Trojans continue West coast roadtrip
The No. 1 USC men’s volleyball team has started conference play with three straight victories, the Trojans’ best start since 2000.
They will look to extend that streak tonight against No. 15 UC San Diego at San Diego’s RIMAC Arena.
Leading the way · Supporting his National Player of the Year candidacy, senior opposite Murphy Troy leads USC in kills and digs. - Tim Tran | Daily Trojan
On Wednesday, the Trojans (3-0, 3-0) defeated No. 7 UC Irvine for the third consecutive time, exacting revenge. Their 2009 NCAA championship loss against the Anteaters in their four-set win (25-16, 27-25, 27-29, 25-17).
Senior opposite Murphy Troy led the charge with 19 kills and 11 digs and teammate junior outside hitter Tony Ciarelli followed closely with 17 kills and five blocks.
“The most important thing was that after a really emotional second and third set, we came right back out in the fourth set,” said USC coach Bill Ferguson. “We showed a lot of mental toughness. We got back to business and exhibited a real methodical comeback.”
The Trojans showcased their depth at outside hitter starting in the second set, when sophomore outside hitter Maddison McKibbin was pulled in favor of senior outside hitter Tri Bourne.
“[McKibbin] wasn’t playing badly,” Ferguson said. “Rather, putting Bourne in was an effort to slow the match down. I had no timeouts. And he played great, so we stuck with it.”
McKibbin and his teammates have been exceptional thus far this season in terms of hitting with an efficient .401 clip, highlighted by junior middle blocker Steven Shandrick’s .778 hitting percentage Wednesday.
Also, the Trojan defense has been rabid, turning up 38 digs in Wednesday’s match, with 33 of them coming from senior setter Riley McKibbin, freshman libero Henry Cassiday and Troy.
“Henry played a [great] match for a freshman, and Riley and Murphy made two of the better defensive plays since I’ve been here,” Ferguson said. “Both of them had spectacular digs that snapped Irvine’s momentum.”
The Tritons (2-3, 1-1), led by setter Phil Bannan, entered the American Volleyball Coaches Association Top-25 poll for the first time this season last week.
“Phil Bannan is one of the best servers in the league, and also a great end blocker who’s going to be going against Ciarelli, McKibbin or Tri Bourne,” Ferguson said. “He could cause some problems for us.”
The Trojans are not panicking, but rather are focused on continuing their development in passing and converting service receives into points.
“Basically what we did in the fourth set against Irvine was side out at a really high rate and forced them into making mistakes,” Ferguson said. “It’s always going to come back to the service and pass game.”