No. 16 USC Women's Volleyball Sweeps Scarlet Knights

Sunday, October 20

Piscataway, N.J.

10:00 a.m.

USC

14-4,6-2Big Ten

Rutgers

5-14,0-8Big Ten

Southern California

Rutgers

Photo by: Ariel Fox

No. 16 USC Women's Volleyball Sweeps Scarlet Knights

October 20, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Highlights Box Score

The Women of Troy posted their 11th match in double-digit blocks this season

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The 16th-ranked USC women's volleyball team (14-4, 6-2 Big Ten) completed a 3-0 sweep (25-16, 25-20, 25-17) of Rutgers (5-14, 0-8) at Jersey Mike's Arena on Sunday, Oct. 20.

KEY PLAYERS

Sr. S Mia Tuaniga put up 29 assists and set the Trojans to a .365 hitting performance (38k, 11e, 74att). She also had five digs, one block, and one kill to go with three service aces. It was Tuaniga's 18th-career match with three or more service aces and pushed her to 139 total aces in her career, which now ranks alone for fifth in the USC record books.
Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst had nine kills (3e, 21att) to hit .286 to go with five digs and five blocks (one solo).
Redshirt So. OH Adonia Faumuina had nine kills (2e, 16att) for .438 hitting and added two blocks.
Redshirt Fr. MB Leah Ford racked up seven kills (0e, 8att) on .875 hitting and had two blocks and a service ace.
Fr. MB Favor Anyanwu recorded seven kills (1e, 11att) with .545 hitting and led all players with six blocks (one solo).
Fr. DS Paisley Douglas led all players with a career-high nine digs while Jr. LIB Gala Trubint had six digs and a service ace.
For the Scarlet Knights, Zora Hardison led with seven kills. Natalie Robinson and Alissa Kinkela each had six kills apiece. Avery Jesewitz had four kills and tied for team-high honors with Kenzie Dyrstad with five digs apiece.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC posted its 11th match in double-digit blocks this season and finished with 11.0 total. The Trojans had more kills (38-27), assists (33-27), digs (30-19), blocks (11.0-5.0) and service aces (5-3) in the win.
The Trojans led by as many as nine several times before winning by nine, 25-16, to take set one. Ford and Anyanwu led the USC attack with four kills apiece while each hitting 1.000. Tuaniga had nine assists while Batenhorst and Trubint each had two digs apiece. The Trojans hit .409 and had 11 kills (2e) on 22 swings while Rutgers had 11 kills (4e) on 24 attempts to finish the opening frame with a .292 hitting percentage.
USC hit .276 in the second set with 13 kills (5e) and held the Knights to a .000 hitting performance with eight kills (8e) on 34 swings for a 25-20 win. Ford added two more kills and got in on two of the Trojans' three blocks. Batenhorst poured in five kills while Faumuina tagged three balls for kills. Douglas hit the ground for five digs in the frame.
Faumuina and Batenhorst each logged four kills in the third set and helped lift USC to a .435 hitting percentage (14k, 4e, 23att). Seven Trojan blocks helped hold the Rutgers attack to another .000 hitting set (8k, 8e, 24att). Tuaniga put up 12 more assists and Anyanwu collected five blocks and had two kills in the 25-17 win to sew up the sweep.

UP NEXT

USC returns home to host Michigan State (7-12, 0-8 Big Ten) and third-ranked Penn State (18-1, 8-0) at Galen Center this week. The Trojans take on the Spartans on Thursday (Oct. 24) and face the Nittany Lions on Saturday (Oct. 26). Both matches are scheduled for 8 p.m. PT starts and will each be shown live on Big Ten Network.

MATCH NOTES

USC and Rutgers met for the first time.
The Trojans played their first-ever match in the Garden State and moved to 21-7 in Atlantic Coast states.
The Women of Troy have won 11 of their last 13 matches.
USC reached double-digit blocks in a match for the 11th time this season.

For more information on the USC women's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/WVB. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow @USCWomensVolley on Facebook, X, and Instagram.