USC Women's Volleyball Opens NCAA Run Against UMBC in Steel City

LOS ANGELES – The USC women's volleyball team (18-12) was awarded one of 32 at-large berths into the 2023 NCAA tournament and makes its 39th appearance in the tourney. Seeded eighth, the Trojans will face America East champion UMBC (17-7) in a first-round match on Friday, Dec. 1.

THIS WEEK
2023 NCAA TOURNAMENT
Petersen Events Center • Pittsburgh, Pa.
[8] No. 25 USC (18-12) vs. UMBC (17-7)
MATCH #31 • Friday, Dec. 1 • 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT)
NCAA Tournament First Round
TV/STREAM: ESPN+
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 2-0 (1.000)
LAST MEETING: W 3-0 (Aug. 27, 2022 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Won 2 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 2-0
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UMBCRetrievers.com

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

USC makes its 39th appearance in the NCAA tournament.
The Trojans have won six national championships. Three AIAW titles (1976, '77, '80) and three NCAA crowns (1981, 2002, '03).
USC is 128-42 (.753) all-time in postseason matches with an 82-35 (.701) record in the NCAA tournament. USC is 33-5 in NCAA first-round matches.
Since the NCAA expanded to a 64-team field in 1998, USC has advanced to 12 regional championship matches, seven national semifinals (final four), and two national finals (both victories).
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 62-46 (.574) as the Trojans' head coach.
The Trojans are 1-1 all-time in the state of Pennsylvania and last played there in 2011 when USC beat Minnesota in five sets and fell to Penn State in five.
Sr. OH Skylar Fields has had double-digit kills in 26 matches; and has been named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week three times this season (seven career). She leads the Pac-12 in kills (5.19 kps) and points (5.60 pps).
Fields and Jr. setter Mia Tuaniga were each named to the Pac-12 All-Conference Team. Fr. OH London Wijay earned honorable mention and a place on the Pac-12's All-Freshman Team.

NCAA HISTORY LESSON: The Trojans are 128-42 (.753) in all-time postseason matches and have an 82-35 (.701) record in the NCAA tournament. USC has appeared in all but four NCAA tournaments (1986, '90, 2020-21, '21) and are the owners of six national championships including three NCAA crowns (1981, 2002, '03). USC won the first-ever NCAA championship in 1981. The Women of Troy also captured three AIAW championships in 1976, '77, and 1980.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: USC is 33-5 in NCAA first-round matches. The five times USC has not advanced out of the first round were in 1983, '87, '88, '89, and 2016.

LAST TIME OUT: USC fell to sixth-ranked Oregon on the road in a four-set decision but was without OH Skylar Fields for its only meeting of the season with the Ducks. The Trojans then concluded the regular season with a home match against crosstown rival UCLA and went the distance with the Bruins before falling in a five-set nailbiter, 15-13, in the fifth. The loss was only the second time USC had come up short at home this season but left the Trojans on a three-match streak of losses to end the regular season. The five-setter with UCLA also marked the 11th match this season to have gone to five sets, which tied the previous school record of 11-such matches set in 2019.

PAC IT UP: The Women of Troy have played 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 have made similar announcements and all four teams will now compete in the Big Ten for most sports.

POSTSEASON PAC HONORS: OH Skylar Fields and S Mia Tuaniga were each named to the Pac-12 All-Conference Team for the second times in their careers. The duo was also chosen for the same honors in 2022. For Fields, it is her fifth-career all-conference honor with three All-Big-XII awards during her time at Texas. OHLondon Wijay received Pac-12 All-Conference honorable mention and was chosen to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team. Fields' and Tuaniga's selections make it 105 all-time all-conference awards for USC student-athletes and ups the total to 82 All-Pac-12 awards won by Trojans. Wijay is the 36th Trojan to be chosen to the Pac-12's all-freshman squad.

KILLER QUEENS: The Women of Troy rank first in the Pac-12 in kills (1,613), attacks (4,115), assists (1,518), and digs (1,705). USC ranks 12th for total assists and is 16th for total kills nationally. OH Skylar Fields is the most terminal of all Pac-12 players at 5.19 kills per set, which also ranks second in the nation. Behind her, OH London Wijay (2.54 kps) also racks up more than two kills per frame. In total, five different Trojans have 100 or more kills this season.

UNLIMITED SKY: OH Skylar Fields was chosen as the AVCA/GameChanger National Player of the Week on Nov. 7. It was her third-career honor (Oct. 5, 2021, at Texas; Oct. 11, 2022, at USC) and the 13th award won by a USC athlete. She joined an elite list of Trojan pin-hitters to have won the award twice while at USC, which includes All-Americans Khalia Lanier (2017, '19), Samantha Bricio (2012, '15), and Alex Jupiter (twice in 2010). She was also named the Pac-12's Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this season and the seventh time in her career, making her only the 10th player in league history to have won the award seven or more times.

SKY HIGH: As a Trojan, OH Skylar Fields has posted double-digit kills 57 times and reached 20 kills in 36 matches. She leads the Pac-12 in kills (586), kills per set (5.19 kps), points (633.0), and points per set (5.60 pps). Nationally, she ranks second in kills per set, and is third in total kills, points per set, and total points.

KEYSTONE CAPER: The Trojans are 1-1 all-time in the state of Pennsylvania. USC played in the 2011 AVCA Showcase event to open that season and split a pair of five-set matches with a win over 12th-ranked Minnesota and a loss to host an No. 1-ranked Penn State in University Park. The Women of Troy will make only their second trip to the Keystone State when they take on UMBC in the opening round of the NCAA tournament and will play in Pittsburgh for the first time.

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Players Mentioned

Skylar Fields

Mia Tuaniga

London Wijay