USC looking to end recent losing streak


Though losing is not a common theme for USC’s sports teams, it’s even harder to swallow for the men’s volleyball team, which has followed up its 2012 championship appearance with three straight losses and a 2-4 record.

Nonetheless, the Trojans will look to shake off their slump Friday night as they take on Long Beach State to try to salvage a victory from their three-game road trip.

Tough times · Sophomore Robert Feathers and the Trojans have dropped matches to UCSD, Pacific, Pepperdine and Cal State Northridge. - Ralf Cheung | Daily Trojan

Tough times · Sophomore Robert Feathers and the Trojans have dropped matches to UCSD, Pacific, Pepperdine and Cal State Northridge. – Ralf Cheung | Daily Trojan

After a 2-1 start that saw USC avenge their finals loss to 2012 champion UC Irvine, the Trojans have dropped three straight games by a 3-1 score. Following a loss to Pacific to end the homestand, the team failed to establish momentum en route to losses against Pepperdine and then Cal State Northridge on Monday and Wednesday night.

“There’s been some bad and there’s been some good,” USC head coach Bill Ferguson said. “Our digging has got to be better. That’s our hallmark and we’re typically one of the better digging teams in the country. Our blocking has been fantastic, so we just need to settle down our offense a bit.”

Before the match against Pepperdine, Ferguson wanted to see more impactful performances from various players, including redshirt junior opposite Tanner Jansen and redshirt freshman outside hitter Austin Rysyk. Indeed, those two powered the offensive attack against the Waves, as Jansen notched a team-leading 16 kills, while Rysyk chipped in 10 of his own. With the exception of blocking, however, Pepperdine edged USC in digs (28-22), service aces (8 to 5) and attacking percentage (.255 to .208), all of which contributed to the decisive victory (23-25, 18-25, 27-25, 22-25).

“We did some very good things; we blocked very well,” Ferguson said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t do so well on defense on the back row. We had a real solid match from Tanner Jansen, which helped spread out our offense and helped the left-side attackers a little bit. We got key blocking from [sophomore] middle blocker Ben Lam.”

Jansen enjoyed a field day against Cal State Northridge, recording a career-high 24 kills to pace the Trojan attack, but it wasn’t enough, as the hosts pulled away with a 25-17, 18-25, 25-21, 25-22 victory. The Trojans hit well at .324 (with Jansen reaching .475) but the defense failed to contain the Matadors, who hit .471 on the strength of 40 kills between opposite hitters John Baker and Brandon Lebrock.

While the losses are tough to swallow for a team that registered just seven total losses last season, Ferguson stressed the need to continue improving and making any lineup changes that would benefit the team.

“We’re going to try to solidify who’s going to play on the left side for us,” Ferguson said. “Rysyk played well against Pepperdine and [sophomore outside hitter] Cristian Rivera has come in and done well. We need more production from our pin attackers on the left side. As far as the match is concerned, Long Beach State has great fan support and is playing some of the best volleyball in the country, so we’re going to take things day by day and refine what we do.”

Following the match against the 49ers, the Trojans will return to the Galen Center for a four-game homestand, starting with a match against Cal-Baptist Wednesday night at 7 p.m.