Women of Troy make it three straight wins

Before this weekend, the USC women’s volleyball team was winless on its home floor. On Friday, the No. 20 Women of Troy (10-6, 3-3 Pac-12) earned their coveted first win at the Galen Center in a three set sweep over the Colorado Buffaloes (10-7, 2-3). USC backed the victory up by winning again on Saturday against the Utah Utes (11-6, 1-5).

The Women of Troy came out strong against Colorado, a team that they have never lost to. In the first set, both squads played evenly, with neither team being able to build a lead bigger than five points. The big moment in the set was when USC scored seven unanswered points after being down 15-17 to take a 22-17 lead. The squad won the set 25-20 and sported a .355 hitting percentage, which was three times better than Colorado’s .118 mark.

The Women of Troy were more dominant in the second set. The team never trailed after going up 2-1 early, and they led by as many as eight points over the course of the set. USC won 25-18 and had an impressive .400 hitting percentage. Eight of those 25 points came courtesy of three USC service aces and five Buffalo service errors.

The Women of Troy carried their momentum into the third set, jumping out to a 7-1 lead early. The team never looked back, winning the set 25-19 and winning the match 3-0. The squad led by as much as seven points and did not trail during the final set.

USC had strong performances by several players in the match. Junior outside hitter Samantha Bricio led the team in kills with 14, and she also accounted for four of the Women of Troy’s seven service aces. Sophomore outside hitter Ebony Nwanebu had eight kills, and senior outside hitter Emily Young contributed seven kills. Sophomore libero Taylor Whittingham led the squad with 11 digs and sophomore setter Alice Pizzasegola was on her game, recording 25 assists.

Overall, USC had nine more kills, nine more digs, five more assists and six more service aces than the Buffaloes. Additionally, the Women of Troy’s .356 hitting percentage for the game was nearly double that of the Buffalo’s .191 hitting percentage.

Less than 24 hours later, USC was back at it again on their home floor taking on the Utah Utes. USC’s confidence and momentum from their game the night before was evident, and the team took down the Utes in four sets.

The first set was nearly all the home team, considering the Women of Troy won the set 25-14. After falling behind 2-4 , USC took control and scored nine unanswered points to take an 11-4 lead.

Later in the set, the Women of Troy had another stretch where they scored six unanswered points to increase their lead to 19-7 before winning the set a few minutes later. The Utes seemed out of sync and were having trouble handling serves from the Women of Troy, who had seven service aces in the first set alone. In addition, their .370 hitting percentage was more than double the Utes’ .152 hitting percentage.

The Utes were more collected in the second set, but still fell 25-20. USC remained in command almost the entire set, trailing only once. The team continued to serve well, coming up with five service aces.

Despite their success in the first two sets, the Women of Troy were not able to pull out a second straight sweep. Utah led by as much as seven points during the third set, despite having fewer kills. The Utes, however, had a better hitting percentage at .303. The Utes also did not commit any service errors, while USC committed three.

USC rebounded in the fourth set, winning 25-18 and taking the match 3-1. Despite having fewer kills and digs in the fourth set compared to the Utes, USC never trailed. The set stayed close until the Women of Troy held a 20-17 advantage, but they scored five of the next six points to seal the deal. The biggest difference for the Women of Troy in the set was hitting. In the fourth set, their .229 hitting percentage was nearly triple that of the Utes’ .081 hitting percentage.

The Women of Troy had three players in the double digits for kills in the game. Bricio led all players again with 23 kills and eight service aces. Nwanebu scored 10 kills and two service aces. Junior middle blocker Alicia Ogoms tied her career high with 10 kills of her own. Freshman outside hitter Lauryn Gillis contributed with four kills and three service aces, and freshman middle blocker Jordan Dunn had three kills and two service aces. Whittingham led the Women of Troy in digs once again with 29. Pizzasegola and senior setter Hayley Crone performed well, combining for 48 assists. For the match, the Women of Troy had 12 more kills, 12 more assists, 12 more service aces and six more digs than the Utes.

After the Utah game, USC head coach Mick Haley addressed the plans for the rest of the season.

“We’re tied with three other schools for fifth place [in the Pac-12],” Haley said. “We still think we may have an outside chance to win the conference. If we can keep building our confidence and momentum, we feel like the sky is the limit.”

Bricio believes her team has turned a corner this season.

“We have a routine before every single game, so we do the same thing,” Bricio said. “But, I think the only thing that made the difference was practice. We had a really good week.”