USC Women's Volleyball Taps Rockies to Close October

LOS ANGELES – The USC women's volleyball team (13-7, 7-3 Pac-12) opens the back half of the Pac-12 schedule on the road and heads to the Rocky Mountains for a pair of matches this weekend. The Trojans take on Colorado (12-9, 4-6) in Boulder on Friday (Oct. 27) and then head to Salt Lake City to face Utah (9-11, 4-6) on Sunday (Oct. 29). The Women of Troy won both meetings against the Buffs and the Utes at Galen Center in the teams' first meetings this season.

MATCH #21 • Friday, Oct. 27 • 7 p.m. MT (6 p.m. PT)
USC (13-7, 7-3) at Colorado (12-9, 4-6)
CU Events Center • Boulder, Colo.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 23-3 (.885)
LAST MEETING: W 3-1 (Oct. 1, 2023 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Won 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 8-2
TV: Pac-12 Los Angeles/Mountain (Thad Anderson)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: CUBuffs.com

MATCH #22 • Sunday, Oct. 29 • 12 p.m. MT (11 a.m. PT)
USC (13-7, 7-3) at Utah (9-11, 4-6)
Jon M. Huntsman Center • Salt Lake City, Utah
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 20-11 (.645)
LAST MEETING: W 3-2 (Sept. 29, 2023 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Won 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 2-8
TV: Pac-12 Mountain (TBA)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UtahUtes.com

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

USC is led by fourth-year head coach Brad Keller who has the unique experience of having coached both men's and women's programs at both USC and UCLA. Overall, Keller is 57-41 (.582) as the Trojans' head coach.
The Trojans open the second half of the Pac-12 schedule tied for third in the league standings with a 7-3 record. USC was picked to finish fourth.
USC is 12-5 all-time in the state of Colorado but has lost in four-set decisions to CU in each of the its last two trips (2021, '22). The Trojans are 29-8 all-time in the state of Utah but have not won there since 2017 (five straight losses).
The Trojans are 6-2 in five-set matches this season and have played four sets six times and three sets six times. USC is 5-1 in five-setters against the Pac-12.
Sr. OH Skylar Fields has reached double-digit kills in 19 matches. She was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week (Oct. 23) for the sixth time in her career (second time this season) and leads the Pac-12 in kills (4.90 kps) and points (5.28 pps).
Fr. OH London Wijay was named Pac-12's Freshman of the Week (Oct. 23) for the third time this season and is USC's second-leading scorer (3.16 pps).
The Women of Troy are undefeated (8-0) at home this season and have won 10 straight matches at Galen Center since Nov. 12, 2022.

LAST TIME OUT: USC went the distance in back-to-back home matches but got a pair of five-set wins to beat both Washington State and Washington at home for the first time since 2017. The Women of Troy stayed undefeated at home this season (8-0) and extended their home win streak to 10 straight matches. USC dropped its first two sets against the fourth-ranked Cougars but clawed all the way back to win three straight sets for the victory; the first by the Trojans over a top-five squad since the first week of the 2018 season. OH Skylar Fields and S Mia Tuaniga both posted double-doubles to lift the Trojans to the win. Fields was helped by an 11.5 night from MB Tyrah Ariail and a career-high 12 kills from MB Rylie McGinest. Against the Huskies, the Trojans halted a five-match losing streak to Washington behind another 23-kill night from Fields who led the way with 26.0 points. Ariail put up a career-high eight blocks and had a career-best 18.0 points in the win over the Huskies.

TIME TO PAC IT UP: The Women of Troy will be playing their final season in the Pac-12 Conference. On June 30, 2022, USC and UCLA both announced that the schools' athletic programs would join the Big Ten Conference in 2024. Since that time, Oregon and Washington also made similar announcements and all four teams will now compete in the Big Ten for most sports.

FEELING SALTY: While USC leads its all-time series with Utah by a 20-11 margin, the Utes won seven consecutive matches between 2018-21 and had won eight of 10 meetings until USC broke the streak on Oct. 2, 2022. Prior to 2018, USC was 16-2 against the Utes. The Trojans are 8-6 against Utah in Salt Lake City and 8-5 in Los Angeles.

BUFFALOES WOES: The Trojans are 23-3 all-time against Colorado. USC won its first 14 matches with the Buffaloes but had that streak snapped in a 3-0 loss in Boulder in 2017. The Trojans regained control of the series with seven straight victories but dropped only the second match to CU—again in Boulder—to split the 2021 season series with the Buffs. Colorado has never won at Galen Center in 14 visits.

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Players Mentioned

Tyrah Ariail

Skylar Fields

Rylie McGinest

Mia Tuaniga

London Wijay