From the moment senior libero Gala Trubint laid out for a stellar dig that would help women’s volleyball win its first point of the season, it was clear Friday night wouldn’t be a standard affair.

While the No. 21 Trojans (2-0) were heavy favorites going into the matchup against the University of Denver, the home-opening-record 5,606 fans that packed Galen Center provided loud cheers for Trubint’s initial diving play to start the season.

“Being able to feed off the energy from the crowd is great for the momentum of our team … I love playing in Galen,” said freshman opposite hitter Abigail Mullen in a postgame press conference.

While the game wasn’t entirely pretty for USC, who battled in extra points to win the first set 28-26, the Trojans took down the visiting Pioneers (1-1) in straight sets.

Keller not worried about first-set struggles

USC’s opener didn’t start smoothly. Service errors and miscues gave Denver confidence early, a reminder that the Pioneers beat the Trojans in five sets the last time the two faced off in 2021. 

Mullen stabilized the offense with her 6 kills in the first set, and she finished with a team-high 13 kills.

After a very tense back and forth for the final few points, sophomore middle blocker Mia Tvrdy capped USC’s three-point run with a kill to win the set 28-26.

“We stopped bleeding pretty quickly, and then we’re still trying to figure out how to point score,” said Head Coach Brad Keller. “We’re not there yet, but we’re closer than we think, and if we can combine those two things, we can end up being a pretty darn good team.” 

Trojan efficiency is key to victory

The Trojans played a much cleaner game in the second set. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter London Wijay sparked a four-point run on her serves, getting USC to a two-point lead in the set that they never gave back.

Freshman setter Reese Messer was a great playmaker all night, finishing with 36 assists. After an ace from Messer, senior middle blocker Rylie McGinest slammed a kill for a 25-16 set win.

The Trojans were looking to shut down Denver in the third set. USC jumped ahead early, leading 7-3. Denver tried to crawl back, but McGinest dominated at the net to stop Denver in its tracks with an impressive hit percentage of 0.571. 

“Can’t say enough about how good Rylie played,” Keller said. “An All-American middle blocker is hitting probably 0.390 … If she’s doing that, I would like her to continue that.” 

Mullen slammed down her 13th kill of the night to finish off the set and seal the sweep.

The Trojans later took down the Loyola Marymount Lions in four sets on Sunday and will prepare for the Trojan Invitational that begins Friday. USC will begin invitational play against UC Santa Barbara (2-0) Friday at 7 p.m. at Galen Center and follow that up with games against University of San Diego (2-0) and Creighton University (0-2) over the following two days.