COLUMN: Women’s volleyball keeps on winning

In volleyball, the sequence of bump, set and spike seems like an easy concept to grasp, though it’s actually a lot harder than it sounds to practice in live play — especially when the ball is traveling at high speeds.

The No. 2-ranked USC women’s volleyball team, though, has made it look as if it were that simple on the court so far this season.

I don’t want to jinx anything because the Pac-12 is arguably one of the toughest conferences to play in throughout all of collegiate women’s volleyball, but this team is fostering a championship pedigree early on under 15th-year head coach Mick Haley.

The program is off to its best start in a decade after catapulting to an unblemished 14-0 record to begin its 2015 campaign. It’s the fifth time that Haley, who has won two national titles at the helm, has led one of his teams to a 13-0 or better start.

In 2006, the team opened up the season with a 17-0 mark that the Women of Troy will try to match or surpass in the coming matches with the heart of Pac-12 play on the horizon.

The Women of Troy are not only winning games, but are also doing so in style.

USC, who is one of only five undefeated teams left in the country, has dropped just four sets during its 14-match winning streak. The only time it was pushed to go the distance was in its most recent win on the road over Stanford — a match in which it was forced to come back from a set down to win in five sets.

The team’s exceptional start also includes a sweep of crosstown rival UCLA at Pauley Pavilion and a 30-set winning streak.

Evidently, the Women of Troy have shown that they’re a force to be reckoned with not only in the Pac-12, but around the country — it’s in their blood.

USC has been a women’s volleyball powerhouse for quite a long time, and a lot of credit for that has to go to Haley, who took over in 2001.

Though the program hasn’t won a national championship since 2003, they have finished in the top third of the Pac-12 almost every year Haley has been in charge.

Most fans remember the golden days of USC football under Pete Carroll in the early 2000s when he led the Trojans to a remarkable 34-game winning streak from 2003 to 2005.

Around the same time, Haley strung together a 54-game winning streak that lasted from 2002 to 2004, including an unrivaled 35-0 perfect season in 2003. During that streak, USC lost only 14 of 170 sets.

This year’s Women of Troy team is about a quarter of the way there, and it possesses the talent to accomplish similar feats if it can continue to execute in Haley’s newly revamped system.

Its success starts with the country’s leading scorer — a 6-foot-2 outside hitter from Mexico named Samantha Bricio who is one of the most dynamic players in all of the women’s college game. After posting 228 kills through 14 games, the decorated two-time All-American and team captain has already been a recipient of Pac-12 Player of the Week honors four times this season and was also recently named the espnW National Player of the Week.

The USC offense undoubtedly starts with Bricio, but the Women of Troy have been especially effective because they also have a number of other weapons in the attacking game, including two other 100-plus kill players in freshman Alyse Ford and sophomore Brittany Abercrombie.

Both have provided a spark of young talent on the offensive side of the ball for the Women of Troy.

The defense has been carried by the reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week in senior middle blocker Alicia Ogoms, who’s second in the country in blocks with 1.72 blocks per set.She’s also third in the Pac-12 in hitting percentage.

An array of young talent mixed with veteran play has put Haley’s team in the driver’s seat to win a conference title. It would be its first since 2011.

The program has reached the NCAA regional finals and a pair of NCAA semifinal matches in recent years, but its first goal has to be winning the Pac-12 championship before anything else.

With a tough schedule ahead, this team will surely be tested like it was at Stanford.

It starts again this weekend with them hosting its fellow undefeated team, the No. 5-ranked Washington Huskies.

Another Pac-12 foe that remains undefeated is Arizona State, and that should prove to be a tough match as well.

This year’s Women of Troy have a blueprint for success and have played exceptionally well thus far, but they’re going to need to continue to play at this high level if they’re going to come out with wins in these challenging matches.

The women’s beach volleyball team deservingly stole the spotlight last spring after it went 28-0 on its way to winning a national championship.

While bragging rights rest in the sand for the time being, the Women of Troy have a golden opportunity to take them back for the indoor game at USC.

Being just two wins away from matching last season’s win total, USC just has to keep digging as it moves forward with Pac-12 play.

Darian Nourian is a senior majoring in print and digital journalism. He is also the sports editor of the Daily Trojan. His column, “Persian Persuasion,” runs Fridays.