No. 16 USC Women's Volleyball Jets East to Take on Terps and Knights

LOS ANGELES – The 16th-ranked USC women's volleyball team (12-4, 4-2 Big Ten) makes the cross-country trek to take on Maryland (10-7, 1-5) and Rutgers (5-12, 0-6) this week. The Women of Troy battle the Terrapins on Friday (Oct. 18) at XFINITY Center in College Park, Md., and then face the Scarlet Knights for the first time on Sunday (Oct. 20) at Jersey Mike's Arena in Piscataway, N.J. USC will visit the state of Maryland for only the second time (2017) and will play in the Garden State for the first time. Both matches will be shown live on Big Ten Plus streams.

THIS WEEK • EAST COAST SWING

MATCH #17 • Friday, Oct. 18 • 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT)
No. 16 USC (12-4, 4-2) at Maryland (10-7, 1-5)
XFINITY Center • College Park, Md.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 4-1 (.800)
LAST MEETING: L 3-0 (Sept. 14, 2017 • College Park, Md.)
STREAK: Lost 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 4-1
TV/STREAM: Big Ten Plus (Ryan Martin & Alexa Henry)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UMTerps.com

Match #18 • Sunday, Oct. 20 • 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT)
No. 16 USC (12-4, 4-2) at Rutgers (5-12, 0-6)
Jersey Mike's Arena • Piscataway, N.J.
SERIES RECORD: First meeting
TV/STREAM: Big Ten Plus (TBD)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: ScarletKnights.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 75-51 (.595) as the Trojans' head coach.
The Trojans have won nine of their last 11 matches.
USC will play in Maryland for only the second time (2017) and in New Jersey for the first time. USC has played in six states (Florida, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, South Carolina, Virginia) that touch the Atlantic and is 19-7.
Sr. S Mia Tuaniga has started as the Trojans' setter for each of the last three seasons and has 3,926 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 59 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 ninth in the Big Ten for kills (3.76 kps) and is eighth in the league for points (4.48 pps).
Sr. MB Tyrah Ariail is 12th in the Big Ten in blocks (1.24 bps). USC ranks second in the conference (7th in the NCAA) for blocks at 2.94 bps.

LAST TIME OUT: USC went five sets with crosstown rival UCLA and defeated the Bruins for the sixth time in the last eight meetings in front of a record home crowd of 7,303 fans. Ally Batenhorst logged her fifth double-double of the season with 13 kills and 11 digs and led the team with 17.0 points. Gala Trubint matched her season high with three service aces and picked up her 59th-career match in double-digit digs and finished with 13. Leah Ford broke out with career highs of 10 kills and 18 attacks to hit .500 and added five digs and seven blocks (one solo). The win moved USC to 65-58 all-time in the series history and pushed the Trojans to 4-0 in five-set matches this season.

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 534 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).

LONG DISTANCE: USC is 156-108 all-time in five-set matches: 66-40 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 46-39 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).

DOUBLE DOWN: Six Trojans have recorded career double-doubles. Setter Mia Tuaniga owns 33 double-doubles in her career (one triple-double on Sept. 30, 2022, against Colorado). OPP Adonia Faumuina logged a double-double in her first-collegiate match as she led the Women of Troy to a win over crosstown rival UCLA. OH London Wijay had back-to-back double-doubles in road matches at Purdue and UCLA for her first two of her career and now has nine-career double-doubles. LIB Gala Trubint had a 20-dig, 10-assist double-double against Arizona State in 2022 for the first of her career. OH Ally Batenhorst owns seven-career double-doubles, twice as a Husker in 2022. OH Jadyn Livings recorded her first-career double-double on Sept. 21 with 13 kills and 11 digs in a win over UC San Diego and now has two this season.

ONCE AROUND THE BLOCK: The Trojans' 2.94 blocks per set rank second in the Big Ten and seventh nationally. In 16 matches, USC has reached double-digit blocks 10 times including season-highs of 19.5 blocks twice; vs. Kansas State (Sept. 6), vs. Loyola Marymount (Sept. 19).

A DOS MANOS: Senior Mia Tuaniga has held the starting setter position for the Trojans for more than three years. She is a two-time Pac-12 All-Conference Team member and ranks fourth in USC's career record books with 3,926 assists. Tuaniga is 584 assists from matching the program record held by All-American Kendall Bateman (4,510 assists; 2008-11) and just 74 assists from becoming just the fourth Trojan to earn 4,000 career assists. She is also seventh all-time in USC history for service aces with 134.

DIGGIN' DEEP: LIB Gala Trubint produced back-to-back 416-dig seasons in 2022 and 2023. She ranked ninth in the Pac-12 last season with 3.33 digs per set and was sixth with her 416 total digs. Trubint has reached double-digit digs in 59-career matches and has reached the 20-dig mark 15 times.

SELF-DEFENSE: LIB Gala Trubint has collected 1,016 career digs and became the 20th Trojan to collect 1,000-plus digs on Oct. 9 when she posted 15 against Oregon. Prior to Trubint, the last Trojan to cross the 1,000-dig mark was All-American OH Khalia Lanier in 2019. Lanier finished her career with 1,039 digs, which now ranks 18th in program history.

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Players Mentioned

Tyrah Ariail

Ally Batenhorst

Adonia Faumuina

Leah Ford

Jadyn Livings

Gala Trubint

Mia Tuaniga

London Wijay