No. 12 USC Men's Volleyball Set For Home and Home with No. 19 UC San Diego

LOS ANGELES – The 12th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (6-2) will play its first true road match when the Trojans meet No. 19 UC San Diego (2-6) at LionTree Arena in La Jolla, Calif., for a Wednesday-night tilt (Jan. 31). The Tritons will play the back half of the home-and-home when they visit Galen Center on Friday (Feb. 2). On the road, USC-UCSD will be shown on ESPN+. At home, a free stream is available via USCTrojans.com. Last year, USC went five sets with UC San Diego and won at the ASICS Invitational hosted by UC Santa Barbara.

THIS WEEK
No. 12 USC (6-2, 0-0 MPSF) vs. No. 19 UC San Diego (2-6, 0-0 Big West)

MATCH #9 • Wednesday, Jan. 31 • 7 p.m. PT
LionTree Arena • La Jolla, Calif.
LIVE STREAM: ESPN+ (Bryan Fenley & Kirstin Olsen)

MATCH #10 • Friday, Feb. 2 • 7 p.m. PT
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
LIVE STREAM: USC Stream (Max Kelton & Paul Duchesne)

SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 45-11 (.804)
LAST MEETING: W, 3-2 (Jan. 7, 2023 • Santa Barbara, Calif.)
STREAK: Won 2 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 7-3
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UCSDTritons.com

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

USC is led by ninth-year head coach Jeff Nygaard, a three-time Olympian in indoor and beach volleyball and a two-time NCAA champion.
The Trojans are ranked 12th in the AVCA/NVA Coaches Poll. This year's poll is expanded to include 20 teams for the first time.
The Men of Troy will play their first true road match on Wednesday (Jan. 31) when they take on UC San Diego at LionTree Arena in La Jolla.
USC has reached double-digit blocks in four matches this season and has had more blocks than its opponent in seven of eight contests.
The Trojans have out-hit their opponent in seven matches. USC's .368 hitting percentage ranks third in the MPSF and fourth in the NCAA.
Freshmen Wesley Smith (MB), Jakobi Lange (OH), Jack Ebertin (OH), Brad Pan (LIB), and transfer Josh Friedman (S) were rated the No. 1 recruiting class by VolleyballMag.com. Smith was the No. 1-ranked individual player.
Fr. S Caleb Blanchette signed to be a part of the Trojans' 2025 freshman class in November, but completed high school requirements and reclassified to join USC's 2024 class in time to compete in the spring.
Sr. MB Kyle Paulson ranks second in the MPSF for blocks (1.29 bps) and is eighth in the NCAA, nationally.
Jeff Nygaard--a 2020 inductee to the Southern California Indoor Volleyball Hall of Fame--will also be inducted into the USAV Hall of Fame in 2024.

FOLLOW THE TROJANS: Home matches at Galen Center are streamed live for free, with links available at USCTrojans.com, except for matches televised by Pac-12 Networks. Follow USC matches on live stats with links at USCTrojans.com.

LAST TIME OUT: USC went the distance with 18th-ranked CSUN but fell to a senior-laden Matador team in five sets at Galen Center. OH Dillon Klein and OPP Jack Deuchar each shared team-high honors with 17 kills apiece in the loss. It was the first time this season that the Trojans hit below .300 and just the first time that USC's opponent produced more blocks than the Trojans. On the second of back-to-back nights, USC bounced back to get a 3-0 sweep of Central State behind 10 kills from Deuchar and nine from Klein who hit .667 in the match. Out of the SIAC, the Marauders were the third HBCU squad that the Trojans faces in non-conference action.

HAPPY HOME PARADISE: USC opened the season with four straight matches at home. The Trojans hosted HBCUs Fort Valley State and Morehouse College and then welcomed Harvard and Lincoln Memorial. In all, USC plays 15 of its 26 regular season matches at Galen Center and hosts both the SIAC Tournament to open the spring and the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge in March. The Trojans' home arena will also serve as host to the 2024 MPSF Tournament, April 17-20.

POLL POSITION: The Trojans were ranked No. 12 in the AVCA/NVA Preseason Coaches Poll. 2024 marks the expansion of the poll to 20 teams (previously 15). USC is currently ranked tied for No. 12 (with UC Santa Barbara) in the Jan. 29 poll.

BIG BLOCK ENERGY: The Trojans' 2.66 blocks per set ranks second in the MPSF and is seventh in the nation. USC has produced four matches in double-digit blocks and set a season-high mark with 15.5 blocks against No. 4 Ohio State on Jan. 20. In each of four matches from Jan. 11-19, USC progressively finished with a higher total. The Trojans had 12.5 against Harvard (Jan. 11) followed by 13.0 against Lincoln Memorial (Jan. 13) and then put up 15.0 against Ball State (Jan. 19) before the 15.5 against the Buckeyes. In all, USC has out-blocked its opponent in seven of eight matches this spring.

GREATEST HITS: USC has hit better than its opponent in seven of eight contests this spring. In fact, USC has hit better than .300 in each of those contests and had a season-high .614 hitting percentage in a win over Morehouse College (Jan. 6).

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Caleb Blanchette

Jack Deuchar

Jack Ebertin

Josh Friedman

Dillon Klein

Jakobi Lange

Brad Pan

Kyle Paulson

Wesley Smith