Men’s volleyball battles but falls at UCLA

The No. 15 USC men’s volleyball team (0-6, 0-4 MPSF) fell 3-1 (25-27, 25-23, 21-25, 19-25) to No. 1 UCLA (7-0, 4-0 MPSF) Saturday night.

According to head coach Jeff Nygaard, his team showed more than just fight despite the loss.

“When other people see fight, I see capability, I see trust and I see confidence,” Nygaard said.

Senior outside hitter Alex Slaught had a team-high 13 kills while hitting a .233, three blocks and three digs. Sophomore opposite Jon Rivera had 12 kills, two aces and seven digs. Senior libero Brooks Varni and sophomore setter Jack Yoder both tied for a team-high eight digs.

Junior middle blocker Andy Benesh — in his first match of the season — recorded a team-best five blocks and six kills while hitting a .308. Benesh had previously not played because of a back injury.

Benesh’s return brings knowledge and maturity to the team on the court. Benesh spent the summer playing on both the U.S. Men’s Junior National Team and the U.S. Men’s National Team.

“He’s seen the next level,” Nygaard said. “He understands a lot of the game.”

Most noticeably, having Benesh back solidifies the Trojans’ blocking defense. Benesh’s 5 blocks against UCLA was the most recorded by a USC player so far this season.

“Andy’s a great player,” Nygaard said. “Having him back in the lineup will have us get to the next level.”

While the Men of Troy were playing in a somewhat hostile environment at Pauley Pavilion, they managed to hang in with the top team in the nation. The match had a total of 43 tie scores and 14 lead changes.

In the first set, both the Trojans and the Bruins went on short scoring runs to gain advantage over the other, but a UCLA kill and a USC attacking error put the match to the Bruins’ favor in extra time. UCLA came out dominant in the second set, creating a 9-3 lead over the Trojans. The lead stretched to 12-5 before USC began to battle its way back. USC went on an 11-4 scoring run to tie the score at 16-all. The match was tied six more times before a kill by Rivera and a solo block by Benesh sealed the match for the Trojans.

In both the third and fourth sets, the Men of Troy hung close with the Bruins, but toward the end of both sets the Bruins managed to pull away and take the sets and the match.

Even though the Trojans lost, Nygaard was happy to see the “emotional” and “situational maturity” that the team showed against the Bruins.

“It looked to me that the guys thought they could get it back,” Nygaard said. “I’m proud of the maturity they have shown.”

For Nygaard, the maturity is partially stemming from the growth that the team has shown since the start of the season.

“Our guys are doing a really good job of growing on a day to day basis,” Nygaard said.

While the team has been growing, there still are a number of things upon which Nygaard would like the team to improve, one of the things being the team’s thought process when they head back to the service line.

On Saturday, USC had 6 aces while UCLA had 11 aces. Both teams had 18 service errors. Nygaard would like for the team to better “understand the flow of the game” when behind the service line.

This week, the Men of Troy host No. 11 Pepperdine (4-1, 3-1 MPSF) and No. 8 Stanford (5-1, 3-1 MPSF) at the Galen Center.

For the team to notch their first win of the season, Nygaard said that the Trojans will have to be more intelligent on the court.

“I’d like to see greater mindfulness, greater understanding of the game [and] greater decision making,” Nygaard said. “We could just raise the level of volleyball across the board.”