Bright outlook for No. 5 Trojans
Head coach Bill Ferguson promises that this year’s USC men’s volleyball team looks more like the team from two years ago than last year’s squad. The 2012 squad finished 26-7, won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference championship and went all the way to the NCAA national championship game. Last year’s team finished 6-18 and failed to make the playoffs.
Set-up · Junior setter Micah Christenson has led the Trojans with 12.57 assists per set in their first two games against UCSD and Loyola-Chicago. – William Ehart | Daily Trojan
With a bevy of young talent along with more experienced veterans, Ferguson is confident that last year’s struggles were an aberration and that the program is back to a level of national prominence. He’s certain that this is the year that the Trojans win the national title that has eluded Ferguson his past seven seasons at the helm in Southern California.
“This team is most like our 2012 team,” he said. “That group and this group are the most built as a team. Everybody understands their roles, we have pretty heavy competition at a lot of positions and it really is a fun team to coach.”
The team has looked very solid through its first two games this year and Ferguson even added that this might be his best team ever at USC.
“This team has more all-around skill and cohesion than any group I’ve had here,” he said. “I believe we’ll take a large step toward being back in the national conversation.”
Like the 2012 squad, Ferguson said the team is led by arguably the best player in the country as well as an outstanding freshman. Two years ago, outside hitter Tony Ciarelli was named the national player of the year by American Volleyball Coaches Association, and stud freshman setter Micah Christenson led the Trojans to the NCAA final. Unfortunately for the Trojans, they lost in the final and have not won a championship since 1990.
Christenson, who was the starting setter for the U.S. Men’s National Team last fall, is now a candidate for player of the year himself. He also has a rising star to smash his sets in freshman outside hitter Lucas Yoder. Ferguson said that Christenson was the “alpha” of the team and described Yoder as “a very talented freak show of a freshman.”
Ferguson said that Christenson has his starting spot locked down and that Yoder will likely start as well, but he is still trying to decide who will start in most of the other positions. He said that sophomore Alex Slaught, redshirt freshman Christopher Orenic and Yoder would likely battle for the two outside hitter spots; junior Robert Feathers, freshman Andy Benesh and junior Chris Lischke will split the two middle blocker positions; redshirt seniors Tanner Jansen and Maddison McKibbin will tandem at opposite and senior Henry Cassiday will take the majority of the starts at libero for his fourth straight year, though sophomore Brooks Varni may get some starts there as well.
Almost all of last year’s team has returned for this season, including a few players who missed substantial playing time due to injury. Ferguson said that a combination of inexperience and injuries contributed to the Trojans’ poor performance last year, and that many returning players have already seen big improvements over last season.
“We built depth and we built character,” he said of last year’s group.
Ferguson said he plans to run almost exclusively a 5-1 formation, where Christenson will be the only setter on the floor. Cassiday will substitute for one of the middle blockers, rather than a 6-2 formation where two setters who can occupy the floor together.
Two games into their 2014 campaign, USC has matched its coach’s praise with solid wins over Loyola-Chicago and UC San Diego.
On Jan. 10, the Trojans only needed three sets to defeat UCSD during the Trojans’ home opener by a score of 25-17, 25-23, 25-22. Slaught led the team in kills with 14, Yoder added 13 and middles McKibbin and Benesh each had eight. Christenson had 42 assists as well as three service aces.
“It felt great,” Christenson said. “It’s great to finally get into Galen [Center] for a regular conference home game and we’re excited for more.”
Though snowstorms across the Midwest cancelled the Trojans’ matchup with Lewis University, poor weather couldn’t stop the Trojans from beating No. 2 Loyola-Chicago in four sets in Chicago on Jan. 4. Yoder led the Trojans with 16 kills that night during the 27-25, 18-25, 25-20, 25-15 win and was named the AVCA player of the week for his performance.
The 2014 NCAA Final Four will be held in Chicago, and it’s no coincidence that Ferguson organized a team trip out to the city this year.
Redshirt junior serving specialist Paul Yoder, cousin of Lucas and older brother of freshman setter Jack Yoder, said the team wants nothing more than to return to Chicago this year and bring home a national title.
“That’s where we want to be,” he said. “That’s the end goal, and we’re going to do everything we can to get there.”
The Trojans have played in three Final Fours and two national championship games since Ferguson took over, but he has yet to win the title. In the 2009, 2012 and 2013 national championship games, UC Irvine took home the crown. The seventh-ranked Anteaters, who will come in as the two-time defending national champions, return to the Galen Center today in what should be another great MPSF matchup.
“They are a superb team in the middle,” Ferguson said. “They’ve got a lot of guys on that roster that have won a couple national championships.”
The matchup, which might determine who comes out as the No. 1 team in the country in next week’s rankings, begins at 7 p.m.