On Wednesday morning, USC men’s volleyball arrived for the MPSF Tournament in Provo, Utah as a confident third seed. Four days later, the Trojans left having proved their perseverance on the tournament stage.

While No. 5 USC’s (19-7, 9-5 MPSF) journey through the tournament — a quarterfinal sweep, a five-set semifinal win and a four-set loss to No. 1 UCLA (29-1, 13-1) — did not end with a conference title, it did end with the program’s first NCAA tournament berth in seven years.

“They chose the word ‘resilience,’” USC Head Coach Jeff Nygaard said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “We felt confident that our body of work this year merited the opportunity.”

USC beats Vanguard, Pepperdine to advance to final

That work began Wednesday night against sixth-seeded Vanguard University (12-14, 8-6), when the Trojans hit a staggering .477 in a clinical straight-set sweep, 25-19, 25-13, 25-21. 

Outside hitters sophomore Sterling Foley and senior Dillon Klein led the way, with Foley pacing all attackers with 12 kills and Klein adding 10 on .500 hitting. Freshman outside hitter Cooper Keane chipped in nine kills on .400 hitting, and junior setter Caleb Blanchette orchestrated the attack with 32 assists.

The Trojans looked every bit the part of a contender against Vanguard, out-digging the Lions 19-10 and committing just nine attack errors across three sets. 

However, the real test came Thursday.

Second-seeded Pepperdine (23-6, 13-1) had swept USC just five days earlier to close the regular season and also defeated the Trojans in the 2025 MPSF title match. But USC flipped the script anyway with a five-set thriller behind career nights from Foley and sophomore middle blocker Parker Tomkinson. 

Pepperdine took the opening set, but USC responded by claiming the next two, pulling away late in both frames and using a strong defensive effort — including holding the Waves to .130 hitting in the third — to seize control of the match.

Then Pepperdine pushed back: The Trojans peaked at 15-12 in the fourth, but the Waves fought off elimination with a 25-22 win, forcing a fifth set.

The final frame was a fistfight, featuring four ties and four more lead changes. With the match hanging at 14-14, Klein rolled the Pepperdine block to put USC at match point, 15-14. Then sophomore outside hitter Cole Hartke — the Waves’ star who finished with 26 kills — sent his next attempt long, sending the Trojans to the final.

Foley posted a career high of 19 kills, seven blocks and 23.5 points on .429 hitting, while Tomkinson added 13 kills and a career-best 12 blocks on .632 hitting for his first double-double.

“We have a deep team,” Nygaard said. “When we roll things out, we go deep to our bench, and everyone goes, ‘Wow, did you expect that?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, that’s what they’ve been trained to do.’ We get to see it every single day in practice.”

The Trojans totaled 19.5 blocks, slowing Pepperdine enough to secure the win, and hit .320 as a team to secure their second straight MPSF title match appearance.

Championship bid comes up short against UCLA

Saturday’s championship against the Bruins was a fight from the opening serve. USC made a strong offensive showing, hitting .259 to UCLA’s .243, and the Trojans out-dug the Bruins 32-28 and out-blocked them 12-7. But 23 service errors proved to be the Trojan’s downfall.

The first set featured 11 ties, but the Bruins won the last two points to take it 25-23. USC answered with a 25-22 second-set win behind 4.5 blocks and a suffocating defensive effort that held UCLA to .087 hitting. Foley turned in five kills on six swings without an error in the frame, while Klein added two service aces.

Then came the third set: 18 ties, six lead changes and, ultimately, a 28-26 UCLA victory. Foley had seven kills in the set alone, Klein added five and the Trojans hit .351 as a team. 

The fourth set tested USC’s resolve most of all. The Trojans trailed by as many as six points at 15-9 and again at 16-10. But they fought back to tie the score at 17, then again at 24, pushing the Bruins to the brink. Klein, Foley and Smith each logged three kills in the final frame. Yet a narrow 26-24 decision — after 11 ties and five lead changes — sealed USC’s fate.

“That’s been a talking point: What can we do to lock in one more point, make one more good decision, one more effort play, one more good read?” Nygaard said. “There’s just so many ‘one mores’ that we can do.”

Trojans gear up for NCAA tournament

When the NCAA selection show aired Sunday afternoon, USC’s name appeared among five at-large berths in the expanded 12-team field. 

“The MPSF is the toughest conference in the nation this year,” Nygaard said. “Three matches against UCLA, three matches against Pepperdine — it’s the crucible of top-tier programs. So we know we can grind.”

The upcoming tournament marks USC’s 16th NCAA appearance and the program’s first since 2019. USC is 17-11 all-time in NCAA tournament matches but hasn’t won a national tournament game since defeating Lewis University in 2012; the last time the Trojans appeared in the bracket in 2019, they fell to Lewis in four sets in the opening round.

“The vision [is to be a] consistent competitor,” Nygaard said. “We want to be a national title-caliber program every single year. When you couple that with the talent we have, with the character and the culture, and you add the internal leadership, where we are right now is the materialization of all those energies and efforts. We couldn’t be prouder of this group.” 

While the Trojans lost in the championship, their resilience and strong effort earned them a trip to Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, Hawai’i, where they will compete Friday at 8 p.m.

Bennett Christofferson contributed to this report.