USC drops doubleheader against GCU

The No. 12 Trojans fell to No. 5 Grand Canyon University Friday night, leaving them 0-2 in their home series against the Antelopes. 

The Trojans opened Friday’s match with a 25-21 win in the first set but were unable to capitalize on their momentum, dropping the next three sets to the Antelopes. Even big games from freshman outside hitter Dillon Klein (15 kills) and graduate outside hitter Kevin Kobrine (14 kills) were unable to help the Trojans secure the match.

“We’re disappointed. They’re one of the top teams, but we are definitely at their level, so we’re definitely very disappointed,” Kobrine said. “It’s tough to be happy after a loss.”

The Trojans’ strong opening set came after a slow start Wednesday that saw USC drop the first two sets before they were able to get on the board with a 28-26 victory in set three. 

“We had a really good game plan for game one, but I felt like, in particular, we were a little slow on the block to go against their fast pace build-up,” said Head Coach Jeff Nygaard. “We knew we had to be able to get out there quicker, so we worked on getting that guy, our area two blocker, to make a faster move and start a little bit wider.”

While the changes worked for the Trojans to start off Friday’s game, GCU was able to adjust and win the next three sets by a thin margin, going 25-22, 25-20 and 25-22.

“We played clean volleyball for the first set,” Kobrine said. “We had flashes of greatness in sets two, three and four, we just couldn’t put the whole thing together.”

Nygaard said it was the small mistakes that kept the Trojans from building their lead early on, despite keeping the score close.

“They were just a little bit cleaner on the pushes and the throws and whatnot. We didn’t make as many digs on those, or touches,” Nygaard said. “We let them off the hook a couple times from the service line, and we let them get back into the game from the service line. We took our foot off the gas pedal.”

According to Kobrine, losing close sets is not reflective of a team’s talent or skill level.

“It’s just grit and hard work. Being relentless on defense, getting the balls that people think are down, just chasing them down and showing heart,” Kobrine said. “That’s the difference between one and two-point games.”

A bright spot in the Trojans’ two losses was their defense: USC was able to hold GCU to a .207 hitting percentage Wednesday and to .284 on Friday, compared to GCU’s season average of .357.

“We are blocking and defending pretty well,” Nygaard said. “It’s just that consistency piece so that our block and defense can actually do its job at a higher level.”

The losses against GCU dropped USC to 6-6 overall on the season, and 0-2 in conference play. The Trojans will look to bounce back next week when they host a doubleheader against No. 9 Stanford. 

“At the end of the day I think we are going to come in even harder on Monday,” said freshman setter Ryan Sprague. “We’re ready to work because Stanford, we know a bunch of those guys on that team, it’s a rivalry game in every sport, so we’ve just got to be ready for Stanford and use this as motivation because I don’t ever want to feel like this again.”

Still, the Trojans are confident in their ability to succeed down the stretch.

“We’re all bought into the process, we’re all bought into what we are doing, and we know full well that we have potential to be realized,” Nygaard said. “We’re committed to making sure that when we’re at the end of the season we are at the peak of that point, and we’re going to be really dangerous.”

The Trojans will return to the court Friday 7 p.m. to take on Stanford at Galen Center.