Women of Troy split matches against Utah, Colorado

Matt Karatsu | Daily Trojan
Wonder women · Junior outside hitter Niki Withers had four blocks in the team’s victory against Colorado on Saturday. They lost to Utah on Friday.

The No. 24 women’s volleyball team split their matches against No. 21 Utah and Colorado over the weekend. The Utes (16-7, 7-5 Pac-12) beat the Women of Troy in four sets on Friday. On Saturday, the Women of Troy swept Colorado (12-10, 4-8 Pac-12). 

The Women of Troy (15-8, 7-5 Pac-12) were led by freshman outside hitter Khalia Lanier with 31 kills, 20 digs and two aces. Sophomore outside hitter Alyse Ford put up 19 kills and two aces.

It looked like two different teams were playing on the weekend. The energy level varying between the matches was a big part of the difference.

“I saw energy, and that was good,” head coach Mick Haley said. “I thought we had more energy than our opponents.”

With only eight conference games left to play, USC will need to win out the season to vie for a spot at the top of the conference and good seeding for the NCAA tournament. At 7-4, USC is sitting at the middle of the conference, sharing the fifth spot with two other teams.

“Tonight’s 3-0 win will help us for two weeks on the road,” Haley said. “The conference schedule is very difficult.”

Against Colorado, the Women of Troy recorded 41 kills to the Buffaloes 44 kills.

“I worry a little bit about that,” Haley said. “But our production needs to be better.”

There are only three ways to manufacture points: kills, aces or blocks. A team can also get points by errors from the other team. While Haley was a touch concerned about the fact that the Women of Troy lost the attacking battle, they were +16 in aces, service errors, blocks and receiving errors. So, despite not recording more kills, they were able to top the other scoring categories and manufacture enough points for the win.

“That’s hard for a team to overcome when we win all four of those battles,” Haley said. 

While USC played better than Colorado for the majority of the match and would build significant leads early, Colorado was able to find their way back into the matches and get as close as 25-23. Senior captain libero Taylor Whittingham said the team does a great job starting off matches, but has difficulty closing games.

“It’s something we have to practice mentally and physically,” Whittingham said. “We have to play the same regardless of the score.”

USC’s blocking came from middle blockers senior Elise Ruddins and junior Jordan Dunn. Ruddins recorded 2.5 blocks, Dunn put up two and junior outside hitter Niki Withers put up four as well. Continuing to improve the team blocking will help USC moving forward.

“[Being] technically sound on our blocking,” Haley said. “We can score more points there.”

Continuing to be better at serving and blocking are keys for Haley as the team wraps up conference play in November. The team hit their targets, served with velocity and kept Colorado off of the net. All three combined for USC to keep a serving advantage against Colorado.

“That’s a really good passing team,” Haley said. “And we hurt them with our serve.”

USC will spend the next two weeks on the road. They head out to face Arizona and Arizona State this week and then head up to Stanford and Berkeley next week. With the long travel ahead, Haley is looking to remain positive with his team.

“We were strong enough to beat [Colorado] 3-0, and that’s a good thing,” Haley said. “Anything that’s not a drag on our team is a positive thing.”