No. 16 USC Women's Volleyball Takes on Bruins in Battle of LA

LOS ANGELES – The 16th-ranked USC women's volleyball team (11-4, 3-2 Big Ten) hosts crosstown rival UCLA (8-6, 2-3) in the Battle of LA—the first of two regular-season meetings—on Sunday (Oct. 13). The teams will meet at Galen Center for a 4:30 p.m. PT matchup that will be shown live on Big Ten Network. USC leads the all-time series by a 64-58 margin and has won five of the last seven meetings. Four of those seven matches went five sets including twice in 2023.

THIS WEEK • BATTLE OF LA

MATCH #16 • Sunday, Oct. 13 • 4:30 p.m. PT
No. 16 USC (11-4, 3-2) vs. UCLA (8-6, 2-3)
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 64-58 (.525)
LAST MEETING: L 3-2 (Nov. 24, 2023 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Lost 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 5-5
TV: Big Ten Network (Paul Sunderland & Nicole Branagh)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UCLABruins.com

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

USC is led by fifth-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 74-51 (.592) as the Trojans' head coach.
The Women of Troy have won eight of their last 10 matches and are on an eight-match win streak at home.
USC has won five of its last seven against UCLA. Four of the last seven meetings have gone to five sets. In those, the Trojans are 3-1.
The Trojans are 212-57 all-time at Galen Center (.788).
USC associate head coach Spencer McLachlin was an assistant coach for the UCLA men's volleyball team for four years (2018-21). Trojan assistant coach Megan Moenoa was a standout setter for the Bruins (2011-14) and won the 2011 NCAA championship with UCLA. USC technical coordinator Virginia Pham is a 2015 UCLA graduate and served as a student assistant for the Bruins' men's, women's, and beach volleyball programs from 2012-15.
First-year UCLA assistant coach Stevi Robinson-Trail was a 2013 AVCA All-American with the USC beach volleyball program. She won the AVCA's individual national championship with partner Kirby Burnham that year.
Sr. S Mia Tuaniga has started as the Trojans' setter for each of the last three seasons and has 3,886 career assists to rank fourth in school history. She was selected to the Big Ten Preseason All-Conference Team.
Jr. LIB Gala Trubint has logged 58 career matches in double-digit digs and has 15-career matches with 20-plus digs. She became the 20th USC player to record 1,000 career digs when she had 15 against Oregon (Oct. 9).
Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst ranks seventh in the Big Ten for kills (3.86 kps) and is sixth in the league for points (4.57 pps).
Sr. MB Tyrah Ariail is eighth in the Big Ten in blocks (1.25 bps). USC ranks second in the conference (7th in the NCAA) for blocks at 2.97 bps.

LAST TIME OUT: USC fell to 11th-ranked Oregon in three sets on the road. The Trojans led the Ducks in all three frames, but each time, UO mounted a big run to either put the set out of reach or push USC for a tie. The largest Duck run was a 9-1 burst to end set one in a 25-18 victory for Oregon. Ally Batenhorst and Jadyn Livings each scored 11 kills apiece. Livings racked up a career-high three service aces, which all came in a row in the first set. Gala Trubint had her 58th-career match in double-digit digs and finished with 15 to total 1,003 in her career—making her the 20th USC player to reach that career milestone. The 3-0 sweep was the first for either team in the all-time series since USC won in Eugene in 2019. Six times in the last nine meetings, the USC-Oregon match has gone five sets with the Ducks prevailing in all six.

AVCA POLL POSITION: The Trojans opened the 2024 season ranked No. 21 in the AVCA coaches' poll. Overall, USC has appeared in the coaches' poll 533 times, which ranks sixth all-time. The Women of Troy have held a spot among the poll's top 10 teams 317 times, which ranks eighth all-time, and the Trojans have held the No. 1 ranking 47 times for seventh all-time. Since 1982—the year of the poll's inception—USC has appeared in the final poll 34 of 41 times with 18 finishes in the top 10; 12 in the top five, and twice as the No. 1-ranked team (2002, '03).

HOME, SWEET HOME: USC is 212-57 (.788) all-time at Galen Center. The Trojans were 11-2 at home a year ago. USC went 12-1 in home matches in 2011 and completed the 2012 home schedule with a 17-1 mark. In 2007, USC was 19-0 at home on the way to an appearance in the NCAA national semifinal match. The Trojans are 20-4 all-time at Galen Center in NCAA tournament matches. The four losses were to Hawai'i (2008 and 2009) and San Diego (2018) each time in the second round; and to Washington in the 2013 NCAA Regional Final.

B1G AWARDS: Sr. Mia Tuaniga was chosen as the Big Ten Setter of the Week and OH Jadyn Livings was awarded Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors on Sept. 23. The two honors were the first ever earned by Trojan players as members of the Big Ten Conference. For Livings, it was her first weekly award of any kind. Tuaniga took home her first weekly award since she was tabbed for Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors in 2021.

AGREE TO DISAGREE: The Women of Troy lead the all-time series with rival UCLA by a 64-58 margin. Ask someone in blue and gold and they'll tell you otherwise. The Bruins claim to lead the series, 69-64, but how? UCLA's program, which started in 1972, is several years older than the one at USC, which began in 1976. The Bruins earned a handful of victories over the Trojans before the Women of Troy officially started a varsity program. In those four seasons, the Bruins racked up 11 wins against USC's club team, which are included in UCLA's all-time record.

CROSSTOWN CONNECTIONS: USC head coach Brad Keller has the unique distinction of having coached both the men's and women's volleyball programs at both USC and UCLA. Prior to his arrival at USC, he served one season (2019) as UCLA's associate head coach. The Trojans' associate head coach Spencer McLachlin also has UCLA ties having served as an assistant coach for the Bruin men (alongside Keller in his first season) for three years (2018-21). Assistant coach Megan Moenoa was a standout setter for the Bruin women and helped UCLA capture the 2011 NCAA championship. She graduated from UCLA in 2015. USC technical coordinator Virginia Pham also graduated from UCLA in 2015—with a bachelor's degree in computer science—and served three seasons as a student assistant for several of the Bruins' volleyball programs. First-year UCLA assistant coach Stevi Robinson-Trail was a 2013 AVCA All-American with the USC beach volleyball program. She won the AVCA's individual national championship with partner Kirby Burnham in her only season at Troy.

LONG DISTANCE: USC is 155-108 all-time in five-set matches: 65-40 at home; 66-54 on the road; 24-14 in neutral matches. The Trojans were 6-5 in 11 five-set matches in 2023, which tied a school record previously set in 2019. Against Big Ten opponents, USC is 45-39 all-time in five-set contests.

RANK AND FILE: Each of the Trojans' four losses this season have come against ranked opponents. Those include No. 1 Pittsburgh at home (Sept. 11), No. 2 Nebraska on the road (Sept. 29), No. 11 Creighton in Omaha, Neb. (Sept. 5), and No. 11 Oregon on the road (Oct. 9). The Bluejays later moved up as high as No. 6 in the weekly rankings. USC is otherwise 11-0 against unranked opponents this season and picked up its first victory over a ranked opponent in a four-set win against No. 12 Minnesota (Oct. 5).

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Players Mentioned

Tyrah Ariail

Ally Batenhorst

Jadyn Livings

Gala Trubint

Mia Tuaniga