Bourne helps Trojans sweep Tritons

While the No. 1 USC men’s volleyball team’s first month of action has been full of uplifting victories and thrilling comebacks, the top team had failed to really dominate a match from start to finish despite its impressive record (5-1) heading in to Friday night’s showdown with the UCSD Tritons.

Hard hitter · Junior outside hitter Tri Bourne had 11 kills and hit .368 from the field as the Trojans swept their second straight opponent. - Katelynn Whitaker | Daily Trojan

It seems, however, a little home cooking was all the Trojans needed to find their stride.

In only the team’s second home match of the season Friday night, USC pasted the Tritons (2-5, 1-3) at the Galen Center in a three-set sweep (30-24, 30-24, 30-21). The Trojans, who improved to 6-1 on the season and a perfect 4-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference, easily maintained control of the match — thanks in large part to their fast start.

The team, which has now matched the 2000 Trojans for the best start in school history, used a 4-0 start to the match and a hitting percentage of .333 in the first set to set an early tone in what was arguably its most efficient performance thus far.

The only scare for the Trojans came in the second set, when the team fell behind UCSD 14-11. But behind the tremendous efforts of sophomore middle blocker Andrew Pizula — who had a match-high 10 digs — and 2009 All-American junior opposite hitter Murphy Troy — who had a match-high 17 kills — USC scored 7 of the set’s final 9 points en route to an impressive 30-24 victory.

The flow of the final set was once again dictated by the Trojans, who finished the match by tallying seven of the set’s final eight points, capped by an ace from Troy.

For USC, the victory marks the second straight match in which the team failed to drop a set. In addition to the big nights from Pizula and Troy, the Trojans also received notable contributions from outside hitters sophomore Tony Ciarelli and junior Tri Bourne, who chipped in with 12 and 11 kills, respectively.

“Sweeping a team means a lot for us because it means we were able to maintain quality play throughout each of our matches — without letting up,” Bourne said. “This kind of consistency is what we are looking for.”

The match also marks the last time the Trojans will play in front of their home crowd in January, as the team embarks on another grueling road trip starting Friday night against No. 7 Pepperdine. Home sweeps of Long Beach State and UCSD not only padded the Trojans record with impressive victories but has instilled much-needed momentum within the team and a sense of excitement for the tough matchups in store in the deep MPSF.

“We’re all excited to get back into the hostile environment that we will face Friday at Pepperdine,” Bourne said. “I think that we have proven to ourselves that we are the No. 1 team in the country, but we all know that we are far from playing our best.”