University Southern California Trojans
USC
6-10, 5-8MPSF
Hawai'i
17-2, 8-2MPSF
No. 4 Hawaii Men's Volleyball Sweeps No. 14 USC
March 02, 2017 | Men's Volleyball
Stijn van Tilburg had 17 kills while hitting .533 to lead the No. 4-ranked Hawaii men's volleyball team to a 25-20, 25-23, 25-23 sweep over No. 14 USC in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Thursday (March 2) in Honolulu.
Hawaii won its 12th consecutive match and its 15th straight at home to improve to 17-2 overall and 8-2 in the MPSF. With the sweep, the Rainbow Warriors have won their past 23 sets and are off to their best start since 1996. The Trojans fell to 6-11 overall and 5-9 in the MPSF.
The teams meet again on Friday (March 3) at 7 p.m. HT in Honolulu, but that match will be played as a non-conference meeting.
Lucas Yoder had 11 kills, 6 digs and 2 aces for USC, while Gianluca Grasso added 10 kills (hitting .381) and Matt Douglas had 7 digs.
For Hawaii, both Brett Rosenmeier and Kupono Fey had 10 kills, with Rosenmeier hitting .368 and Fey getting 6 digs. Larry Tuileta, who as a freshman played volleyball (2015) and football (2014) at USC before transferring to Hawaii last year, had 11 digs.
Hawaii hit .407 in the match to USC's .250. Troy served 4 aces.
Hawaii got out to a quick 4-1 start in the first set and USC was unable to catch up as the Rainbow Warriors hit .500. Hawaii went on a 3-0 run to build a 9-5 lead in the second set, but later in the set the Trojans went on a 4-0 run to pull within 23-22 before the Warriors closed out the set while hitting .421 to USC's .378. Hawaii scored the first 3 points of the third set and then extended the lead to 20-14 before USC crept back to within 22-21, but then the teams alternated sideouts to allow the Warriors to capture the match.
