USC men’s volleyball opened its two-game series against Stanford with a 3-0 sweep Friday night at Galen Center, continuing its strong midseason run.
The No. 4 Trojans (15-3, 7-2 MPSF) defeated No. 14 Stanford (9-11, 6-3) in straight sets (25-14, 25-21, 25-22) despite a valiant attempt from the Cardinal and 14 kills from senior opposite hitter Moses Wagner.
In the post-game press conference, USC head coach Jeff Nygaard reflected on last year’s matchup, where Stanford beat USC two matches in a row.
“I’m looking back at last year at this exact same moment,” said Nygaard, “and I know we carried that forward to today.”
“Anytime you can beat anybody 3-0, that’s a real nice night of volleyball and competitiveness.”
The Trojans won the first set 25-14 in the largest margin of the night.
Senior outside hitter Dillon Klein went on a five-point serving run, including two aces. Serving has been “a point of emphasis” for the Trojans as they look for more consistency from the service line, Nygaard said.
“Seeing that growth in that one piece where we know we needed to upgrade quite a bit,” Nygaard said, “it’s great to see that against a caliber team like Stanford.”
Klein and freshman outside Cooper Keane had a perfect performance at the net in the first set, combining to hit 9-for-9 with no errors. The Trojans also went a perfect 10-for-10 on serve receive.
The set ended with a service error by Stanford as the ball fell just long of the endline.
USC won the second set 25-21.
At 12-12, the Trojans called a timeout hoping to stifle Stanford’s momentum after giving up three points in a row. Out of the break, Stanford junior outside hitter Nate Clinton delivered an ace but followed with a service error.
Still, Stanford managed to hang on, going kill-for-kill with USC from 18-16 to 20-18. USC stayed at set point while Stanford crept up from 19 to 21, until a block by sophomore middle blocker Parker Tomkinson and sophomore outside hitter Sterling Foley closed the set.
Stanford again put up a fight as they started the final set 3-0 and continued to lead by at least one point until a kill by Klein brought the score to 16-16.
Neither team went on a run of more than three, remaining neck-and-neck until a kill by Tomkinson brought it to match point. The set ended with a kill by Klein on the outside.
Klein, who has the third-most kills per set in the NCAA (4.10/set), led the Trojan offense with 15. Keane was close behind with 13– just one short of his career high.
Keane credited his success at the net to a mix of confidence and instinct.
“Starting off a game slow– or just having errors– might affect me mentally and I’m working on not letting that affect me,” Keane said. “But I think I started off this game really strong, and that helped me stay confident throughout the match.”
The teams ace off again Saturday at Galen Center with first serve set for 5 p.m.