USC men’s volleyball secured its win over Dominican University in three sets (25-11, 25-9, 25-15). The Trojans are having their best start to the season since 1991, when the team went 28-0 before their first loss. This year, they’ve advanced to 9-0 after an offensive showcase at the Galen Center Pavilion.
“The scores may have been a little one-sided, but at no point did it look like we ever took our foot off the gas pedal,” head coach Jeff Nygaard said. “And that means we respected them with good effort.”
The first set began with USC firing on the offensive end. The Trojans quickly took a 5-1 early lead after junior outside hitter Dillon Klein sprinted out of the gates. Klein put up three early kills and had a perfect 1.000 hitting percentage. USC’s lead then grew to 10-3 after an ace by freshman outside hitter Sterling Foley.
It was a rocky start for Dominican and its offense struggled early on. The Chargers were hurt by their continued hitting errors and caught off guard by the Trojan pressure from the service line. The Trojans held Dominican to a low .214 hitting percentage in the first set compared to USC’s impressive .762 percentage.
Klein was an unstoppable force for the Trojans in set one. He was recently named the AVCA National Player of the Week on February 4, and he continued his offensive domination with eight kills and an impressive .900 hitting percentage for the Trojans.
“He has a huge range and any ball I give him, he can put away,” sophomore setter Caleb Blanchette said. “It’s incredible what he can do and he’s one of the soul guys of our team.”
The Trojans won the first set 25-11. USC had 17 kills to Dominicans’ six thanks to Klein and other notable contributors such as redshirt sophomore outside hitter Noah Roberts, who had four kills.
The second set continued with USC in control. Roberts quickly racked up two more kills, but Dominican had a burst of momentum with a kill by redshirt freshman outside hitter Blake Krapf, tying the set at 4-4.
The Trojans picked up their energy as Foley earned his fifth kill of the match, while also hitting .833. USC then went on a 5-0 run and crushed any previous momentum Dominican had going.
USC redshirt senior opposite hitter Jack Deuchar had an impressive performance off the bench for the Trojans in set two. Deuchar had three kills, with a perfect hitting percentage of 1.000, and contributed two aces.
“Talk about Jack Deuchar, who just came back from having to deal with a little bit of time off,” Nygaard said. “That was his first time back and he lit it up.”
Everything was flowing for USC and it took a 16-5 lead. The Trojans held their opponent to a -.087 hitting percentage in the second set. The Chargers continued to struggle with the Trojans’ dominant serving pressure. USC finished the set with five aces while Dominican had six serving errors.
Although Klein sat the second set out, USC had no problem controlling the pace of the game.
The Trojans won the second set 25-9. Impressively, USC had four players hit a perfect 1.000 percentage in set two.
In the third set, Dominican continued to fight against the powerful Trojans’ defense. Their game was unfortunately characterized by its persistent hitting and service errors. USC, however, kept its momentum rolling and took an early 4-0 lead.
Offensively, Dominican gained another burst of momentum with Krapf’s eighth kill. The Chargers cut into the lead, being just down two points at 8-10. However, they suffered back-to-back service errors and had five hitting errors in the third, as USC took back control of the game.
The Trojan bench put on an excellent show in the third with hitters such as freshman outside hitter Christian Connell putting up five kills and Deuchar getting his sixth kill. Trojan senior middle blocker Markus Olsson was also perfect at the net with five kills and a 1.000 hitting percentage.
With another Dominican serving error, USC went up 18-13. USC redshirt sophomore outside hitter Riley Haine also contributed to the Trojans’ dominance with two kills in the third.
The Trojans secured the win with an ace and a kill by Connell. USC won 25-15 and extended its win streak to nine.
Nygaard’s squad looks to continue its success at UC Irvine on February 12.
“Yeah, we’re 9-0 and have a really nice ranking and all,” Nygaard said. “That’s good, but my mindset is we’re zero and zero. We want to be one and zero against UCI on Wednesday, nothing else makes a difference.”