Women of Troy face stiff competition this weekend

The Women of Troy’s 12-match winning streak will be put to perhaps its toughest test this weekend, as the No. 4 USC women’s volleyball teams travels to Northern California to play No. 2 California and No. 5 Stanford.

There’s a clutter at the top of both the Pac-12 and the national volleyball rankings, and this weekend’s conference matches could do a lot to create some separation between the teams — or muddle the picture even more.

USC (17-3, 12-1) and No. 6 UCLA (18-3, 11-2) are playing California (21-2, 11-2) and Stanford (16-3, 10-3) on the road this weekend in a two-day stretch that will almost certainly have a hand in determining the Pac-12 conference race.

“It’s an opportunity for us to separate, and it’s an opportunity for Stanford and Cal to get into the top rung,” USC coach Mick Haley said. “It helps us if UCLA plays well up there. But we need to win our games, too.”

USC swept both teams in three sets earlier this season at Galen Center, but both squads boast undefeated home records.

Junior outside hitter Katie Fuller says the team has to play even better than they have been to get two wins this weekend.

“Both teams going into the second round have improved a lot,” Fuller said. “Hopefully we can use what we learned in the first round to beat them again.”

The Women of Troy begin the weekend by playing the Cardinal, who have gone on an eight-match winning streak of its own since losing to USC on Sept. 24.

Stanford leads the conference in digs (17.33 digs per set) and ranks second with 3.20 blocks per set.

“Last time we didn’t play very well against Stanford, and they did a lot of very good things against us and we still won all three games,” Haley said. “We have to play a lot better [this time] if we’re going to be successful.”

Sophomore Rachel Williams leads the Cardinal in kills (4.39 kills per set), which ranks fourth in the Pac-12.

“I look for this to be a titanic battle,” Haley said. “[With them] being at home, I expect them to dig more balls, and for there to be more rallies [than last time].”

On Saturday night, the Women of Troy will play the Golden Bears with each team possibly having a chance to claim the No. 1 spot in the country.

Despite being ranked fourth, USC has the second-most No. 1 votes in the country, behind No. 1 Nebraska (17-1), who jumped to the top spot this week from No. 4 after upsetting previously top-ranked Illinois, which is No. 3 in the polls.

But before thinking about rankings, the Women of Troy will have to get past Cal’s vaunted defense, which ranks first in the Pac-12 in opponents’ hitting percentage (.121), second in digs (16.93 digs per set) and third in blocks (2.99 blocks per set).

USC hasn’t had to face top-notch opponents in a few weeks now, but Haley doesn’t think his squad will be caught off-guard.

“I don’t think we’ll have trouble getting focus back,” Haley said. “Nobody wants to go out of there with an L, and we know on the road that we really have to be good.”

The players seem to have high expectations for the trip.

“Going into their house and beating both of them 3-0, 3-0 would be ideal,” Fuller said. “Obviously that’s a challenge, [but] that would put us ahead of them in the running for the Pac-12 championship.”

Haley knows this weekend will have implications on the conference race, but he’s downplaying the importance of any single weekend in the long run.

“Every week in the next five weeks is an opportunity,” Haley said. “It’ll be great competition. The more we can take advantage of winning on the road, the better.”

USC’s matches against Stanford and California will take place on Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m.