No. 12 USC Men's Volleyball Sweeps Concordia Off Its Feet on Valentine’s Night - USC Athletics (2024)

IRVINE, Calif. –The 12th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (9-4, 1-0 MPSF) swept Concordia (5-2, 0-1) in straight sets (25-21, 25-21, 25-23) to open MPSF play at CU Arena on Valentine's night, Wednesday, Feb. 14.

KEY PLAYERS

• Redshirt Jr. OPPJack Deucharled the Trojan offense with 15 kills (4e, 31att) and hit .355 with one block and a service ace to finish the evening with 17.0 points.
• So. OHDillon Kleinreached double-digit kills for the 30th time in his career and finished with 17.0 points on 14 kills (2e, 22att) with .545 hitting and added four digs, three blocks (one solo), and one service ace.
• So. OHRiley Hainecollected nine kills (2e, 16att) and hit .438 to go with five digs.
• Fr. SCaleb Blanchettedished out 37 assists and had five digs.
• Sr. MBKyle Paulsonput up five kills on eight swings without error (.625) and had one block and two service aces.
• Jr. LIBAustin Stuardhad a career-high 13 digs and added three assists.
• For the Golden Eagles, Christian Galoppo led with 13 kills. Max McCullough added five kills and Ties Cornelissen put up eight kills to go with five digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• USC out-hit Concordia, .425 to .268; the 11th time the Trojans have recorded a better hitting percentage than their opponent. USC also had the edge in kills (46-34), assists (43-32), and digs (30-24). The Trojans' 6-2 advantage in blocks marks the 12th time they have had the same or more blocks than their opponent.
• The Eagles led by as many as four points twice in the opening set, but the Trojans fought back to take a 19-18 lead. Paulson served an ace to put USC in front for good andNoah Robertscame in to collect a solo block at set point to seal a 25-21 win. The Trojans had 14 kills and hit .303. Klein had six of those kills himself and Stuard posted five digs in set one.
• Deuchar scored eight kills to power a Trojan offense that finished with a .500 hitting rate in set two to put USC up, 2-0, on another 25-21 win. Stuard added another five digs and the Trojans had two blocks to hold the Eagles at bay with 12 kills on 29 swings for a .345 hitting percentage. Klein tallied four more kills in the second.
• The Trojans led by as many as five points at several instances in set three, but the Eagles pulled within a point at 24-23 before USC closed out a 25-23 win to seal the sweep. The Trojans hit .500 in the third with 12 kills on 22 swings and got five from Deuchar and four more from Klein. Five USC digs and a block helped hold CUI to a .240 hitting rate.

UP NEXT

• The Trojans and Golden Eagles meet for a second time on Friday (Feb. 16) at 7 p.m. at Galen Center for Glow Out Galen Night. Promotional information and tickets are available at USCTrojans.com/tickets.

MATCH NOTES

• USC improves to 15-6 all-time against Concordia and has won seven straight matches over the Golden Eagles.
• The Trojans had their 12th contest in which they have had the same or more blocks than their opponent.
• USC out-hit its opponent for the 11th time this season.
• The Men of Troy improve to 35-20 all-time in conference openers.

For more information on the USC men's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/MVB. Fans of the Trojans can follow @USCmensvolley on Twitter and Instagram.