USC women’s volleyball is on a hot streak.
The Trojans are winners of five straight and have beaten every single unranked team they have played.
Three of those matchups came this past week, playing host for the Trojans/Lions Invitational. USC was able to overcome multiple slow starts and near blown leads.
Here are Annenberg Media’s recaps of the Trojans’ matchups against UC San Diego and Loyola Marymount. USC also beat the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in four sets (25-21, 25-18, 25-27, 25-20) Friday night, sandwiched in between the Trojans’ matchups against their fellow SoCal teams.
USC women’s volleyball defeats the LMU Lions despite blowing a 2-0 lead
By: Brooke Lordino
In the second edition of a tournament co-hosted by LMU and USC, No. 21 USC women’s volleyball defeated the unranked Loyola Marymount Lions in five sets (26-24, 28-26, 18-25, 33-35, 15-10).
The five-set thriller was a battle for both teams, with multiple sets going over the 25-point mark. However, USC was able to come back from losing its 2-0 lead and get the win over the Lions.
“In the last set we really talked about no room,” graduate outside hitter Ally Batenhorst said. “Not giving them any space to come back at all.”
It was no easy first set for either team as points went back and forth as the score was tied a whopping 12 times in the opening frame.
The Lions gained momentum early on with their serving pressure, catching USC’s offense off guard. LMU freshman setter Delfina Schuh and senior setter Mia Schafer each notched a service ace against the Trojans, giving the Lions a steady 15-11 lead.
“We were prepared, but not quite to that speed, and I thought we just hung in there long enough to get some rhythm at the very very end,” said head coach Brad Keller.
The Trojans, however, soon found their groove as Batenhorst got hot with three kills, hitting 60.0%. USC steadily took back control of the set and worked its way back to a tie at 20-20.
While the Lions outnumbered the Trojans in kills 15-12, USC took the first set 26-24 with a solid .233 hitting percentage to LMU’s close .200.
A similar trend continued in the second set as both teams kept the score tight. Leading the offensive charge was LMU graduate outside hitter Paige Flickinger, who had no problem finding the empty court on USC’s side. She kept her team neck and neck with the Trojans for a while, but USC took the set to a thrilling 28-26 final to take a steady two-set lead.
The energy quickly changed in the third set in favor of the Lions. Blocking pressure from sophomore middle blocker Kaitlyn Evans quickly gave LMU an 18-12 lead. The Lions finished the set with four total blocks, completely shutting down USC’s offense.
USC managed to cut the deficit by a couple of points behind senior setter Mia Tuaniga. She led the Trojan offense with nine assists, almost single-handedly out-assisting the Lions for the set, but LMU’s blocking was too much to handle. The Lions extended the match, winning set three 25-18.
Although USC came back firing in the fourth set 12-7, the Lions’ dominant front row formed wall after wall, tying it up at 13-13. Not too long after, LMU went on a four-point scoring run on the Trojans.
The end of the fourth was a nail biter, going well past the 24-24 point deuce once again. Each team continued to go back and forth, holding the audience on the edge of their seats. After many long rallies, the set finally ended with a block from LMU at 35-33. The match was tied 2-2.
LMU’s momentum was short-lived in the fifth set as USC was able to fight back after losing two straight sets to the Lions. With Batenhorst having the hot hand on the outside pin, she ended the 15-point fifth set to secure the win for the Trojans.
Keller pointed out Batenhorst’s improvement this season and how it has been a key factor for USC’s success.
“At Nebraska she was averaging .165 as a hitter,” Keller said. “She’s averaging way over .200 for us so that shows you the growth of Ally right now and what she’s doing.”
Trojan volleyball tops Tritons to sweep Trojans/Lions Invitational
By: Sean Campbell
USC women’s volleyball took down the UC San Diego Tritons 3-1 (30-32, 25-20, 25-19, 25-11), in the final matchup of the Trojans/LMU Lions Invitational on Saturday night at Galen Center.
The win improves the Trojans to 8-2 and drops UC San Diego to 6-5.
Coming off of four straight victories — including wins against LMU and UNLV during the tournament — the Trojans were looking to handle business against the visiting Tritons.
After dropping its first two games of the invitational against the Lions and Rebels, UC San Diego –– in its first all-time meeting with USC –– was looking for a good start out of the gates.
But it was the Trojans who went up 8-2 in the opening frame, thanks to strong front-line play and two kills each from graduate outside hitter Ally Batenhorst and junior middle blocker Rylie McGinest.
Then, a Triton timeout squashed any momentum USC had.
With help from a few USC defensive mistakes, San Diego embarked on a 6-1 run to bring the set within one, and it wouldn’t get much further apart.
After a Trojan offensive error tied the game at 20, the Tritons took their first lead of the game, 21-20, off a kill.
For the next 19 points, the team’s would trade blows, neither team able to secure a two-point lead that would win the set.
Twice, when the Trojans had a chance to take the set –– up 24-23 and then 30-29 –– a service error let the Tritons off the hook. The visitors didn’t waste the opportunity, taking two consecutive points to win the elongated set, 32-30.
“After the first set, I don’t remember much because we had to get our s**t together really fast,” senior setter Mia Tuaniga said postgame. “All we did was say look, alright, whatever we put out there in the first set, we know that is not us, and we know that is not the standard we want to play at.”
Out of the break, USC was looking to front a comeback. A service ace from Tuaniga and the fourth of Batenhorst’s 17 kills on the night gave the Trojans an advantage they would not relinquish.
More kills from Batenhorst and freshman outside hitter Jadyn Livings helped the Trojans take a healthy 18-12 lead, but the Tritons began to fight back, closing the gap to two points at 21-19.
Batenhorst didn’t like that very much.
Three kills over the next four points from the Nebraska transfer put the Trojans within a point of evening the match at one set apiece. Livings and McGinest did just that on an assisted block one play later, one of five blocks for both.
Despite going down 6-3 early in the third set, the Trojans battled back and cruised to a set victory.
The usual suspects, Batenhorst and Livings, led the way for USC yet again, adding seven and three slams to their tallies respectively. Livings ended her night with 13 kills, notching double-digit kills in four straight matches.
Redshirt freshman middle blocker Leah Ford and McGinest, both not typical starters for the Trojans, added to their strong performances with multiple kills each in the set.
“I am very proud of them,” Tuaniga said. “They very much stepped into this new role … and they [had] fantastic hitting high percentages, always being up, coming in there and being a leader.”
On the defensive end, graduate outside hitter Grae Gosnell stepped in as libero — with junior libero Gala Trubint missing her second straight game — finishing her night with a stellar 20 digs, including six in the third.
“Grae did a great job of stepping in at the libero spot, which she hadn’t done for her previous program,” USC head coach Brad Keller said. “She stepped in on a last minute notice and played two fantastic matches for us.”
As much as the first set was a back and forth for the lead, the final frame was a Trojan push to double the score of the visitors.
After a Triton kill brought them under that dominant benchmark at 19-10, a USC run, aided by Triton attacking errors, gave the Trojans a clean 25-11 victory to close the match.
Despite winning the game, Keller was unhappy with the team’s performance.
“I was extremely disappointed in my team and my staff and myself tonight,” Keller said. “When you can put up a 25-11 [set] at the end of a match, you are clearly not tapping into everything that you have all the way from start to finish.”
Next up for the Trojans is their Big Ten debut against Ohio State (6-3) Friday at Galen Center with first serve set for 7 p.m. To win, Keller said it will come down to discipline both on and off the court.
“I clearly think that the Big Ten is the best conference in the country, hands down, it is not even close,” Keller said. “There are people that run towards burning buildings, there are people that run away from burning buildings, and we should be people that run towards burning buildings. Safely, that is.”