After winning the first two sets, Men’s Volleyball looked bound to sweep the No. 16 CSUN on Wednesday night. However, things took a turn for the Trojans as the Matadors clawed their way back, winning the third and fourth sets, forcing a decisive fifth set.
The final set started very back-and-forth before the Trojans went on a 4-0 scoring run and ended up victorious against the Matadors. USC won the match 25-19, 25-20, 19-25, 17-25, 15-13 at Galen Center.
“I think we played three good games out of five, and that equals a win,” head coach Jeff Nygaard said. “Good teams find ways to win.”
No. 4 USC now sits at 6-0 with three wins over ranked teams to start the year. No. 16 CSUN now drops to 7-2 and finds itself facing No. 6 Pepperdine on Friday.
Sophomore middle blocker Wesley Smith had one of his best games this season with a season-high 10 kills and 15 points while hitting .600. He sits third in the nation in hitting percentage with a .532.
Last night’s win also marked the first time sophomore middle blocker Parker Tomkinson has played since the win over Princeton in the middle of January. Although he only played three sets, Tomkinson contributed to the win with five kills, five digs and one block in a successful game back.
“There’s something about having a seven-footer next to you that just gives you the confidence to go do your job because you know that they’re going to do theirs,” junior outside hitter Noah Roberts said of Tomkinson.
In the first set against the Matadors, USC had 17 kills and seven digs in a strong start from Roberts and senior outside hitter Dillon Klein. Junior setter Caleb Blanchette helped create a lot of the scoring opportunities, contributing 13 assists in the first set.
The Trojans followed a dominant first set with an equally dominant second set, thanks to the same three key players. USC had 15 kills, with four coming from Roberts, three coming from Klein, and Blanchette had another 13 assists. It looked like the Trojans were going to run away with the match, up 2-0.
It was not until midway through the third set that the tone shifted and the Matadors started to claw their way back into the match. USC initially went up 8-7, before CSUN shut the door on the Trojans over the next two sets, outscoring USC 43-28.
USC’s main weakness was CSUN’s junior outside hitter Jordan Lucas, who had a career game. Lucas posted 30 kills, 32.5 points, eight digs and three blocks — all career highs for the Matador.
“He’s a good player,” Smith said. “We had to shift our block options, kind of honing on him a little bit [more].”
Lucas terrorized the Trojan defense in the final three sets, with help from sophomore setter Owen Douphner, who had a career-high 55 assists.
The match ultimately came down to the final few points, where Smith and Klein helped lift the Trojans to the 14-point mark. After sitting at 14 for a bit, junior middle blocker Thiago Zamprongo spiked the ball down on the Matador side, securing USC’s sixth win of the season. This win marked the team’s second straight 6-0 start to the season.
“Fortunately, we had guys that executed when the game was on the line,” Nygaard said. “Always happy with a win.”
After defeating three ranked teams in the past four matches, including CSUN, USC is on a roll, but the road will only get harder from here for the Trojans.
USC will host No. 15 Santa Barbara on Saturday and travel to UC Irvine on Feb. 11 to face the No. 5 Anteaters for two games. In March, they open the month with a two-game slate against No. 1 UCLA.
“There’s no such thing as an easy match,” Nygaard said. “‘It’s on us to actually go in and keep that pedal to the metal mentality, which when we do, we are pretty good.”
The Trojans’ next test will be against the Gauchos at Galen Center on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 5 p.m.