USC falls 0-3 to Pepperdine at Galen Center

The men’s volleyball team fell in three straight sets against the Pepperdine Waves at Galen Center Wednesday night. USC now stands at 1-3 on the seasonand in the MPSF conference. The Trojans have lost their last three matches, winning only two sets in those three losses.

USC came close to pushing the match to four sets, taking an 18-15 lead in the third, but ultimately service errors prevented the Trojans from finishing. After holding off five Pepperdine match points, USC had an opportunity to win the set leading 28-27. However, the Waves were able to climb back and secured the win 30-28. It was the first time  the Trojans were swept this season.

In the first two sets, it was neck-and-neck as the Trojans tried to play catch-up after falling behind a couple points early. Pepperdine took the first set 25-23 and would go on to dominate in the second set 25-17. 

USC struggled to hit the ball cleanly throughout the night. In the second set the Trojans’ struggles became really apparent as only 9 of their 17 points were from kills. The Trojans were outpaced by the Waves from the front row, finishing with a .277 hitting percentage while Pepperdine went for .348. 

Head coach Jeff Nygaard said he believed it wasn’t how the Trojans finished their attacks but rather the defensive struggle that put the ball in a tough position for hitters to follow through. 

“First contact we got to make sure we put it in a place where we have four attackers, guys have one-on-ones,” Nygaard said, “As our first contact improves, so does our hitting percentage.”

Despite USC’s tough outing, redshirt junior outside hitter Billy Fautleroy finished with 22 kills, hitting 41.7% from the field to lead the team. Faulteroy came within one hit of tying his career-high single match kills of 23. 

Coach Nygaard spoke highly of Fautleroy’s effort in the Trojans’ loss. 

“He stayed very calm, he was very fluid and he hit the ball high deep and hard,” Nygaard said “I think he’s capable of doing that every single night.”

Serving errors killed any chance for the Trojans to go on substantial runs. When it came down to cutting two to three-point leads, a ball in the net would result in another point for the Waves and ultimately tallied up to the two-point match deficit.

The Trojans started the season with a promising win over UCLA, defeating the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion for the first time since 2014. Nygaard said the biggest difference between the opener against UCLA and the Trojans’ last three losses has been the costly error points.

“The difference between those wins and these losses is one or two points that we earn,” said Nygaard. “Tonight, we had three aces and 15 [service] errors. We want to make sure that we are in a much better situation of not that many errors but the last time out we had over 20 service errors. Our serving is getting better.”

USC will face Pepperdine again on Friday in a potential revenge match in Malibu. Despite losing three in a row, Nygaard said it’s too early to worry about changing anything drastic. 

“I’m just going to stay patient,” Nygaard said. “We are going to break through pretty quickly with the work ethic and the competitiveness and the systems that we have. I think we are going to be playing some real good volleyball.”

USC will travel to Malibu to take on Pepperdine at 5:00 on Friday at Firestone Fieldhouse.