Women of Troy head north for tournament

This past weekend, USC’s women’s volleyball team held the annual USC Classic tournament at the Galen Center, and it did not have the results that it was looking for. With a 6-0 record heading into the tournament, the Women of Troy dropped both their matches against Texas A&M and the 10th-ranked Florida Gators.

 

The 10th-ranked Women of Troy (6-2) hope to have more success in their upcoming tournament, the Pac-12/Big Ten Showcase.

Against Texas A&M, the Women of Troy had their hands full with the Aggies’ strong middle blocker play and tenacious defense. USC had a two-to-one set lead going into the fourth, but Texas A&M took over. In the last two sets, the Aggies held USC under a .150 hitting percentage, which allowed them to take the decisive fifth set 16-14.

It didn’t get any easier for the Women of Troy, when they faced Florida. Florida swept USC three sets to zero but every set was decided by three points or less. In the third set alone, there were six lead changes and 13 tied scores.

During practice this week, head coach Mick Haley emphasized passing as well as getting sophomore outside hitter Ebony Nwanebu more repetitions, since she has only been back for roughly a week.

Senior setter Hayley Crone spoke about this week’s practice, stressing the importance of improvement for each player as well as the team.

“We are working really hard in practice before we leave,” Crone said. “We have been working on our individual skills as well as everyone working on being smarter.”

Going into the third week of the season, the Women of Troy find themselves on the road once again in the Pac-12/Big Ten Showcase up in Seattle. This tournament features Maryland, Washington and last year’s national runner-up, Wisconsin.

Haley seemed daunted by the Women of Troy’s schedule.

“It doesn’t feel like such a good thing right now and we’d like to have them fighting through it every day,” Haley said. “Our conference is tough, everyone is 8-1 or 7-2, and it’s going to be a dog fight.”

Aside from an extremely tough schedule, Haley continued to emphasize that his team is very young and still learning how to play with one another.

Haley played middle blocker Jordan Dunn, outside hitter Brittany Abercrombie and outside hitter Lauryn Gillis, all of whom are freshmen, on the court together at the USC Classic at one point.

“It doesn’t feel like you are playing with freshmen,” Abercrombie said. “[Dunn and Gillis] are both so mature volleyball-wise.”

This young USC team’s first test of the tournament will be on Thursday night against No. 4 Wisconsin, who has continued to improve since last year’s success, starting the season 8-0.

Wisconsin returns most of its starters, including All-American honorable mention Ellen Chapman. Chapman, a 6-foot-4 outside hitter, will cause a lot of pressure on the defense. Abercrombie will have the task of slowing down Chapman up at the net.

The Badgers utilize a balanced offensive attack to win their matches, with five players averaging more than two kills per set. Chapman leads those with 3.56 kills per set. Wisconsin middle blocker Dominique Thompson, meanwhile, leads the team with 1.04 blocks per set.

In the second game of the upcoming tournament on Friday, Sept. 19, the Women of Troy will take on the Maryland Terrapins, who have a 7-2 overall record.

Most of the seven wins that the Terps have accumulated were against subpar opponents, and the two losses came at the hands of Radford and Appalachian State. Outside hitter Adreené Elliott leads Maryland with 3.93 kills per set.

This weekend will be crucial for USC to get back on track and find a team rhythm before Pac-12 play begins.