Volleyball seeks to build on momentum

Over spring break, the men’s volleyball team (6-14, 4-12 MPSF) picked up two non-conference straight-set sweeps against Concordia and Holy Names, their first back-to-back victories of 2016.

They return to MPSF play this week as they head up to No. 5 Stanford (15-3, 13-3 MPSF) tonight and then over to No. 6 Pepperdine (11-7, 10-7 MPSF) on Saturday, both at 7 p.m.

Playing with a higher level of aggressiveness has a been a recent key for the team. It’s something senior libero Brooks Varni has seen help the team.

“I think we’re playing more free and loose,” Varni said. “That’s definitely coming from the coaches telling us to be more aggressive.”

Head coach Jeff Nygaard has been implementing this aggressiveness in all different aspects of the team’s play.

“We’re past the point of pettiness, we’re past the point of excuses,” Nygaard said. “We either buy in 100 percent now or we make this even harder.”

Most notably, Nygaard’s main goal for the team is to put in that aggression from behind the service line.

“We have the arms to affect other teams consistently,” Nygaard said. “But we have to smash through the hurdles that prohibit us from being aggressive at that point.”

When it comes to serving, a 1-to-3 ace-to-error ratio means you’re serving well, and that’s what the team will serve in practice. Nygaard notes that is a more assertive stance than they typically serve.

Nygaard highlighted how a high level of serving will keep the Trojans on point against the highly ranked opponents in their upcoming matches.

“Medium serves, from this point moving forward, do nothing but put [the opponent] in a rhythm, you don’t want good teams in a rhythm,” Nygaard said. “You want to disrupt that rhythm and there’s only one way to do that, and that’s to serve aggressive.”

Sophomore setter Jack Yoder said the team has already adopted an overall assertive mindset.

“That aggressive nature allows us to go out there and play the way we know how to play,” Yoder said.

It’s a nature that’s allowing the team to work together on the court well.

“I think we’re definitely starting to build that chemistry on the court that we’ve been looking for all season,” Yoder said. “We definitely know our strengths and weaknesses.”

That chemistry showed in the Trojans’ wins over the break. In order to beat Stanford and then beat Pepperdine again, USC will have to focus on their side of the court and serve tough to take on their top-ranked opponents.

The last time the Trojans faced the Waves, USC upset Pepperdine for their first win of the season. Sophomore opposite Jon Rivera tallied a career-high 23 kills.

Later that week, the Trojans fell in four sets to the Cardinal. Rivera led USC with 13 kills. In the fourth set of that match, the Trojans only scored 8 points, their lowest in a non-fifth set since rally scoring era began in 2001.

The USC team playing now is one that’s much different from what it was in January. While the record might not be entirely reflective, they’ve been improving and on the verge of breaking their potential.

“We’ve been talking all along about peaking at the end and now we have the opportunity to do so,” Nygaard said. “So it’s in our hands, if we win the next six, which on paper it’s a challenge, but we totally could.”

Through this season, Nygaard has managed to remain optimistic. He’s eagerly looking forward to taking his team on the road and pushing them to play their best to close out the season.

“If we win those six, I think that puts us in a good position to get into the tournament,” Nygaard said. “Would you want to play a team that was 4-12 that’s won the last six against top-ranked opponents in the playoffs? Absolutely not. I think that’d be great. I could handle that.”