No. 1 USC looks to remain undefeated

Off to its best start since 1995, the No. 1 USC men’s volleyball team looks to continue its dominance on the road at UC Santa Barbara.

The Trojans are led by senior opposite and co-captain Murphy Troy, who was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Week on Monday.

This is the fourth time Troy has won the award, and he is the eighth Trojan men’s volleyball player to win it.

Troy leads the team in kills per set (4.31), points per set (4.96) and is tied for the team lead in digs per set (2.00).

“It’s a great honor, especially with so many great players around,” Troy said. “I was really surprised to get it. They could have given it to three or four other players from our team, which really speaks to how well we’re playing right now.”

USC (4-0, 4-0) has managed to win with relative ease during the first two games of their five-game road swing, though the team is still looking to improve passing the ball in order to give their hitters more opportunities to attack.

Against UC Irvine on Friday, the Trojans exhibited their ability to side out, closing the match with a 94 percent success rate.

“A trend that we’ve been showing is that we’ve been starting to side out at the end of matches at a very steady pace,” said USC coach Bill Ferguson. “If we continue to close out, good things are going to happen for us.”

Defensively, the Trojans are leading the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in digs by a large margin, averaging 10.5 digs per set and outdigging their opponents by an average of three digs per set.

The next highest in the league is 8.8 digs per set.

“We’re converting digs into kills at a .250 quote. We’re doing a good job,” Ferguson said. “The amount of digs that we turn into kills demoralizes the opposing team because it makes them work so hard.”

Statistically, USC’s blocking appears to be less-than-solid, but it is still effective.

“I would like more blocking, but we’re still making other teams hit very low percentages,” Ferguson said. “It’s like a defensive line pressuring a quarterback — even if they don’t get a ton of sacks, altering their attack is still very effective.”

UCSB is led by opposite hitter Cullen Irons and outside hitter Jeff Menzel, who lead the Gauchos in kills with 86 and 84 respectively.

“Irons is a big opposite hitter for them with a big block,” Ferguson said. “He’s going to be blocking against all of our outside hitters, which should be interesting.”

The last Trojans’ trip to Santa Barbara, Calif. ended with a tight five-set victory.

This time around, Ferguson has stressed an improved passing attack as the most important factor for the upcoming match.

“We’re passing well enough, but we need to pass better,” Ferguson said. “[Senior middle blocker]Austin Zahn only had seven attempts and [junior middle blocker]Steven Shandrick only had eight. It would be ideal to have them in double digit attempts. They’re two of the best in the country.”

The Gauchos, although unranked, present the Trojans a unique and valuable opportunity to test their mettle in a hostile environment.

“They’re a very physical team just like us, with a lot of juniors and seniors,” Troy said. “It’s one of our biggest matches of the year. It’ll be a really good test for us, and we’re preparing for a competitive match in one of the toughest places to play.”

First serve is at UC Santa Barbara’s Robertson Gymnasium at 7 p.m.