Trojans gear up for two matches against Hawai’i
A double header with the Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors this week should offer two strong tests for the USC men’s volleyball team, which is still looking to break out from the middle of the pack in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings. After splitting two matches last week, the Trojans hope to string together a three-game winning streak for the first time since the opening three games of the season with matches against Hawai’i today and on Saturday.
Back in action · Junior setter Micah Christenson missed USC’s last two matches due to injury, but will return for the matches against Hawai’i. – Tucker McWhirter | Daily Trojan
The Trojans (7-5, 6-5 MPSF) lost in five sets to UC Irvine (9-7, 6-6) by a score of 22-25, 25-17, 25-17, 24-26, 15-13 last Thursday, but came back the next day to sweep UC San Diego (0-13, 0-12) on Friday by a score of 25-13, 25-21, 25-15.
The Trojans had previously beaten UCI in five sets earlier this year at home by a score of 20-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, 15-10, but had less luck on the road against the two-time defending national champions.
“We played fantastic in the first set,” said USC head coach Bill Ferguson. “Irvine played fantastic in sets two, three and most of game four, but we came back and won. We were down a few in the fifth and we kept battling, and a guy got hot at the serving line and aced us twice. We had a ton of effort, which was great. I thought we put our best foot forward against a good team. We always want to win and we never want to go with [moral] victories but all in all I thought we played pretty well.”
The Trojans were able to rebound at UCSD, who the Trojans also swept by a score of 25-17, 25-23, 25-22 back in January.
“I thought we played very well on Friday night,” Ferguson said. “We executed our game plan perfectly. The first night I thought we showed some real character and the second night we did what we were supposed to do.”
The Trojans played both matches last week without junior setter Micah Christenson, who was out with back spasms. Redshirt freshman Michael Mullahey got both of the starts in place of Christenson, who has held down the starting role all three years he’s been a Trojan.
“Thursday was Mullahey’s first college volleyball match setting and he filled in for the best guy in the business,” Ferguson said. “I thought he did a really nice job and followed the game plan really well.”
The lineup last week also featured sophomore middle blocker Tommy Leonard for the first time this year, who might factor into the rotation of middles more often down the road along with junior Robert Feathers, junior Chris Lischke and freshman Andy Benesh.
Hawai’i (9-4, 7-4) comes into the Galen Center ranked as the No. 11 team in the country, according to the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. USC is currently ranked No. 8. Hawai’i is tied for third place in MPSF standings, while the Trojans are ranked seventh in the 13-team conference.
“They’re definitely a dangerous team,” Benesh said. “They’re a really good serving team, really good blocking team. It should be a lot of fun.”
Feathers said the key to the games for the Trojans will be serving and passing.
“[We’ll succeed] if we get them off their groove and serve well and pass well,” Feathers said. “Especially because they serve well, we can get them out of rhythm and we’ll be fine.”
Rather than play at home and on the road against each MPSF team throughout the season, Hawai’i will either play each conference opponent twice at home or on the road then switch locations the following year to reduce the amount of traveling the team has to do across the Pacific. Because of this, Benesh said the Trojans will have to be able to make quick adjustments following Thursday’s game for the second half of the double header Saturday since Hawai’i is very experienced at doing so.
“They have more expertise in playing back-to-back,” he said. “They have a little more experience with that so hopefully we can prepare well, especially for the second time.”
Ferguson said that Christenson will be back for both of the games this week. He will start along with senior libero Henry Cassiday, freshman outside hitter Lucas Yoder, senior opposite Tanner Jansen and Benesh. He said that either Feathers, Leonard or Lischke would start at the second middle blocker spot and either redshirt junior Joey Booth, sophomore Alex Slaught or redshirt senior Maddison McKibbin would start at the second outside hitter spot.
Both matches start at 7 p.m.