Men’s volleyball puts perfect record on the line


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USC men’s volleyball (3-0, 2-0 MPSF) kicked off its season with two dominant wins at home against Stanford and Pepperdine, and now they look to take their dominance on the road to face UC San Diego (1-3, 0-2 MPSF).

After upsetting then-No. 2 Pepperdine and sweeping No. 12 Stanford, the undefeated Trojans have jumped three spots from  No. 8 to No. 5.

The Trojans are led by senior setter and team captain Micah Christenson. His ability to keep the Trojans focused throughout each set has become vital for their success. “These are some of the tightest teammates that we’ve had in a long time,” Christenson said. “We’re ready to take on the challenges of this season together.”

In addition to Christenson, redshirt sophomore outside hitter Christopher Orenic, senior middle blocker Robert Feathers, junior opposite hitter Josh Kirchner and freshman outside hitter Larry Tuileta all fuel USC’s offense. Against Stanford, they each produced a team-high of nine kills. The attacking strength and versatility of the offense proved too difficult for the Cardinal to contain, leading to their defeat in three straight sets. If the Trojans can continue their offensive flexibility and dominance at the net, their opponents will have a difficult time defending their attack.

Freshman standout Tuileta had his first start against Stanford and tied the team-high of nine kills and produced one solo block. Tuileta, also a quarterback for the football team, added to the Trojans offensive variability.

USC has also dominated  in serving. Against Pepperdine, USC had 11 service aces, five coming from Christenson. During the offseason, Christenson developed a new serve. He now uses a jump and float serve out of the same toss and debuted his new serve against Pepperdine.

“I’m happy with it so far,” Christenson said. “I’m only going to get better at it.”

Head coach Bill Ferguson recognized his team’s serving dominance against Pepperdine and modified the rotation to maximize his team’s scoring.

“We put our rotation to get three of our best servers [Christenson, Orenic and Feathers] on the line,” Ferguson said. “We look at that like a batting order.”

On the defensive side of the game, junior libero and team captain Brooks Varni is leading the team in digs with 28 on the season. Christenson is second with 23 digs. Varni works to keep the team focused and ready in the back to receive the opponent’s serves and spikes. The Trojans have averaged 9.6 digs per set and a .948 serve reception percentage.

“We worked hard in the offseason,” Varni said. “It showed in our play.”

Christenson and Varni run the team like a well-oiled machine on the court. Their leadership skills are evident when watching from the stands. After every point, the two captains huddle the team up and keep their teammates motivated and focused on one point at a time.

UCSD has struggled in the opening matches of its season. In conference play, UCSD suffered losses to Long Beach State and CSUN, both in three straight sets.

UCSD only averages 10.1 kills and .6 aces per set and a .143 attacking percentage, while USC averages 13.6 kills and 1.7 aces per set and a .274 attacking percentage. If the numbers hold up, USC should remain undefeated and emerge victorious in La Jolla this evening to focus on No. 3 UC Irvine the following night.