USC
5-2
UC Irvine
6-2
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
USC Men's Volleyball Upsets No. 3 UC Irvine
January 23, 2019 | Men's Volleyball, Features
Jack Wyett had 19 kills and 10 digs, Ryan Moss added 16 kills while hitting .433 and Gianluca Grasso had 14 kills to help the unranked USC men's volleyball team upset No. 3 UC Irvine, 25-19, 25-21, 21-25, 25-18, in a non-conference match on Wednesday (Jan. 23) at USC's Galen Center.
USC improved to 5-2 on the season. UC Irvine fell to 6-2. The teams competed for years as members of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation before the Anteaters moved to the Big West in 2018.
USC hit .345 in the match to UCI's .234. The Trojans served 8 aces.
For UCI, Joel Schneidmiller had 12 kills, Aaron Koubi had 9 kills and 11 digs, Scott Stadick had 8 kills (hitting .462) and 7 blocks and Karl Apfelbach had 8 kills.
USC got off to a quick 3-1 start in the first set and steadily built on that lead while hitting a blazing .690 (21 kills and just 1 error on 29 attempts), with Wyett putting down 8 kills. The second set started out completely opposite of the first set as the Anteaters notching the first 5 points, but the Trojans quickly responded with their own 5-point run to go up 9-8 and then used a 4-point run to build a 15-11 lead that UCI couldn't overcome. UCI got off to another fast start in the third set, forging a 5-1 edge but a 6-point USC run gave the Trojans a 12-11 lead before the Anteaters regained control by scoring 5 of the next 6 points for a 17-13 lead until USC tied it at 20-20 only to see UCI score the set's final 4 points. The fourth set was tight before USC scored 10 of the next 13 points for a comfortable cushion while hitting .435 in the set.
Next up for USC is another non-conference match when the Trojans travel to top-ranked Long Beach State of the Big West this Friday (Jan. 25). The contest starts at 7 p.m. PT in the Walter Pyramid.
