Women of Troy drop first three matches in tournament

Tal Volk | Daily Trojan
Not quite set · Former setter Baylee Johnson’s absence has left four players competing for the starting setter position as the season begins.

The women’s volleyball team hosted the Baden Tournament at the Galen Center for their first games of the season this weekend. At the tournament, the Trojans faced Marquette on Friday and Santa Clara and UC Irvine on Saturday. The Women of Troy lost all three matches.

The Trojans came out strong in their first set against Marquette, even without their key starters from last year. Despite a strong start; the team would go on to lose to both Marquette University and Santa Clara in four sets and then to UCI in three sets.

“We felt that with these matches, we lost them,” head coach Mick Haley said. “The other teams didn’t beat us.”

The Trojans had more than 20 attacking errors and more than 10 service errors in two out of their three matches. With that, they were handing out points without making the opposing team earn them.

Without former setter Baylee Johnson, who is academically ineligible, to control the speed of the team’s attacks and flow of their offense, USC’s need for a consistent setter has become evident. Along with returning senior setter Alice Pizzasegola, junior transfer Nikki Leonard and junior Reni Meyer-Whalley, Haley has also brought in senior Alexa Strange, who is most known for her skill on the sand for the beach volleyball team, all to compete for the starting setter position. Haley was constantly rotating all of his setters in the three games, looking for one that can do the job.

“We have four people vying for position, and nobody’s winning,” Haley said. “It’s hard to play during the season and have a competition, but now we are in it, and we have to deal with it.”

The uncertainty at setter has only been one of the problems Haley was forced to deal with during this tournament. The team’s passing was not as strong as it was last season throughout the games, causing the setter’s timing to suffer and ultimately leaving the hitters to settle for roll shots in order to salvage plays.

“The setting and the passing are critical,” Haley said. “We have a bunch of players that we need to decide who is going to play what position and score.”

While USC’s struggles were too much to overcome in this tournament, they had key moments that showed the great potential they have. One of the brightest stars of the tournament was freshman outside hitter Khalia Lanier. In the second and third match, Lanier had a total of 30 kills and 15 digs.

“I thought Lanier finally got over her stage fright that got her [against Marquette],” Haley said. “She took a pretty good load on [against Santa Clara], which was good to see. She is going to be a workhorse for us. We just need to rally around her play.”

During the game against Santa Clara, Lanier led USC’s attempt at a comeback in the fourth set as she scored three points in a row off a kill, a block and another kill. Lanier’s play has been reminiscent of former standout Samantha Bricio’s incredible performance last season.

At one point during the Santa Clara game, Haley had to hold Lanier back from diving into the stands on a play for the second time in the match. Her passion and drive proved that she came to USC to play and give every match 100 percent of her effort.

Even with Lanier’s positive influence, the team suffered a set loss by a margin of 14 points, the worst loss for the team in years.

“We are at USC, and we aren’t prone to be underdogs,” Haley said. “We are prone to expect to win, and this is very disappointing right now.”

More than anything, Haley wants the team’s starting setter to be decided and for the team to move on from this tournament and progress into the team he knows they can become.

The Trojans will host the Radisson Classic next weekend. They will play Kentucky on Friday at 8 p.m. On Saturday,they will play the University of Northern Iowa at 10 a.m. and Creighton at 8 p.m., respectively.