University Southern California Trojans
USC
11-7
Ohio State
6-14
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
No. 11 USC Men's Volleyball Comes Back To Beat Ohio State In 5 Sets On Second Day Of Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge
March 09, 2019 | Men's Volleyball, Features
Ryan Moss had 22 kills while hitting .514 to help the No. 11-ranked USC men's volleyball team come back and post a 25-18, 23-25, 19-25, 25-15, 15-10 win over Ohio State on the second day of the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge on Saturday (March 9) in USC's Galen Center.
USC improved to 11-7 overall while winning its fourth consecutive match. Ohio State fell to 6-14.
In the day's first match, No. 5 UCLA beat Penn State, 25-12, 25-19, 25-21, behind 11 kills from Daenan Gyimah and 10 kills from Brandon Rattray. The Bruins improved to 16-4 overall, while the Nittany Lions fell to 8-10.
On Friday (March 8) in the first day of the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge, USC defeated Penn State in 5 sets while UCLA swept Ohio State.
The Trojans beat Ohio State despite seeing the Buckeyes serve a USC 2019 opponent high 14 aces. Troy outhit Ohio State, .462 to .238, and had more digs, 38 to 25.
Jack Wyett added 14 kills and 7 digs for USC, while Gianluca Grasso had 13 kills and 9 digs and Matt Douglas had 7 digs.
Jake Hanes led Penn State with 15 kills and 5 aces, Martin Lallemand added 8 kills and 3 aces, Andrew Hillman had 4 aces and Aaron Samarin had 10 digs.
USC got off to a quick 3-1 start in the first set and kept building on the lead while hitting .667. The Trojans used a 3-0 run to go up 17-15 in the second set, but the Buckeyes soon after went on a 4-point run to move ahead 20-19 and USC couldn't catch up (the Buckeyes served 6 aces in the set). Ohio State scored the first 4 points of the third set (2 on aces) and kept extending the margin behind 5 more aces. USC scored 5 of the first 7 points of the fourth set and never let the Buckeyes get back into the set (Troy hit .450). USC never trailed in the final set, starting off with a 2-0 lead and building it to 7-3 and then 9-4, all the cushion it needed to capture the match while hitting .636 in the set.
USC now returns to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play next week, first visiting Grand Canyon on Thursday (March 14) and then hosting Concordia on Saturday (March 16). The Concordia match will be held in USC's North Gym at 7 p.m. PT and the Trojans' 1988 NCAA championship team will be honored.
