No. 6 men’s volleyball to host Concordia on senior night


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USC men's volleyball vs UCLA team. Libero squatted to bumps the ball, number 7 and number 1 supporting him. Blurry crowds in the back watching.
Graduate student libero Cole Paxson waits to bump the ball during USC’s match against UCLA last weekend. (Vincent Leo | Daily Trojan)

Following two tough losses to rival UCLA last weekend, No. 6 USC men’s volleyball looks to bounce back against Concordia Friday night at Galen Center. The match will open a two-match series, with the Trojans set to visit the Eagles Saturday night.

Last weekend, USC suffered just its fifth and sixth losses of the season when it dropped both matches to its crosstown rivals. After getting swept 3-0 at Galen Center last Thursday night, the Trojans fell to the Bruins 3-2 in Westwood Saturday.

One player who took the two losses to UCLA particularly hard was graduate student outside hitter/opposite hitter/setter Sam Kobrine. After spending five years in the Bruins’ program, Kobrine transferred to USC for his final year of eligibility following the 2021 season.

“It was definitely weird,” Kobrine said about playing against his former team. “They returned a lot of guys, so it was a lot of the same guys that I actually played with the previous year.” 

Adding to the awkwardness of the situation, Kobrine’s brother is on UCLA’s roster. However, Kobrine said he holds no hard feelings toward the Bruins’ volleyball program, and that he transferred for academic reasons.

“Just overall fit,” Kobrine said. “The graduate programs at ‘SC were more aligned with what I was trying to do.” 

For Kobrine and the Trojans to bounce back from their rough series last weekend, taking down a sneaky-good Concordia team is the first step. Despite having a losing record on the season, the Eagles boast four wins over top 25 opponents, including a sweep of a Stanford team that beat USC last month.

“Our biggest key is to just not underestimate anyone honestly,” Kobrine said. “Bringing it every single match is going to be key for us, because, I mean, there’s no bad teams in our league.” 

The match will also serve as senior night for the Trojans. For Kobrine and USC’s other four seniors — all starters/key contributors on the team — it will mark their final match in Galen Center. 

While Kobrine has only been at USC for one season, the remaining four — outside hitter Brandon Browning, graduate student libero Cole Paxson, setter Chris Hall and middle blocker Liam Schroeder — have all spent either four or five years in the program.

If USC wants to take down the Eagles, they will need their veterans to step up, as four of the five lead the team in at least one major statistical category. 

Hall leads the team in assists with a whopping 947,  900 more than the team member with the second most. Paxson leads the Trojans with 191 digs, Schroeder is first on the team with 70.0 blocks and Kobrine ties for the team lead with 26 service aces. 

Not to be outdone, Browning has racked up over 100 kills and digs on the season, ranking in the top four among USC players in both categories.

“There’s definitely a lot of things we can improve upon,” Kobrine said. “Just taking those lessons we learned from UCLA and applying them to Concordia and GCU, who are also great teams.” 

First serve between the Trojans and the Eagles is set for 7 p.m. at Galen Center Friday, with the second match set for the same time Saturday in Irvine.