Trojans fall in first round of conference tournament

USC’s No. 8-ranked men’s volleyball team ended its 2014 season in the quarterfinals of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament this weekend, falling in three sets to No. 4 BYU, 25-13, 25-18 and 25-17. USC finishes the season 16-11 overall and 14-10 in conference play.

 

The Trojans faltered early in the first set as top-seeded BYU forced errors from USC’s defense. The team fell to an early 5-0 deficit, forcing head coach Bill Ferguson to call a time out. After the timeout, freshman outside hitter Lucas Yoder put USC on the board with a kill, and senior outside hitter Maddison McKibbin added two consecutive kills to bring the score to 8-3 in BYU’s favor.

Back-to-back errors by the Cougars cut the lead to 9-5, though more USC errors lengthened BYU’s lead to 12-5 and forced another USC timeout. Despite kills by McKibbin and junior setter Micah Christenson, BYU continued its offensive success coming out of the timeout, while USC continued to struggle, and the Cougars took the first set, 25-13.

USC’s 13 points were the fewest the team has seen in a 25-point set since getting 13 against Hawai’i in 2002.

Kills by freshman middle blocker Andy Benesh, senior opposite hitter Tanner Jansen and McKibbin kept the Trojans in the game to start the second set. Junior outside hitter Chris Lischke added a kill of his own to make the score 8-6 in BYU’s favor. BYU had an answer for every offensive surge USC tried to muster, and three consecutive service aces by the Cougars combined with more errors by USC allowed BYU to advance its lead to 12-6.

Kills by Yoder, Benesh and Jansen punctuated a spree of BYU blocks and kills to bring the score to 18-12. Yoder finally found his groove and added more kills, though it was not enough to stop BYU from taking the second set, 25-18.

Junior outside hitter Cristian Rivera and redshirt junior outside hitter Joey Booth each had a kill to give the Trojans their first lead of the night, taking a 2-1 lead in the third set. Booth had another kill, as did Benesh, and a service ace by Rivera kept the score at eight apiece.

Errors by the Trojans allowed BYU to take a 12-10 lead. USC continued to trail by two until the Cougars took a 20-16 lead. A kill by Benesh was offset by two consecutive blocks by the cougars, who took a 23-17 lead and went on to win the third and final set, 25-17.

Yoder, the MPSF freshman of the year, led the team with 10 kills, while Benesh added six. USC had 20 attack errors to BYU’s four. The Trojans also trailed the cougars in hitting percentage, hitting .211 while BYU hit .519. The Cougars also dominated the Trojans in blocks, outnumbering them 12 to two.

Though the Trojans were surely disappointed with their performance in Provo, they shouldn’t be surprised at the result, as no team has beaten BYU on its home court since February 2013.

USC’s 16-11 record marks a sharp improvement from last season, when the Trojans went a dismal 6-18, but the Trojans still haven’t been able to replicate the success of the 2011-2012 season, in which the team fell in the national championship and ended up with a 26-7 overall record.

Yoder finished the season with a team-leading 4.02 kills per set, while Christenson led the team with 11.62 assists per set. These two also led the team in service aces, with 13 and 25, respectively.

Senior libero Henry Cassiday finished his USC career leading the team in sets played this season, with 100 out of 102.