No. 6 USC Men's Volleyball Concludes Regular Season By Visiting No. 4 Pepperdine, Hosting No. 5 UCLA

THE FACTS
The No. 6-ranked USC men's volleyball team (15-8 overall, 6-4 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation)-- having won 8 of its past 9 matches, including the past 4, and now angling for seeding in the upcoming MPSF Tournament--concludes its regular season by facing the 2 teams above it in the MPSF standings: first visiting No. 4 Pepperdine (18-6, 7-3) on Thursday (April 4) and then hosting No. 5 UCLA (17-7, 7-3) on Saturday (April 6) in the Galen Center. If USC wins both of these MPSF contests, which start at 7 p.m. PT, it could capture the top seed in the MPSF tourney. The UCLA match, which is Senior Night and has Crosstown Cup points on the line, will be shown live on Pac-12 Network, with Kevin Barnett mikeside. USC remains undefeated at home in 2019 (10-0), has its most wins in a season under head coach Jeff Nygaard and sports its highest national ranking since mid-2015.

FOLLOW THE TROJANS
All of USC's home matches are video-streamed live for free on USCTrojans.com, except for matches televised live on Pac-12 Network (those matches only are audio-streamed live on the TuneIn Radio app). USC's online announcers are ex-Trojan player and assistant coach Mark Beltran and onetime Northeastern player/Winthrop assistant coach Paul Duchesne. Fans also can follow USC home matches through Live Stats at USCTrojans.com and all matches via Twitter (@USCmensvolley).

RANKINGS
USC is ranked No. 6 in the current AVCA Division I-II Top 15 poll, its highest ranking since Week 6 of 2015 (when Troy was No. 3). Pepperdine is No. 4 and UCLA is No. 5.

OPPONENTS
USC trails in its series with Pepperdine, 66-43, but Troy have won the past 2 meetings (3-1 last year in a road MPSF Tournament quarterfinal match and then 3-1 at home in early March this season). USC trails in its series against UCLA, 96-44, and the Trojans lost the most recent meeting, 3-0, in late February on the road. The Bruins host Concordia on April 4 before playing at USC.

MPSF SEEDING SCENARIO
Seeds No. 1 through No. 5 of the upcoming MPSF Tournament are all in play for USC this week, with a variety of scenarios. If the Trojans win both matches, they could clinch the No. 1 seed.

50TH SEASON
The 2019 season is the 50th of USC men's volleyball. Since 1970, the Trojan program has been among the finest in college: winning 4 NCAA championships, playing in 14 NCAA Final Fours and producing 20 Olympians, 34 All-American first teamers and 7 College Players of the Year.

CROSSTOWN CUP
The winner of this USC-UCLA men's volleyball game scores 5 points toward the Crosstown Cup, a trophy awarded annually to the school with the most successful athletic year against the other. The competition was formerly known as the Crosstown Gauntlet. Points are awarded to the winner of each Trojan-Bruin head-to-head contest and the Crosstown Cup will be awarded to the school with the most points at year's end (100 points is the magic number). USC has won the Crosstown Cup 10 times in the competition's 17 years, including a span of 5 consecutive years: 2001-02, 2003-04, 2005-06, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2013-14 and 2015-16. Currently, UCLA leads this season's Crosstown Cup competition, 60-55.

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