USC Men's Volleyball Takes Break From MPSF Play, Hosts No. 3 UCSB

THE FACTS
The USC men's volleyball team (3-12 overall, 1-5 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation)--coming off a 2-week Mountain Pacific Sports Federation road trip--takes a break from league play for the next 2 weeks, beginning this week by hosting a non-conference match against No. 3 UC Santa Barbara (10-2, 0-0 Big West) on Saturday at 2 p.m. PT in the North Gym (because of a scheduling conflict in the Galen Center).

FOLLOW THE TROJANS
All of USC's home matches in the Galen Center are video-streamed live for free on USCTrojans. com, except for matches televised live on Pac-12 Network. 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 unranked in the current AVCA Division I-II Top 15 poll. UC Santa Barbara is No. 3.

OPPONENTS
The USC-UCSB series is knotted at 55-55. The teams last met in 2017, a 5-set win by the Gauchos in Santa Barbara. UCSB visits Pepperdine on Wednesday (Feb. 26) before playing USC.

NORTH GYM
USC's home match against UC Santa Barbara on Saturday (Feb. 29) will be played in the North Gym due to a scheduling conflict in the Galen Center. The quaint 500-seat North Gym (located in USC's Physical Education Building) was the original home of the Trojan men's team. Troy played there from the team's inception in 1970 through 1988, again from 1997 to 2002 and then split time between the North Gym and Lyon Center from 2003 to 2006 before taking up residence in the Galen Center in 2007. USC last played a match in the North Gym on Feb. 1 this season (a 3-1 loss to No. 5 UC Irvine) because of a Galen Center scheduling conflict. It was USC head coach Jeff Nygaard's first loss as a Trojan head or assistant coach in 14 matches in the North Gym.

Next Event