Thursday night’s Crosstown Showdown at Galen Center was a battle of fresh talent against veteran experience.
On one hand, No. 4 UCLA is the reigning NCAA champion and returned most of its top contributors from last year’s squad. On the other side, USC’s four NCAA titles in program history can’t compete with the Bruins’ 20, but the No. 11 Trojans appear to be headed in the right direction. USC entered 2024 with the best recruiting class in the nation, according to VolleyballMag.com, in addition to the No. 1 player in the freshman class, middle blocker Wesley Smith.
But the Bruins’ proven pedigree was more than enough to take down their upcoming rivals, as UCLA (13-4, 4-1 MPSF) swept USC (10-7, 2-3 MPSF): 25-20, 25-10, 25-14. In fact, although the score appears lopsided, it seemed that the Bruins’ mental advantage was the deciding factor.
“The biggest thing is that our attitude and effort needed to change,” USC redshirt junior opposite hitter Jack Deuchar said. “We executed on our game plan, but the attitude and effort were not there tonight.”
Early in the first set, USC responded to a 6-1 UCLA run to keep things close throughout the remainder of the frame. Though the visitors still held a narrow lead, the young Trojan squad didn’t appear to be significantly outmatched. Trailing just 22-20, USC still looked like it could potentially steal the opening set as the Bruins called a timeout.
But that was the closest the match ever got.
Three straight points out of that timeout clinched the first set for UCLA, and perhaps just as importantly, established momentum against the home crowd on Figueroa Street. And USC never found a way to swing it in the other direction.
“We started pretty good,” USC head coach Jeff Nygaard said. “They made a number of really high-level plays. We didn’t recover.”
“We were thinking three, four points in the past. It just snowballed from there, and we couldn’t get out of our own way,” Deuchar added.
In what ended up being a bloodbath of a second set, UCLA outhit USC by a ridiculous .824 to -.111 margin, as the Trojans committed more errors than kills. Add on a near-perfect 10-for-11 on sideouts — USC couldn’t get in any kind of rhythm.
In particular, USC’s leading scorer, sophomore outside hitter Dillon Klein, had nothing going on offense. Klein entered the night hitting .345 and averaging over 3.5 kills per set, but he managed just four kills and five errors on 22 total attacks against a stout UCLA defense.
Across the net, the Bruins had five starters with at least six kills apiece, and each of them hit at least .400. In the end, UCLA had 39 kills to just seven errors, while USC managed only a 21-to-17 ratio.
The third set wasn’t quite as one-sided, but UCLA kept a firm grasp on the match — a sweep felt like a foregone conclusion from the start of the final frame. Nygaard, once a two-time NCAA title winner in Westwood himself, pointed out the Bruins’ depth, physicality and experience as reasons for their dominance.
“They’ve been at a high level for quite some time,” Nygaard said. “In the sense of iron sharpening iron, their daily practices are probably pretty grinding.”
So, Nygaard has a clear benchmark across Los Angeles demonstrating where he wants his talented, but youthful, Trojan program to reach.
But in the meantime, USC needs a mental reset ahead of another matchup with the Bruins on Saturday.
“Will the game plan be the same? Probably not. We’ll probably make some tweaks,” Nygaard said. “I think it’s got a lot more to do with our mentality than this chess piece or that chess piece.”
First serve for the second half of this home-and-home crosstown series is set for 5 p.m. on Saturday, this time over at Pauley Pavilion.