Volleyball prepares for Cal Baptist series
The men’s volleyball team will play a road-and-home series against No. 15 Cal Baptist on Thursday and Saturday. On Thursday, the Trojans (3-13, 3-11) will head out to Riverside to take on the Lancers (8-11, 3-11), and USC will host them at the Galen Center on Saturday. The Trojans and Lancers are tied in MPSF standings.
The Trojans are coming off of losses to No. 9 UC Santa Barbara (17-10, 13-9 MPSF) and rivals No. 4 UCLA (15-3, 11-3 MPSF). Against the Bruins, junior outside hitter Lucas Yoder led all hitters with 17 kills, while boasting a team-high .516 hitting percentage. Despite the personal success, Yoder cared more about his team.
“I don’t care [about the performance],” Yoder said. “We lost.”
It is that team mentality that has been consistent for Troy all season. Through the ups and downs and the unforgiving record, head coach Jeff Nygaard has kept a positive outlook on the team’s resilience to play for each other, but there’s still a piece missing on the court.
“This team absolutely needs [a leader]. We need one guy to step up for a season,” Nygaard said. “Once we have that [guy], we’re in a better place.”
When a player has a standout night, like Yoder against UCLA, that helps the team out, but when it isn’t consistent, there’s no concrete way for the team to grow from it.
“You don’t step up for a day, you step up for a season,” Nygaard said.
Before the Santa Barbara loss, the Trojans had an eight-day break between matches. The team took some of its time off to bond together.
“They came back and were mentally cleansed,” Nygaard said. “There was way more team chemistry from that trip, so moving forward, we are looking at implementing a lot more team bonding.”
It’s been a common theme all season that Nygaard sees much more potential and success for his team than what its record reflects.
“We have the ability in our gym to control whatever happens on the other side of the net,” Nygaard said.
But while the team has the ability, they aren’t doing it consistently enough and that reflects in their record, according to Nygaard.
In the series against CBU, Nygaard is looking for his team to play at the potential he knows that they can.
“I’m looking for the team to reset, refocus, reenergize and come out and win two matches,” Nygaard said.
Nygaard’s mentality is just one of the aspects that has kept the Trojans optimistic despite the challenges they’ve faced this season.
“It’s been a tough season, but it’s a privilege to represent USC, so we know that we have to battle every day,” Yoder said. “We know we have a chance to beat every opponent we play. Our team is not lacking in anything, we’re just not getting the results we desire.”
The Trojans still have 11 matches left before the MPSF Tournament. The team has time to hit their stride and make something out of their season.
“Of course I want to make the playoffs. I want to do some damage while I’m in the playoffs,” Nygaard said. “We’re going to maintain that mentality and continue on that path. I absolutely believe that’s possible.”
Before they can think about the playoffs though, they’ll have to first focus on sweeping the Lancers. Both teams are currently on a losing streak, USC with two losses and CBU with four.
A strong offensive performance should help carry the Trojans to victory over the Lancers.
The series will start at Riverside on Thursday night at 7 p.m. and then come back to Los Angeles Saturday night at 7 p.m.