Over the weekend, the No. 13 USC men’s volleyball team traveled to Austin, Texas to take part in the First Point Collegiate Challenge. The Trojans split their two matches in the Lone Star State, defeating No. 14 Ball State on Friday before a close loss to No. 4 Ohio State on Saturday.
Against Ball State on Friday, the Trojans dropped the first set 25-21. However, they responded by winning the next three sets 25-23, 25-19 and 25-21, respectively, to take the match by a final score of three sets to one.
Freshman middle blocker Wes Smith led USC with 13 kills, while sophomore outside hitter Dillon Klein had 11 of his own. Freshman setter Caleb Blanchette added 38 assists.
On Saturday against Ohio State, it looked early on like the Trojans were going to get run out of the building, as they dropped the first two sets against the Buckeyes by scores of 25-20 and 25-21. However, USC did not roll over, fighting back to take the next two sets 25-20 and 25-18. Ultimately, the comeback attempt came up just short, as Ohio State won the decisive fifth set 15-12 to take the match by a score of three sets to two.
Redshirt junior opposite hitter Jack Deuchar led the Trojans with 14 kills against Ohio State, while Klein and Smith added 12 and 10, respectively. Blanchette once again led the team with 39 assists.
Despite the defeat, head coach Jeff Nygaard was proud of his team for the way that they fought back after going down early in the match.
“Guys showed a lot of grit,” Nygaard said. “We kept getting better and better throughout. At least in game three and game four, we put together an amazing stretch of volleyball.”
As for the reason that his team ultimately came up just short, Nygaard attributed it to execution.
“We gave ourselves opportunities to close out the match, and we just didn’t get one or two points here and there,” Nygaard said. “That was the difference.”
Nygaard was also proud of his team for the way that they conducted themselves off the court during the road trip.
“They were professionals through and through,” Nygaard said. “We’ve been highly organized, they’re highly responsive, they moved as a herd, they dressed as a herd, they did everything together.”
“They’re a tight-knit group. We’ve got an amazing volleyball culture.”
The Trojans now return home to Galen Center for matches against CSUN on Wednesday and Central State on Thursday. First serve for both matches is set for 7:00 p.m. PST.