No. 17 USC women’s volleyball (10-4, 1-3) lost its second consecutive home match this weekend after falling to No.13 Purdue (12-2, 3-1) on Saturday.
“I thought we did not prep this group well enough for this weekend and that starts with me, as being a head coach, I take full responsibility of that,” head coach Brad Keller said. “I think that we were out of rhythm, we just were not ourselves this weekend, and it showed and we got exposed pretty badly.”
Despite the loss, the matchup brought some familiar faces back to Galen Center. USC welcomed back Purdue graduate middle blocker Lindsey Miller, who played for the Trojans during the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Mia Tuaniga, a recent USC women’s volleyball alumna and program record holder, also returned to Galen in celebration of USC’s first Pasifika Night.
The Boilermakers dominated early in the first set. Despite an early Trojan lead (4-2, 4-3), an early solo block and tip for a kill by Purdue junior outside hitter Kenna Wollard propelled the Boilermakers to take the lead. The Boilermakers found success placing balls over the USC block and capitalizing off of USC’s mistakes, including two points lost on dropped balls and a service ace surrendered.
While Purdue struggled with staying out of the net, they kept their foot on the gas to close out set one. The Boilermakers’ size up at the net aided their blocking and forced the Trojans to hit balls out of bounds. USC redshirt sophomore outside hitter London Wijay only had two kills while redshirt junior outside hitter Adonia Faumuina was held to a zero hitting percentage.
Sophomore middle blocker Mia Tvrdy began heating up for the Trojans throughout set one, earning four of USC’s 13 kills. Despite an unsuccessful challenge at set point (24-23), Purdue took the first as USC was called over the net (25-23).
The Trojans and Boilermakers continued to trade points throughout the start of the second set, with both exchanging scrappy defensive rallies. However, a quick kill out of the middle by senior middle blocker Rylie McGinest helped the Trojans maintain a lead.
USC held some momentum, as Faumuina earned a kill down the line and the Boilermakers sustained their second call in the net. However, the Trojans were unable to handle the Boilermakers’ size up at the net. Purdue towered over the Trojans with heights of 6-foot-2 and well over, compared to USC’s tallest height of 6-foot-3.
A block by the Boilermakers’ junior middle blocker Dior Charles and redshirt sophomore opposite hitter Grace Heaney gave Purdue a push to catch up to the Trojans. This enabled them to force more USC errors and score off of the Trojans’ block. (16-15).
Purdue closed out the second set with two back-to-back kills by senior outside hitter Akasha Anderson to put them up two sets to none.
The Boilermakers came out early to finish off the sweep in set three. Wollard earned all three of Purdue’s opening points (1-0, 2-0, 3-1) with back-to-back kills. However, Tvrdy proved to be a successful option for the Trojans, as she earned two kills (2-4, 6-6) to help USC sideout and tie the match. Tvrdy earned nine kills through all three sets, hitting an even .200 with only five errors.
While the Trojans were able to crawl back late in the game, a series of unsuccessful challenges proved fatal for USC. After losing both challenges the team attempted to come back with another kill by freshman opposite hitter Abigail Mullen (21-23). However, Purdue secured the sweep as Charles earned one more kill (24-21) and Tvrdy was blocked by Charles and Wollard (25-21).
After back-to-back losses at Galen Center, the Trojans are learning how to respond when facing situations like this.
“We’re a pretty young team, so for a lot of girls, this is the first time we’ve been in this situation,” senior libero Gala Trubint said. “So I think it was big for us to see how we respond in that obviously, it didn’t go the way that we wanted, technique-wise, volleyball-wise, but I think there was serious intention with energy and with a mindset to be better teammates and be a better team.”
A point of emphasis for the Trojans after losses like these has been to move on and focus on their next match.
“It’s not the end of the world. We just had two bad losses,” Keller said. “Every match is an opportunity we get to do this. So let’s get better this next week, which we’re going to do.”
The Trojans will have a chance to put the weekend in the past as they host Oregon on Thursday, Oct. 9 at 6 p.m. before heading to UCLA to take on the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion at 12:30 p.m.