Men’s volleyball breaks even in Westwood tournament


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The Trojans during a Fall Tournament match where they lost two of three games during in the weekend.
The Trojans during a Fall Tournament match where they lost two of three games during in the weekend. (Gina Nguyen | Daily Trojan)

No. 12 men’s volleyball wrapped up the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge tournament breaking even with a big win against No. 3 Penn State and their first loss of the season against No. 11 Ohio State. 

USC entered the tournament undefeated, sweeping Princeton and Erskine at Galen Center before making their way to Westwood to face Penn Friday.  After their win against Erskine, the Trojans officially had their best start since 2015. 

USC handed the Nittany Lions their first loss of the season, winning in four sets (25-22, 25-23, 23-25, 25-16). The Trojans dominated the stat sheet with 7 team blocks to Penn’s 4 and 57 kills to Penn’s 47. 

Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Simon Gallas led the team with 30 kills and 31 points, and graduate outside hitter Sam Kobrine added 11 kills and 13.5 points. Gallas continued his hot start to the season, now leading the team with 92 total kills in just 6 games.

Against the Buckeyes, USC won one out of four sets (24-26, 25-16, 18-25, 21-25). Ohio State entered the match taking their first loss of the season against No. 2 UCLA Friday. 

Both squads hit at a low rate — the Buckeyes had a 20% rate, while the Trojans had 18%, substantially below their 40% and 56% in their previous two games. 

After losing the first set by 2 points, USC made a statement win in the second set, pulling away to a 5-2 lead after a 3-point scoring run. A 5-point scoring run later in the set put the Trojans up 20-12 and helped to equalize the scoreboard 1-1. 

Ohio State would turn the tables in the third set, going on multiple scoring runs to close out with a 7 point lead entering the fourth set.

The Buckeyes pulled away early in what would be the final set, leading 5-1 before the Trojans would rally to tie up the game 7-7 a few plays later. The two teams would continue to trade scoring runs throughout the set, but USC would never see the lead as the Buckeyes eventually ran away with it. 

Big blocks by Ohio State sophomore outside hitter Jacob Pasteur and senior outside hitter Martin Lallemand drove the Buckeyes’ momentum in sealing the match.

Contrasting their matchup against Penn, USC accounted for 35 kills to Ohio’s 55 but kept close in terms of hitting percentage — 18.3% to 20.3%. As expected, the Buckeyes dominated the statsheet as well, with players leading in kills, hitting percentage, digs, assists, blocks and points.

For the Trojans, Gallas and senior outside hitter Brandon Browning both churned out 13 points, with 11 and 12 kills, respectively. Junior middle blocker Lucas Frassrand led in hitting percentage at 40% with 4 kills and 6 points in the match. 

USC will take on UC Irvine in back-to-back games Wednesday and Friday at home and away.