Senior sports staff’s title contenders
Our staffers pitch which USC programs are primed for spring postseason runs.
Sophomore guard Juju Watkins is playing more well-rounded and efficiently than ever, and her Naismith Award level of play has this year’s Trojan squad looking like the strongest candidate to win it all since the 80s. (Henry Kofman / Daily Trojan)
While it has been a minute since USC won a national championship in any sport other than beach volleyball, there is good reason to believe that may change soon with an exciting spring of sports on the horizon. In anticipation, our senior sports staff gathered to share which squad they think has the best chance of lifting a trophy in a few months time.
Leila Mackenzie
[Data Editor] Sports Staff Relic
Beach Volleyball
For better or worse, Athletics’ avaricious move to the Big Ten shook most USC programs this academic year. But beach volleyball will be the exception — steadfast and successful.
To crown last season, the Trojans swept UCLA in a quintet of three-setters, earning them their fourth consecutive NCAA title. And since the sport’s inaugural 2012 season, USC has won six of eight national championships. If history knows anything, it’s that USC beach volleyball is forever the NCAA’s first-place favorite.
Although winning looks (and is) inevitable for this team, there is uncertainty surrounding the Trojans’ 2025 lineup. Six out of the 10 starters from USC’s championship pairings graduated, including the Nourse twins and American Volleyball Coaches Association All-Americans Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple.
Don’t be dissuaded, these rotational changes were expected. Head Coach Dain Blanton is a master recruiter with national reach; only 22.2% of the current roster is from in-state, whereas 57.1% of the roster preceding the start of Blanton’s tenure in 2020 was comprised of Californians.
Blanton has never failed to depart Gulf Shores with a trophy. That’s a fact, and it will remain true in May.
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Ethan Inman
Sports Editor
Men’s Volleyball
Welcome to the HOTTEST TAKE in this article. That’s right, I picked a squad that went 13-15 a year ago and hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2019. Amid reading about potential five-peats, superteams and dynasties, you’ve finally made it to a true Take.
Despite losing records the past two years, Head Coach Jeff Nygaard’s squad has been full of young talent. Guys like Dillon Klein and Noah Roberts have shocked Galen Center with highlight reel play after highlight reel play on their path to young stardom. But in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference that was full of fifth-year super-senior superstars, experience wins, which is why all the young talent hasn’t translated to postseason success.
This year is the year it happens. In his third year, Klein is taking his game to new heights. The most talented player in the program since his freshman year, the outside hitter is playing more like an experienced veteran with so many new offensive looks that defenses can only scramble to catch up. He’s sure to compete for American Volleyball Coaches Association National Collegiate Player of the Year.
And the squad around him is deeper than ever. At the middle blocker position, USC boasts two seven-footers, Parker Tomkinson and Wesley Smith, who boast incredible athleticism and touch to boot. They will be mentored by graduate transfer middle blocker Guy Genis, who brings championship experience and veteran skill over from rival UCLA. At setter, Caleb Blanchette is coming off his first full offseason with the program and he’ll quarterback the offense with poise and creativity.
If you need any more convincing, just watch this team. They’re big, athletic, versatile, adaptable, dominant at the net hitting and blocking, and their offense is more well-rounded, cunning, and fun to watch than ever. They were #2 in the preseason MPSF rankings and #7 nationally, but a team that is full of surprises offensively seems poised to shock the world and win USC’s first men’s volleyball national championship since 1990.
Avani Lakkireddy
Talkin’ Troy Editor
Lacrosse
Two words: I believe. Believe in what, you might ask? How about a perfect mixture of veteran wisdom and rookie vivacity and an immense motivation to prove themselves in a new environment? The lacrosse team is laden with it all on every level of the totem pole, qualities that will guide the Trojans to its first-ever lacrosse championship.
Munday has always been convincing: she, along with Associate Head Coach Lauren Gunning, led the team to its most recent hardware in the 2023 Pacific-12 championship. But it’s the introduction of two new assistant coaches, Jill Rizzo and Cassidy Spilis, that have cemented my hopes for a Trojan national championship.
All four coaches bring something unique to the table, be it Munday’s 22 years of experience within college and Team USA lacrosse, Gunning’s goalkeeping and attacking familiarity, or Rizzo and Spilis’ fresh eyes and can-do attitudes. It’s an amalgamation of these differences that makes the lacrosse team so all-encompassing, and the combination will propel them to Big Ten greatness.
Deon Botshekan
Associate Managing Editor
Women’s Tennis
Hear me out. USC women’s tennis is the real winner of the 2024 Big Ten Conference Women’s Tennis Tournament.
Okay, I know USC wasn’t in the Big Ten last season, but the Trojans did beat Michigan who ended up winning the Big Ten title, so in my book, that’s a win.
Closing out the 2023-24 season with an 8-2 conference record in the Pacific-12 and defeating the Big Ten’s eventual champions, the Trojans are more ready than ever to dominate the Big Ten. Beating Michigan is just a preview of what’s to come.
The newest freshman recruits are also promising for the Trojans’ future in the Big Ten. The three talented freshmen — Jana Hossam, Simone Kay and Anya Murthy — make up the No. 4 Top Recruiting Class by Tennis Recruiting Network and the top class of the Big Ten.
Eyes will inevitably be on senior Grace Piper, who was recently named on the Big Ten’s Women’s Tennis Players to Watch List after receiving Pacific-12 All-Conference recognition and earning bids to both the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships in 2024. As she enters her fourth and final season, Piper’s leadership and on-court record will be a must-watch for the Trojans’ success.
Piper’s final Trojan campaign, alongside the top Big Ten recruits, is destined to dominate the Big Ten. Call it insider trading, but don’t be surprised when the Trojans bring the Big Ten title back to South Central.
Henry Mode
Sports Editor
Women’s Basketball
My colleagues may try to sell you Cinderella stories about squads that will be sitting in Leavey Library studying for finals when the playoffs roll around, but we all know what you’re here for: a real juggernaut. Fresh off an electric run to the Elite Eight, Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb and the women’s basketball team reloaded in a major way and are ready to go all the way.
Gottlieb brought in running mates worthy of superstar sophomore guard JuJu Watkins, including the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class and graduate forward Kiki Iriafen from Stanford. A flat showing against Notre Dame marked an early blip but since then, the Trojans have looked like the best team in the nation.
Watkins and co. boast wins over two teams ranked in the top eight nationally, and have been absolutely demolishing Big Ten opponents in conference play. Watkins and Iriafen struggled to find chemistry early in the season, but have looked unstoppable lately — combining for 63 points on 25-33 shooting against Penn State on Sunday.
The depth USC possesses is unmatched and will make Gottlieb’s squad incredibly dynamic in March. With defending champions South Carolina looking far more beatable this season, it will be the Trojans who take down the Gamecocks and earn their third national title.
Stefano Fendrich
Editor in Chief
Women’s Water Polo
Now while everyone else’s takes may be well and good — well, except Henry Mode’s — I did all you readers a favor and saved the best for last. There’s a decent chance some hardware may be brought home elsewhere, but women’s water polo without a doubt will be swimming in the trophies.
Last season was by no means an easy year for the Trojans. Last season they finished with their most losses in a season since 2000 (9) and got smoked in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by Stanford. But USC was missing one very key piece to the puzzle that will be the catalyst to propel them to the promised land: graduate center Tilly Kearns.
Kearns sat out last season for the Trojans as she was a little preoccupied with training for the 2024 Paris Olympics and helping lead Australia to a silver medal. Kearns is back for one last ride along with two standout freshmen from a year ago. Attacker Ava Stryker and center Rachel Gazzaniga — now both heading into their sophomore campaigns — burst onto the scene in a big way by both tallying 49 goals to lead the Trojans last season.
The three-headed monster of Kearns, Stryker and Gazzinga will leave opposing defenses in disarray. Just give this team a few games to settle in and mark my words that hardware is coming back to Uytengsu Aquatics Center for an eighth time.
