USC women’s volleyball clawed back from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Utah (16-25, 25-17, 18-25, 25-16, 15-6) Friday night at the Galen Center.
Senior outside hitter Skylar Fields was effective throughout, but it was the rest of the Trojan attack that stepped up in the final two sets to propel the Trojans to victory. Fields ended the game with 19 kills — Tyrah Ariail was second with nine — but the rest of the team only collected four and six kills in the two sets it lost compared to eight, nine and ten in the three it won.
“I feel like everything went wrong in the beginning,” USC head coach Brad Keller said. “But I also thought Utah played really well.”
The Utes put the Trojans on their heels early, getting multiple blockers up for almost every kill attempt, while USC struggled to challenge Utah’s offense.
“I thought they were like three steps ahead of us for the first set. I thought we were able to get back and then they jumped on us again in the third set,” Keller said.
The Trojans hit just .026 and .032 in the first and third sets. Fields was the only real source of offense early on, accounting for more than 40% of USC’s kills through three sets.
But, with USC staring down a first home defeat of the season, a switch flipped for the Trojans. USC upped both its intensity and focus, according to Keller, getting more blockers up defensively and finding more space for its many outside hitters, not just Fields.
Junior outside hitter Katelyn Smith came alive, notching all six of her kills in the final two sets, while Ariail earned four of her nine kills in the deciding set. Overall, the Trojans hit .344 in the fourth set and a whopping .750 in the fifth.
“We trust everybody,” Fields said of her teammates. “When they [make big plays], we’re expecting it, so it’s super fun to have everybody step up and rise to the occasion.”
Back-to-back Pac-12 Freshman of the Week London Wijay was unavailable against Utah due to injury, leading to the first start of the season for sophomore outside hitter Dani Thomas-Nathan. The Burbank native had five kills but led the team with eight errors on the night. Her nine digs and two aces were indicative of the all-around type of player she is, according to Keller.
“I started her because of her ball control. I thought we needed the ball control to loosen up our other attackers. And I thought she did that,” Keller said.
The Trojans will bring their eight-game winning streak and perfect home record into a matchup with Colorado on Sunday, Oct. 1 at 1 p.m. at Galen Center before embarking on a four-game road trip.
Keller and Fields each mentioned the support from the Galen crowd being key to the Trojans’ success.
“I think you’ve got a lot of fans that really care about this team and these kids, and I think that’s fantastic. But we need more people in the stands,” said Keller.