USC women’s volleyball continued to thrive, extending its winning streak to nine matches, its longest since 2015. The Trojans defeated Colorado three sets to one Sunday afternoon at Galen Center. USC preserved its undefeated home record and took down its fourth Pac-12 opponent thus far.

Following a slow start out of the gate by falling 25-19 in the first set, the Trojans (10-4, 4-0 Pac-12) went on a roll, posting three consecutive set victories: 25-16, 25-20 and 25-15. As the match progressed, USC showed rapid improvement; the fourth set saw it achieve a very efficient .536 hitting percentage, as opposed to the first set’s .217 hitting percentage.

“You can never really sleep on our team because there’s just so many times where we will be down like 20 points, and then all of a sudden we go on a run,” said junior setter Mia Tuaniga. “I think that’s when our resilience started to kick in, and once that goes, I think we’re just flowing at that point.”

Tuaniga led the Trojans with five aces, 45 assists and a .600 hitting percentage in the victory. The duo of Tuaniga and senior outside hitter Skylar Fields was dynamic. Fields led the Trojans with 23 kills, thanks to Tuaniga’s assists, and added an efficient .459 hitting percentage.

“[Fields’] just like always calling for the ball, always open, and her window is so big,” Tuaniga said. “When I’m on the run, I know where she is. We’ve played together for a long time, so we kind of have a pretty good connection.”

In the first set, the Trojans and Buffaloes (9-6, 1-3) came out of the gates competitive and started the first set on a back-and-forth scoring affair, with 12 different ties and four lead changes. However, thanks to senior outside hitter Maya Tabron, who had 4 kills in the set, Colorado held off the Trojans to take the first set.

“[It was] a wake-up call for us as a team to get out there and handle business and not play around with Colorado because they’re a dangerous team that can go on with pretty long runs,” Fields said.

Despite the setback, USC came out swinging to start the second set. The Trojans scored six straight points following a 5-3 start to the set and never looked back. A service ace from graduate libero Ellie Snook put the cap on the dominant second set victory, evening the match at one apiece.

In the third set, the Buffaloes, down 15-11 and seeking a comeback, fell victim to a powerful kill by Fields following a long rally, giving USC the momentum to finish the set strong. The fourth set was all Trojans. USC allowed just 15 points, the fewest out of the four sets, and clinched the match victory on yet another Fields kill.

Following the game’s end, Head Coach Brad Keller talked about the need for improving defense going forward.

“We need to really figure out how to focus and dial in some stuff earlier, instead of how late we did this time. I think we were able to knock Colorado off their game as the match went on, and I don’t think we’re going to have that opportunity moving forward with teams,” Keller said. “The other thing we need to get better at is blocking the ball.”

USC and Colorado will meet again at the end of the month in Boulder. Keller emphasized his expectation for the Buffaloes to improve over the course of the season.

“[Colorado] is a very, very good team,” Keller said. “That team is going to win a lot of games in the Pac-12. That team is very dangerous and they’re extremely dangerous at home.”

The Trojans will travel to Arizona for their next two tests, the Sun Devils (15-1, 3-1) Friday at 6 p.m. and the Wildcats (5-10, 0-4) Sunday at noon.