Following four straight road matches, USC women’s volleyball returned to Galen Center for their weekend homestand, looking to continue recent success coming off a sweep against the University of San Diego.

However, the task would not be easy for the No. 19 Trojans (4-3), as they had three consecutive matches, including one against an undefeated opponent.

In the three-game stretch, USC faced Arizona (3-5), No. 17 Colorado (8-0) and Oregon State (4-5). The Trojans went 2-1 in these matches, picking up wins over the Wildcats and Beavers but coming up short against the Buffaloes in a 3-1 loss.

While two wins to just one loss is relatively successful, USC would have much rather gone 3-0 on the weekend, as the loss to the Buffaloes puts the squad at just 1-3 on the season against ranked teams. Despite this, though, the Trojans showed signs of promise throughout the three matches. 

Trojans prevail in close first match

USC’s first match of its three-game stretch came Friday against Arizona and ended up being the most competitive from start to finish, as neither team won a set by more than five points. Despite the tight margins, the Trojans beat the Wildcats three sets to one, at 25-21, 20-25, 25-20, 25-23.

Headlining the four-set victory was redshirt junior outside hitter London Wijay. Wijay totaled 14 kills in the match, tying her season-best, as she continues to dominate in 2026 with 75 kills total. 

Wijay set the tone for Friday’s matchup, racking up five kills in the first set alone, propelling the Trojans to take the crucial first set. 

Another standout performance in the victory came from junior setter Lilli Etter, who tallied a season-high 47 assists on the night. Etter has been a dominant setter for USC this season, ranking in the top 40 in the country in assists per set. 

Etter also accumulated a season-best 17 digs in the contest, which was second on the team behind the 18 from sophomore libero and defensive specialist Taylor Deckert.  

Despite only taking the second set, Arizona had a higher hitting percentage than USC in both of the first two sets, and had almost double the number of blocks than the Trojans. USC led the match in most of the other categories, including kills, aces, assists and digs. 

USC comes up short in heartbreaking loss

Just a day after the victory over the Wildcats, the Trojans set their sights on No. 17-ranked Colorado, looking to pull off an upset over the undefeated squad that had lost just four sets in its previous six matches combined. 

USC showed promise in the early sets, with a narrow 26-24 loss in the first set and a 25-23 second-set win. However, a blowout loss in the third set followed by another heartbreaking 26-24 defeat in the final set sealed the Trojans’ 3-1 loss to the Buffaloes. 

The match loss was not for a lack of effort, as sophomore opposite hitter Abigail Mullen had her best performance of the season with 17 kills and 19.5 points Saturday.

Mullen recorded four kills in the Trojans’ lone set victory of the match; she now holds the team lead in kills with 82. 

The most crushing part of the loss for USC was how close it was to pulling off the upset over Colorado. In both the first and fourth sets, the Trojans were even at 24 with the Buffaloes, needing just two points to take multiple sets, yet both times Colorado picked up the points to seal the match victory. 

Sweep serves as bounce-back game

Although it was a quick turnaround from Saturday’s tough loss, USC was able to regain its confidence with a dominating sweep over Oregon State on Sunday, winning 25-15, 25-21, 25-21. 

The performance was one of the most complete from the Trojans all season, as the Beavers did not lead once during the match, thanks to USC’s defense holding them to just a .059 hitting percentage. 

The defensive showings from Deckert and redshirt junior middle blocker Leah Ford highlighted the Trojan sweep.

Deckert led the team with nine digs against the Beavers, capping a stellar weekend in which she totaled 37 digs across the three matches. 

Meanwhile, Ford had a team-high six blocks in the win during a hot streak of her own, as she accumulated 17 total blocks in the three weekend matches. 

USC has a similar weekend ahead, as it will continue its homestand with another slate of three matches in a row from Friday to Sunday before beginning conference play. 

The Trojans will face UC Davis (3-5) on Friday at 7 p.m. at Galen Center.