USC Athletics

LOS ANGELES—The No. 12-ranked USC men's volleyball team—behind 20 kills from Jack Wyett and 18 from Gianluca Grasso—opened its 2018 season with a 28-26, 25-22, 25-27, 25-22 non-conference win over Princeton on Tuesday (Jan. 2) in USC's Galen Center.

It was the first-ever meeting between USC (1-0) and Princeton (0-1).

Wyett, a redshirt junior outside hitter, returned to the court as a Trojan for the first time since the 2015 season after a 2-year layoff from the sport.  He added 9 digs.  Grasso had a match-best 4 aces.

Freshman Sam Lewis, a 6-10 middle blocker making his Trojan debut, hit .786 with 11 kills on 14 attempts with no errors.  Ryan Moss also had 11 kills for USC, while Connor Inlow had a match-high 5 blocks and Gert Lisha had 9 digs.

For Princeton, 6-11 middle blocker George Huhmann had 20 kills and 4 blocks, while Parker Dixon added 14 kills (hitting .429) and 7 digs and Cade Keegan had 7 digs.

USC hit .286 to Princeton's .267.  The Trojans served 8 aces and had more digs (45 to 37).

USC trailed in the first set 12-9 before going on a 7-2 run to build a 2-point lead, but the Tigers tied it at 24-24 before a Wyett kill and a Princeton hitting error ended the set.  The Trojans scored the first 4 points of the second set, but Princeton caught up at 13-13 before USC went on a 4-0 run to move ahead at 18-14 and held off a late Tiger push.  The third set was tight throughout before a Trojan serving error and hitting error gave the set to Princeton, which hit .481.  In the fourth set, USC used a 6-0 run to forge a 10-7 lead and the Trojans steadily pulled away until the Tigers closed to 23-22 before a pair of Wyett kills ended the match.

USC now travels to Hawaii for 3 matches in the Texaco Rainbow Warrior Classic, facing Juniata on Thursday (Jan. 4) at 4 p.m. HT, Stevens Institute on Friday (Jan. 5) at 4 p.m. HT and host No. 5 Hawaii on Saturday (Jan. 6) at 7 p.m. HT.