It was a difficult weekend for No. 3 USC as it faced No. 8 Pepperdine in a home-and-home. After a hard-fought victory at Galen Center on Thursday, USC dropped a challenging match at Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday.

The Trojans (19-3, 7-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) sought to break a five-game losing streak to the Waves (15-7, 7-3) and to protect their previously undefeated record in conference play.

However, the Trojans were not off to a great start Thursday after losing the first set 25-23. Pepperdine’s redshirt junior outside hitter Ryan Barnett sealed the set with a kill and led the way for the Waves with 5 kills. Meanwhile, junior outside hitter Dillon Klein and redshirt senior opposite hitter Jack Deuchar both tallied 4 kills, helping USC keep the first set close.

“They were playing great volleyball. We missed a few serves, and we’re making some nice digs, but weren’t really getting any good transition sets and kills out of it,” Deuchar said.

The second set seemed off to the same start as the Trojans could not gain any momentum and exchanged points with Pepperdine, keeping it close. After exchanging points late in the set, the Trojans were on the brink of falling behind two sets to none as Pepperdine led 24-23.

However, an attack error by Pepperdine and a commanding block by freshman outside hitter Sterling Foley and graduate middle blocker Guy Genis helped USC take the second set 26-24.

“We had a good talk in the huddle. We just said, ‘Focus on our side, play our systems. We trained for this, we practiced for this. We know what to expect, and we just put our heads down,’” said freshman middle blocker Parker Tomkinson.

After taking an early lead in the third set, USC never trailed despite a 4-kill set by freshman outside hitter Cole Hartke, helping the Waves stay close behind.

Looking to close out the match, Deuchar got the fourth set started with a kill. However, after being subbed out early in the set, Deuchar did not see any action for the rest of the match. Klein, also subbed out, ended his night only hitting 0.048 — the worst of the season for him.

Despite Klein’s unusual, off night and the notable absences for USC’s attack in the last set, redshirt sophomore outside hitter Riley Haine and freshman outside hitter Christian Connell stepped up to close the match.

USC took a close fourth set 25-23, propelled by Tomkinson’s 5 kills and the steady play of the Trojan bench.

“It’s easy just to look at hitting numbers and say that’s the contribution, but [Haine] anchored our passing, and he got a ton of blocks and serves and all that good stuff, and then he had a couple of vital kills when we needed it,” Head Coach Jeff Nygaard said. “And then [Connell] went out immediately, put some serves in the play and dug three or four balls into succession and gave us opportunities.”

On Saturday in Malibu, USC was missing a key piece as Klein did not see any action.

“We had confidence in the guys that we put out there, and we were able to use a lot of different guys tonight. But I mean, [Klein]’s a special player,” Nygaard said.

USC managed to scrape by with a first-set win at 25-21. However, it was a tough set for both teams. Despite some early kills by USC, they only hit 0.083, and their last eight points came from Pepperdine errors.

However, the Waves took the second set 25-20.  With changes to their lineup — introducing redshirt freshman opposite hitter Matt Mazur into the match — Pepperdine started the road to victory. Despite putting some points together to try to claw back late in the set, the Trojans’ inability to gain momentum late in the set kept them from mounting a comeback.

Pepperdine took the lead in the match with a decisive 25-15 third set. The Trojans struggled all around, hitting -0.065 in the set. Pepperdine’s dominant performance at the net in the third — racking up six total team blocks — allowed them to tame a usually high-flying USC offense.

A better hitting performance in the fourth set by the Trojans, with .320 was not enough to subdue the Waves, as with 13 kills, 3 blocks and 4 service aces, Pepperdine took the match with a 25-21 fourth set.

“You have to have trust in your teammates, and you have to win as a team. Not a single person is going to take over and win the match. You can’t go off on an individual island and you can’t be negative either,” Foley said.

Nygaard is confident in his team’s ability to bounce back.

“The MPSF is in our hands. It’s on our side of the ball, so we just have to come back Monday and refocus,” Nygaard said.

The Trojans will be back in action against Stanford on Friday at Galen Center.