After a dominant 25-11, 25-15, 25-14 victory against Central State University on Wednesday, USC men’s volleyball will look to continue its undefeated start to the season over the weekend. The Trojans will conclude their road trip to Ohio, which began with Wednesday’s match against Central State, by taking part in the Big Ten Challenge in Columbus. USC will face No. 13 Ohio State on Friday and No. 17 Penn State on Saturday.

USC (6-0) will enter Friday’s match hoping to end a five-loss streak — dating back to 2019 — against the Buckeyes (3-3). The Trojans will face an Ohio State team that has started the season struggling with a winning percentage of 0.500. 

However, the Buckeyes should not be discounted. Ohio State is coming off a massive 3-1 win against No. 3 UCLA (4-1), which was No. 1 at the time of the match. Head Coach Jeff Nygaard emphasized respecting every opponent. 

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“There’s nobody you can overlook. There’s no such thing as a game that’s a ‘gimme’ anymore,” Nygaard said. 

USC will face an attack led by junior opposite hitter Shane Wetzel and freshman outside hitter Stanislaw Chacinski. 

Wetzel, the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Freshman of the Year in 2023, leads the Buckeyes in kills and kills per set. Meanwhile, Chacinski, second on the team in kills and kills per set, has 51 kills across his first six matches played and looks to build upon his solid start to his collegiate career. 

After facing Ohio State, the Trojans will culminate their busy week with a match against Penn State the following day. The Trojans will face a Penn State (0-4) team that will be coming off a Friday night match against UCLA. 

Regardless of how they fare against UCLA, the Nittany Lions will be hungry for a win as they have lost their first four matches of the year, all against ranked opponents. With only two sets won in their first four matches, Penn State will need to be sharp against a blazing USC. 

Penn State will rely on redshirt senior outside hitter Will Kuhns who leads the team in kills and kills per set. Despite the team’s poor start, Kuhns was named the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Offensive Player of the Week after he hit .488 and averaged 3.57 kills against ranked opponents in Penn State’s first two matches of the year. 

Redshirt junior middle blocker Owen Rose, who leads the team in blocks, could also give the team a boost as he sits 11th in the nation in blocks per set. 

Regardless of their opponents’ records, the Trojans are preparing for two tough match-ups. 

“These are ranked teams. We’ve only seen Princeton and [California State University, Northridge] that have been ranked, and those went pretty easily for us,” said freshman middle blocker Parker Tomkinson. “But I think both of these teams will be a lot better offensively and defensively, so we want to step up our game.” 

USC will look to continue its strong start, especially at the net. The Trojans lead the NCAA in blocks per set with 3.525. 

This blocking dominance has been a team effort. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Noah Roberts sits second in blocks per set in the NCAA and leads the Trojans with 29 blocks. Tomkinson sits closely behind him with 25 blocks on the year, while junior outside hitter Dillon Klein was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Defensive Player of the Week after his career-high, nine-block performance against CSUN on Jan. 22. 

Klein noted the commitment the team made to blocking before the season started. 

“We’ve been really disciplined at the net, especially against CSUN, we had a solid amount of blocks. It’s one thing we did focus on very heavily in the months before the season, and it’s really shown,” Klein said. 

Attacking has been another area of strength. Led by Klein, Roberts and Tomkinson, USC sits ninth in kills in the NCAA. Tomkinson has started his collegiate career impressively; He sits third in kills for USC and recorded a career-high 13 kills against CSUN. His impressive .706 hitting percentage earned him the MPSF Offensive Player of the Week award. 

However, the heavy travel and packed schedule the Trojans face pose a challenge for continuing their early success. 

“The challenge is to be able to fly three time zones and still perform at a high level,” Nygaard said, “But I’m confident our guys are going to be able to go in and do what they do every day.” 

The Trojans will kick off the pair of ranked match-ups on Friday at 4 p.m. at Covelli Center against Ohio State.