No. 15 USC Heads to Iowa For UNI Tournament

LOS ANGELES – The 15th-ranked USC women's volleyball team (1-1) heads to the Hawkeye State for the sixth edition of a long-running tournament between the Women of Troy, No. 12 Kentucky (2-1), No. 23 Creighton (0-2), and this year's tournament host Northern Iowa (2-1). These four teams began a relationship in 2014 and have rotated the location of the tourney each year since. The Trojans own an impressive 17-2 mark against the three teams and claimed the tournament title at Galen Center last fall. USC will make only its second trip to the state of Iowa where it went 3-0 in this same tourney in 2015. Each of these four teams are perennial top-25 programs in the NCAA's RPI.

MATCH #3: No. 15 USC (1-1) vs. No. 12 Kentucky (2-1)
Friday, Sept. 6 • 5 p.m. CT (3 p.m. PT)
McLeod Center • Cedar Falls, Iowa
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 5-1 (.833)
LAST MEETING: W, 3-1 (Aug. 24, 2018 • Galen Center)
TV/STREAM: ESPN+
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UKAthletics.com

MATCH #4: No. 15 USC (1-1) at Northern Iowa (2-1)
Saturday, Sept. 7 • 10:30 a.m. CT (8:30 a.m. PT)
McLeod Center • Cedar Falls, Iowa
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 6-1 (.857)
LAST MEETING: W, 3-0 (Aug. 25, 2018 • Galen Center)
TV/STREAM: ESPN+
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UNIPanthers.com

MATCH #5: No. 15 USC (1-1) vs. No. 23 Creighton (0-2)
Saturday, Sept. 7 • 5 p.m. CT (3 p.m. PT)
McLeod Center • Cedar Falls, Iowa
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 6-0 (1.000)
LAST MEETING: W, 3-2 (Aug. 25, 2018 • Galen Center)
AUDIO STREAM: UNIPanthers.com
OPPONENT WEBSITE: GoCreighton.com

FIRST SERVE

Second-year USC head coach Brent Crouch is 23-12 at Troy (78-78 career).
2019 is the sixth year of this annual tournament involving these four teams. The Trojans are a combined 17-2 all-time against this week's opponents.
USC makes its second trip to the state of Iowa where it is 3-0 all-time.
UNI is the only team from the Hawkeye State that USC has ever faced.
The Trojans return two AVCA All-America outside hitters: Sr. Khalia Lanier was a first-team choice in 2017 and Jr. Brooke Botkin was second team in 2018.
USC's sophomore setter Raquel Lázaro was the 2018 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and earned AVCA All-America honorable mention.

BUT FIRST, LET ME TAKE A #SELFIE: Get social with the Women of Troy! Fans can follow and interact with the USC women's volleyball team on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram by searching for @USCWomensVolley.

USC BRIEFING: The Trojans are loaded at the pins and return a pair of All-American outside hitters in senior Khalia Lanier (4.12 kps) and junior Brooke Botkin (2.62 kps). They will receive sets from the 2018 Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Raquel Lázaro (10.50 aps). All four of USC's top attackers return from last season. On the right side, senior Emily Baptista (2.95 kps in 2018) is back and in the middle, senior Jasmine Gross (1.62 kps) returns. Among newcomers, USC welcomes MB Madison Horin, OH Kalen Owes, and OPP Emilia Weske as part of a heralded freshman class. Defensively, the Trojans will add the services of two-time beach volleyball All-American Abril Bustamante and see the return of senior libero Jenna Adams from injury.

LAST TIME OUT: The Women of Troy split opening-weekend matches in the Lone Star State. USC opened with a 3-1 win over Texas State to improve to 37-7 all-time in season openers. The win was also good for a 35-9 mark in road openers. Jr. OH Brooke Botkin picked up her 14th-career double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs in the win while senior OH Khalia Lanier tallied 17 kills to move into the school's career top 10. In a hard-fought battle, the Trojans dropped a 3-1 decision to fourth-ranked Texas. Despite getting a 25-23 win in the opening frame, the Longhorns proved to be too much for the Trojans who fell, 25-18, and 25-17 in the next two sets. USC led by two late in the fourth before Texas closed the door.

TOUGH SLEDDING: The Trojans play one of the toughest early-season non-conference slates in the country. USC is one of 10 teams that began the season with back-to-back contests against teams that finished in the top 25 of the NCAA's final 2018 ratings percentage index (RPI). The Trojans are one of only three programs that will tackle five straight teams that finished 2018 in the top 25. The other two programs are Texas and Creighton. Among the ranked opponents, USC met No. 3 Texas and No. 22 Texas State on opening weekend and then have No. 8 Kentucky, No. 13 Creighton, No. 16 Northern Iowa this week. USC itself was No. 9 in the final published RPI.

AVCA POLL POSITION: The Trojans opened 2019 ranked No. 14 after finishing the 2018 campaign in the No. 21 spot. Overall, the Trojans have appeared in the poll 514 times, which ranks third all-time. USC has held a spot among the poll's top 10 teams 316 times, which ranks eighth all-time. The Trojans have also held the No. 1 ranking 47 times previously, which is sixth all-time.

DOUBLE DOWN: Six Women of Troy on this year's squad have recorded career double-doubles. Senior OH Khalia Lanier leads all players with 34-career double-doubles. Junior OH Brooke Botkin has 14-career double-double matches. Sophomore setter Raquel Lázaro logged 12 double-doubles in her first year. Senior OPP Emily Baptista has three as a Trojan and 11-career double-doubles. Senior setter Cindy Marina owns 20-career double-doubles and senior MB Jasmine Gross has had four.

CROUCHING TIGER: Second-year USC head coach Brent Crouch previously led Portland to its first-ever wins over ranked opponents including the very first ever; a victory against San Diego (Nov. 14, 2015). By the second week of 2018 at USC, Crouch had already led the Trojans to a win over No. 5 Kentucky and an upset of No. 4 Florida. Crouch registered his first-career 20-win season on USC's 3-2 victory over Arizona on Nov. 16, 2018, in Tucson, Ariz.

TERMINAL 3: USC returns some major firepower at the pins. In 2018, OH Brooke Botkin (4.39 kps) and OH Khalia Lanier (4.27 kps) ranked third and fourth respectively in the Pac-12. OPP Emily Baptista (2.95 kps) ranked 20th. Together, the three Women of Troy accounted for 11.61 kills per set and are back together for 2019.

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Players Mentioned

Jenna Adams

Emily Baptista

Brooke Botkin

Jasmine Gross

Madison Horin

Khalia Lanier

Kalen Owes

Emilia Weske