Volleyball

USC women’s volleyball finishes one and one after this weekend

USC defeated the Washington State Cougars on Friday night, but fell to the Washington Huskies Sunday afternoon.

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The University of Southern California Women's Volleyball team plays the University of Denver Pioneers on August 27, 2021, at the Galen Center, Los Angeles, CA. The Trojans would fall to the Pioneers 2-3. (Photo by Yannick Peterhans).
By Nicholas Martinez

The Trojans defeated Washington State in four sets to garner an eight-match Cougar winning streak on Friday night.

USC has a 52-17 all-time record against Washington State, but a two-match losing streak to the Cougars. They did not play last season  due to the pandemic.

Graduate outside hitter Brooke Botkin led the Trojan attack with a team-high 15 kills, four blocks and a service ace to go with nine digs.

USC led early in the opening set but needed to fight through seven ties to get the job done. They ended the first set with a 7-3 run, winning 25-21,four kills from junior opposite Emilia Weske and three from Botkin.

The second set looked very familiar—the Trojans broke the ninth tie to push ahead 14-13. Freshman middle blocker Tyrah Ariail claimed four of her kills during this set and three blocks for the Trojans giving them a 2-0 lead in the match.

USC was set to sweep WSU, but the Cougars had other plans. The Cougars overcame a 21-17 deficit with a 7-1 run to win 25-22. USC’s numerous errors helped hand WSU the third set without much of a challenge.

The teams traded points, but USC began to pull ahead with a kill from Botkin, bringing the score to 15-14. The Trojans played phenomenally late in the fourth set and got themselves a seven-point lead at 22-15 and, unlike the third set, were able to beat the Cougars.

In a tough battle with the Huskies on Sunday, USC was unable to come out on top. Botkin led the way with 17 kills and Weske added 10. .

USC managed to keep up with the Huskies throughout the first set and had a 7-2 run to lead 20-15. Botkin captured seven kills and a service ace in the first to lead USC to get the 25-22 win.

Washington came out with guns blazing in the second behind three aces from Powell, but USC went ahead by as many as three points—13-10— before the Huskies came back to grab the 25-20 victory.

The Huskies started the third set ready to play. They took a nine-point lead and never looked back closing out the set with a 25-13 win. USC tried to keep up as they collected nine kills, but Washington closed the set with .625 hitting rating.

Washington took control of the fourth set and allowed the Trojans to only get as close as one point before the Huskies put the pedal to the metal and closed out the set with a 25-19 victory.

USC will take on Utah and Colorado this weekend at the Galen Center. They will host UtahFriday at 7 p.m. and Colorado Sunday at 1 p.m.

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