No. 16 USC women’s volleyball will take to the Galen Center court Thursday night, with one of the hottest squads in the country hoping to make a run at the NCAA Tournament with their highest seeding in seven years.

After winning 13 of 14 games to end the regular season — the only blemish of the run being a three-set loss to undefeated No. 1 Nebraska on Nov. 16 — the Trojans (24-6, 15-5 Big Ten) will host their first NCAA games since 2018 as the No. 4 seed in the Lexington region. 

Though USC has made 41 season-ending tournaments — including the last four in a row — it hasn’t made it out of the second round since 2017. This year has notably been the strongest season in sixth-year Head Coach Brad Keller’s tenure, as his high-powered squad hopes to make a deep run in this year’s tournament. 

USC will host its first match against Princeton University (18-6, 11-3 Ivy League) on Thursday night while Cal Poly (25-7, 14-4 Big West) faces the highly favored No. 25 BYU (22-8, 10-8 Big 12). The Trojans are very likely to see the Cougars in a second-round matchup Friday, with the winner advancing to regionals Dec. 11 or 12.

Trojans fell the Spartans

The Trojans head into the NCAA Championship after leaving the state of Michigan covered in scrapes and bruises after two back-to-back skirmishes against Michigan State (18-12, 8-12 Big Ten) and Michigan (21-10, 11-9) last week. Both matches relied heavily on the Trojans’ hardcore offense drowning both opponents in kills and blocks, to varying degrees of success.

Their aggressive offense worked wonders on Michigan State, leading to a 3-0 Trojan sweep across set scores of 25-23, 25-18, 25-19 on Nov. 26 at Breslin Student Events Center, marking USC’s 23rd win of the season. The game highlighted the vicious Trojan offense, notching 48 kills and 10.5 blocks to the Spartans’ 33 and 6.

The first set kicked off with a point for USC after an attack error from Michigan State junior outside hitter Karolina Staniszewska, setting up a ping-pong of points in which the score tied 10 times.

Major offensive plays, like redshirt sophomore middle blocker Leah Ford’s pair of kills and clean solo block to clinch the set for the Trojans, were only possible thanks to the well-oiled machine of freshman setter Reese Messer popping heaters from the back row. She covered her defensive and offensive bases while setting up the front row, boasting 39 assists across the match alongside three kills, three blocks and seven digs.

Shaken from the open dialogue that began the game, the Trojans entered set two with a fury. USC kicked off with an early lead that wasn’t solidified until senior libero Megan Verbiest stepped forward as reliable down-court support with a series of serves that culminated in an ace to bring the lead to 15-9. 

As freshman libero Taylor Deckert held the backline with Verbiest alongside another service ace from senior outside hitter Dani Thomas-Nathan, the Trojan offense totaled 18 kills in the set, seven of which were fired by freshman opposite hitter Abigail Mullen, who totaled 11 kills along with 10 digs throughout the game. 

Michigan State attempted a creeping comeback with yet another kill from Staniszewska, but redshirt sophomore outside hitter London Wijay slashed that dream with a kill, tying with Mullen for most total kills during the game.

Senior middle blocker Rylie McGinest exemplified the Trojans’ warfare-style offense in the third set with five kills alongside another three from redshirt junior outside hitter Adonia Faumuina. Those five from McGinest only made up half of the 10 she scored against the Spartans, marking a season-high offensive performance. Wijay ended the game with a tip, a gentle end to an offensive free-for-all.

USC grapples with Wolverines for win

However, Michigan fought even harder than the Spartans when it faced the Trojans two days later at Crisler Center, forcing a fourth set, though the Trojans eventually prevailed at 25-23, 25-22, 23-25, 25-14. With the win, USC tied Purdue (24-6, 15-5) for third in the Big Ten standings.

Throughout the game, the Wolverines fought kicking and screaming, pushing the Trojan offense into reckless territory in a slew of service and attack errors for both teams with USC’s 0.313 accuracy to Michigan’s 0.207.

The first set alone had five service errors for the Trojans, though the back row galvanized to meet the challenge of Michigan’s superior serving. Deckert and Wijay banded together for 12 total digs out of USC’s 19 total, an impressive show of defense to supplement 0.303 accuracy on 33 swings throughout the set. 

Messer was the beating heart of not only the set, but the entire Trojan stay in Michigan. She totaled 12 assists in the first set alone Friday and 87 across the two games in the Great Lakes State, even supplementing the defense with 10 digs across the Michigan match. Her defensive skills made the difference in a 25-23 final score, one of four tight set scores against Michigan.

Set two brought out the best in Ford, recent second-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, who needed both her defensive and offensive prowess to stave off the Wolverine offense. 

Two rounds of her back-to-back blocks helped build an early lead for the Trojans, though it didn’t hold long in a set with five lead changes and nine ties across the 47 total points. Nevertheless, the Trojans won with a two-point lead through a kill from sophomore middle blocker Mia Tvrdy. 

USC’s offense faltered most in the third set with a hitting accuracy of 0.226. The Wolverines took quick advantage of the Trojans’ slip in attack efficiency with 15 kills on 33 swings on a sufficient rate of 0.333. 

Despite Wijay’s heroic efforts after putting in six kills, it wasn’t enough for the Trojans to pull through. USC nipped at Michigan’s heels until the final two points, a service error from Mullen and a kill from graduate Wolverine outside hitter Allison Jacobs, forcing the Trojans into a fourth set.

The peril lit a fire under the Trojans. Wijay took her offensive efforts even further, amassing another 7 kills on 0.700 accuracy and no errors. Her clean record brought the team’s hitting percentage in the fourth set up to 0.444 compared to Michigan’s dismal 0.107. The Trojans never trailed and took the last four points for themselves through a service error from Jacobs, two kills and a block to close out the regular season with a bang.

USC will look to carry its momentum from its final two regular-season wins in a first-round tournament bout with Princeton on Thursday at 7 p.m.