USC women’s volleyball team swept Cal State Northridge to close out the weekend’s Trojan Invitational 2-1. The Trojans were led by outstanding performances from graduate outside hitter Brooke Botkin and junior opposite hitter Emilia Weske, who finished with 14 and 10 kills, respectively.
Botkin also recorded one ace and six digs while senior setter Raquel Lázaro accumulated 21 assists. After dropping their first match of the weekend against Denver 3-2, the Trojans came roaring back with two wins in a row. They’ve now won six consecutive sets to sweep their last two contests.
“There’s been a lot of growth and a lot of learning that’s gone on on our side of the court,” USC head coach Brad Keller said after Saturday night’s game. “Is it perfect? No, but I’m always amazed and I don’t tell [the team] enough how much I appreciate them and their learning curve and their effort. I thought the bench was super engaged as well, and it was a great vibe tonight for us on our side of the court regardless of score.”
Weske, who recorded a career-high 19 kills Friday, elaborated on her thoughts about the weekend in the postgame press conference on Saturday.
“We worked really hard for the past weeks in practice and going out of the tournament with two wins and one loss is good,” Weske said. “We can be proud of ourselves for now, but we also see that we can really improve moving forward and we have to keep working hard. We are just getting started.”
Weske’s sentiment about the team’s hard work definitely showed with Botkin, who was on fire all throughout Saturday night’s game. She even spiked a point on the same rally she served during the third set.
Despite her success, Botkin knows that there is room to improve, and that progress will take time given the offseason roster changes.
“I think we learned a lot this weekend. This is our first weekend back after last year. We have a lot of new faces on the team, new players, that add a lot of talent to the team,” Botkin said. “Incorporating them in [and] playing with them this first time was super important, so I’m glad we had a weekend like this where we could grow and learn and take all of the things we learned into our season.”
After CSUN started out the first set strong, leading 10-4 at one point, the Trojans called a timeout and the momentum shifted. Sophomore outside hitter Taylor Orshoff led the way for the Matadors with nine kills, but she made seven errors, and the Matadors were never able to maintain enough of a push to overcome the overwhelming Trojan attack.
Weske elaborated on how that timeout and this weekend at large allowed USC to gain confidence and get rid of the initial nervousness that comes with starting a new season.
“The first couple of plays in the match, we have to start off stronger,” Weske said. “Taking that timeout and really getting back together and getting back to focusing on the next task and the next really helped us to get our minds right and just keep playing our game.”
Freshman setter Mia Tuaniga displayed power on her serves and dished out 12 assists, developing a connection with Botkin as the weekend went on. Botkin gave a high-energy fist-pump celebration after spiking a shot in the final set Saturday on an assist from Tuaniga to put the Trojans three points away from victory.
“I hadn’t been connecting with [Tuaniga] as well as I’d like to,” Botkin said. “I’ve been trying to get that connection down, so right in that moment I felt like that was the perfect set that she gave me. We were connected.”
Keller said the Trojans learned a lot of lessons this weekend that will set them up for success this season.
“We didn’t set the world on fire this weekend, but that’s not the goal,” he said. “The goal is to grow.”
The Trojans will go on to face Northern Iowa and Creighton in Lexington, Ky., Friday at 7:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.