No. 13 USC Men's Volleyball Closes Regular Season at No. 7 Stanford - USC Athletics (2024)

The Trojans jockey for tournament seeding with two road matches with the Cardinal

Drake Lee

Men's Volleyball | April 08, 2024

LOS ANGELES –The 13th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (12-12, 3-7 MPSF) heads to the Bay Area to close the regular season with a pair of matches against No. 7 Stanford (11-11, 4-6) at Maples Pavilion. Seeding in the upcoming MPSF tournament is on the line when the Trojans and Cardinal meet (April 12-13) as two wins will move USC into the fifth position in the regular-season standings. A loss in either match will keep the Men of Troy in sixth place. Friday's match will be shown live on Pac-12 Bay Area and Saturday's contest is set for a live stream on the Stanford live stream platform.

THIS WEEK
No. 13 USC (12-12, 3-7 MPSF) at No. 7 Stanford (11-11, 4-6 MPSF)
Maples Pavilion • Stanford, Calif.

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

• USC is led by ninth-year head coach Jeff Nygaard, a three-time Olympian in indoor and beach volleyball and a two-time NCAA champion. On March 6, in a win over Penn State, he recorded his 100th-career win.
• The Trojans are ranked 13th in the AVCA/NVA Coaches Poll. This year's poll is expanded to include 20 teams for the first time.
• USC has reached double-digit blocks 12 times and has outblocked its opponent 15 times. USC's 2.50 blocks per set leads the MPSF (sixth in the NCAA).
• The Trojans have out-hit their opponent in 13 matches. USC's .304 hitting percentage ranks fourth in the MPSF and is 13th in the NCAA.
• So. OH Dillon Klein has reached double-digit kills in 19 matches this season and has had 39 double-digit matches in his career.
• Freshmen Wesley Smith (MB), Jakobi Lange (OH), Jack Ebertin (OH), Brad Pan (LIB), and transfer Josh Friedman (S) were rated the No. 1 recruiting class by VolleyballMag.com. Smith was the No. 1-ranked individual player.
• Fr. S Caleb Blanchette signed to be a part of the Trojans' 2025 freshman class in November, but completed high school requirements and reclassified to join USC's 2024 class in time to compete in the spring.
• Four Trojans rank in the MPSF's top 16 for blocks led by Sr. MB Kyle Paulson who is second in the league (fifth in the NCAA) at 1.14 blocks per set.
• The 2024 MPSF Tournament will be hosted by USC at Galen Center, April 17-20. The championship match will be played on Saturday (April 20) at 6 p.m. PT.

FOLLOW THE TROJANS:Home matches at Galen Center are streamed live for free, with links available at USCTrojans.com, except for matches televised by Pac-12 Networks. Follow USC matches on live stats with links at USCTrojans.com.

LAST TIME OUT:USC split matches with sixth-ranked BYU in the Trojans' last Galen Center matches of the regular season. A four-set loss to the Cougars was the fourth in a row for the Trojans, which matched the longest streak of losses this spring. In a back-and-forth rematch affair, the teams endured 241 rallies before USC sealed a five-set win to collect the Trojans' fifth victory over an AVCA ranked opponent.Dillon Kleinreached double-digit kills in both matches for his 18th and 19th double-digit kills matches (39 in his career).Caleb Blanchetteput up a career-best 60 assists and set the Trojans to a plus-.300 hitting percentage for the 13th time.Markus Olssongot his first-career start and made his presence felt with a career-high nine kills (.400) which included the match-clinching point.

POLL POSITION:The Trojans were rankedNo. 12in the AVCA/NVA Preseason Coaches Poll. 2024 marks the expansion of the poll to 20 teams (previously 15). USC is currently rankedNo. 13in theApril 8poll.

BIG BLOCK ENERGY:The Trojans'2.50 blocks per setranksfirstin the MPSF and issixthin the nation. USC has produced12matches in double-digit blocks and set a season-high mark with 15.5 blocks against No. 4 Ohio State on Jan. 20. During a four-match stretch from Jan. 11-19, USC progressively finished with a higher block total; and had 12.5 against Harvard (Jan. 11), 13.0 against Lincoln Memorial (Jan. 13); and then put up 15.0 against Ball State (Jan. 19) before the 15.5 against the Buckeyes. In all, USC has out-blocked its opponent15times this spring. In one other match (vs. UC Irvine, Feb. 10) the Trojans had the same block total as the Anteaters (13.0).

HIT 'EM HIGH:USC has hit better than its opponent in13contests. In fact, USC has hit better than .300 in13matches and had a season-high .614 hitting percentage in a win over Morehouse College (Jan. 6). The Trojans have also hit .400 or bettersixtimes and have recordedtwomatches over the .500 mark. USC's.304 hittingranksfourthin the MPSF and is13thnationally.