No. 14 USC women’s volleyball suffered a crushing five-set loss to Cal Poly in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday. The Trojans faced the unranked Mustangs, who had upset the No. 22-ranked and No. 5-seeded BYU in a similar fashion the night before, hoping to avoid another second-round elimination.  

The loss came after the Trojans’ (25-7, 15-5 Big Ten) first-round sweep over Princeton (18-7, 11-3 Ivy League), marking the Trojans’ fourth straight season that they have failed to advance past the second round under Head Coach Brad Keller’s tenure. 

After being down two sets with none with their best hitters hitting 0.200 or less, the trajectory of the tournament felt all too familiar. However, USC bounced back by taking the next two sets while being led offensively by sophomore middle blocker Mia Tvrdy and freshman opposite hitter Abigail Mullen. Despite the Trojans’ comeback, a six-point run by the Mustangs (27-7, 14-4 Big West) in the fifth pushed Cal Poly to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.

“Aw shit. I’ve gone through it now three times or four times,” Keller said in a postgame news conference. “It’s tough when you’re not winning it. … The feeling is all the same.” 

Mustangs start hot

The Mustangs came out strong to open set one, getting to an early 5-1 lead off of Trojan mistakes. Cal Poly continued to widen the gap, only allowing for one score tie and zero lead changes throughout the first set. Redshirt sophomore outside hitter London Wijay, USC’s leading scorer, only had one kill off of 11 attempts while hitting -0.091 in the set.

However, it was the countless service errors that would prove fatal for the Trojans. With USC giving up six errors in just set one, the Mustangs cruised to a 25-19 win. Overall, USC had 15 service errors compared to Cal Poly’s nine. 

The second set saw another dominant performance from Cal Poly, continuing to hold USC to a 0.145 hitting percentage. While she got off to a slow start in the first, Mullen notched five of a game-high 17 kills. However, the Mustangs continued to outblock USC, registering three more blocks to bring the team total to six blocks overall to the Trojans’ four and a half. 

“They’re exactly who we thought they were, and they just executed at an extremely high level,” Keller said. 

Down two sets to none, USC was able to bring the momentum to its side in the third. Tvrdy made her first appearance in the match, going for five kills on six attempts for a hitting percentage over 0.800. Senior outside hitter Dani Thomas-Nathan came up with two aces for the Trojans, with her second propelling USC to win 25-20. 

The momentum remained on USC’s side in the fourth set. After an early back-and-forth, a tool off the block from redshirt junior outside hitter Adonia Faumuina kept the Trojans’ lead. The Mustangs continued to produce unforced errors, followed by another block by Mullen and Ford — bringing the Trojans’ match total to 11.5. USC closed out the fourth set following another Mustang error, 25-14.

‘We fell behind’

After their two-set comeback, the Trojans had the momentum heading into the fifth. While USC and Cal Poly traded points early to open the set, it was a six-point serving run by Mustang sophomore outside hitter Kendall Beshear that turned the tide. Despite slowly crawling back, USC failed to recover from an eight-point gap in which Cal Poly took the fifth set 15-7. 

The loss brings a bittersweet ending for the team, as the group of seniors leaving this season was Keller’s first official group of recruits after taking over the program in 2020. Among the group is senior libero Gala Trubint, Keller’s very first recruit. Trubint leaves the program as the ninth player in program history to surpass 1,400 digs.

“I’m incredibly proud of everyone stepping up this year. Mentally, physically, our level of play has jumped tremendously,” Trubint said in a postgame news conference. 

For Keller, the loss provides motivation for the team that will be returning in the spring to prepare ahead of spring matches and next season.

“I’m very, very excited about what the future is going to hold [for] this program,” Keller said. “If this is not motivation, then I don’t know what is.”