Senior outside hitter Dillon Klein had 20 kills to lead USC men’s volleyball to their eighth straight victory Saturday at Galen Center.
The No. 4 Trojans (16-3, 8-2 MPSF) beat No. 14 Stanford (9-12, 6-4) in four sets (25-21, 23-25, 25-16, 25-17) in the second of the two-game series against the Cardinal.
USC led the entire first set with just one tie score.
Stanford’s fighting spirit was palpable as they ended the set with 5.5 blocks to USC’s four. But USC had twice as many digs with 10 to the Cardinal’s five.
After winning the first set and breaking the record for consecutive set wins in program history (22), the Trojans dropped the second.
Early in the second set, the Cardinal went on a scoring run with sophomore middle blocker Kaumana Carreira at the service line– taking the score from 3-1 to 9-1.
USC simply couldn’t side out, even when they called a timeout at 7-1 to try and stifle Stanford’s momentum. The Cardinal came out of the break with a kill by junior outside hitter Nate Clinton and showed no signs of slowing down.
“Stanford’s a smart team… they were finding a weakness, and we didn’t adjust quick enough,” head coach Jeff Nygaard said. “That’s on me.”
Then Nygaard subbed in junior middle blocker Thiago Zamprogno.
Zamprogno immediately clinched a sideout for the Trojans, with a kill assisted by junior setter Caleb Blanchette.
Blanchette had 41 assists and 11 digs in the match for his third career double-double.
Zamprogno remained in for the rest of the match. As to why, Nygaard described it quite succinctly: “Thiago is Thiago.”
Klein added, “hard to pull someone that’s sitting .900,” referencing Zamprogno’s eight kills on nine attempts for the match.
Despite the strategic subs and ten kills from Klein, Stanford handed the Trojans their first loss in 22 sets.
USC head coach Jeff Nygaard reflected on the set loss in the post-game press conference.
“Trojans win,” Nygaard said. “That’s the thing that matters. Whether it’s in three, four, or five.”
Klein started out the third set with a bang, going on a four-point service run with one ace.
Senior opposite hitter Moses Wagner halted the run with a kill on the outside. Wagner had fourteen kills in all for the Cardinal.
After a four-point run by the Trojans brought it to 17-11, the Cardinal called a timeout. USC came out of the break with a big kill by freshman outside hitter Cooper Keane, who had two service aces and seven kills in the match.
Freshman setter Andrew Chapin followed up with an ace, the first of his career.
A kill from Zamprogno in the middle brought it to set point and a Stanford service error closed out the third.
The final set was the most intense of the night with nine tie scores.
Both teams stayed within two points of each other until a mid-set surge by the Trojans, including an ace from Klein and a kill from Zamprogno, brought it to 20-15.
A kill by Klein brought it to set point at 24-16, and the set ended with Stanford serving into the net.
Klein had the most kills of any player on the court by the end of the match. The secret to his success?
“I hit it pretty hard,” Klein said.
The Trojans travel to Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah for their first out-of-state match against No. 10 BYU. The match will take place Friday, April 10.