No. 16 USC Women's Volleyball Falls Short in Five-Set Spartan Race

Thursday, October 24

Los Angeles, Calif.

8:00 p.m.

USC

14-5,6-3Big Ten

Michigan State

8-12,1-8Big Ten

Michigan St.

Southern California

Ally Batenhorst attacks out of the back row

Photo by: John McGillen

No. 16 USC Women's Volleyball Falls Short in Five-Set Spartan Race

October 24, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

Senior setter Mia Tuaniga put up 49 assists and crossed the 4,000-assist plateau in a match with Michigan State

LOS ANGELES – The 16th-ranked USC women's volleyball team (14-5, 6-3 Big Ten) was taken down in five sets (20-25, 22-25, 27-25, 25-20, 15-13) by Michigan State (8-12, 1-8) at Galen Center on Thursday, Oct. 24.

KEY PLAYERS

Sr. S Mia Tuaniga delivered a season-high 49 assists and set the Trojans to a .263 hitting percentage (63k, 22e, 156att) to go with nine digs, five kills (.833), three blocks, and a service ace. Her 11th assist of the match was the 4,000th of her career as she climbed another rung in the USC history books as the fourth player to reach that mark. She also recorded her 140th-career service ace to move into a fourth-place tie in school history with Alex Jupiter (2008-11).
Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst reached a new career mark with 23 kills (3e, 56att) and hit .357 to go with seven digs, five blocks (one solo), and a career-best four assists in out-of-system situations.
Fr. OPP Jadyn Livings posted 14 kills (7e, 33att, .212) and recorded her third-career double-double with 11 digs. Livings also matched her career high with three service aces and had two blocks.
Redshirt So. OH Adonia Faumuina posted 14 kills to go with six blocks and a dig.
Jr. LIB Gala Trubint put up nine digs and had three assists.
For the Spartans, Akasha Anderson was the mainstream offensive leader with 26 kills (12e, 54att) with .259 hitting and posted a double-double with 13 digs to go with five blocks and a pair of service aces. Taylor Preston had 12 kills. Julia Bishop put up 46 assists and had the double-double with 12 digs. Nalani Iosia—in a homecoming—had a re-introduction to her hometown with 10 digs, seven assists, and four kills.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Trojans had more kills (63-58) and hit better (.263 to .225) than the Spartans. USC also had more blocks (15-10) and more assists (59-55) than Michigan State. MSU out-dug the Trojans, 60-43, and both teams had seven service aces.
Tuaniga delivered her 4,000th career assist on the final rally of a 25-20 win to sew up the first set. The kill went to Batenhorst who finished the first frame with five kills on 12 swings to hit .417. As a team, the Trojans hit .333 with 14 kills (2e) on 36 attacks. The Spartans had 13 kills on 36 attempts (8e) but were held to .139 hitting as USC collected 11 digs and put up three blocks. Michigan State had 19 digs in set one.
The Trojans never trailed en route to a 25-22 win in set two to take a 2-0 lead in the match. USC had 13 kills on 27 swings (8e) and hit .185 over the Spartans' negative .083 hitting (6k, 8e, 24att). Livings came to life for seven kills while Faumuina had two kills, and the Trojans put up three more blocks. Despite never trailing, USC led by as many as seven. Michigan State closed within two at 23-21 before the Trojans pulled away.
The third set was tied eight times and the lead changed hands five times before the Spartans closed out a 27-25 win to force set four. Batenhorst tallied six of the Trojans' 14 kills as USC hit .222 on 45 attacks. Batenhorst also dug up five balls and had two blocks. Faumuina logged four kills, but Anderson powered the MSU offense with 12 kills and added five digs as the Spartans locked in a .250 hitting percentage with 17 kills (7e) on 40 swings.
Batenhorst had six kills without an error and Livings served three aces in the fourth set, but the Trojans couldn't prevent the Spartans from pushing the match to a fifth set. Anderson added five more kills and Iosia tapped down three as MSU hit .522 with 14 kills (2e) on just 23 attacks. USC hit .321 with 13 kills (4e) on 28 attempts.
Michigan State scored the first four points of the fifth set and was never tied on the way to a 15-13 win to take the match. Batenhorst added five more kills with .556 hitting. The Trojans closed within a point several times but could never catch the Spartans. The run to the victory saw the Spartans go from the lip of a three-set sweep to a five-set win in which they were tied just five more times but never trailed again.

UP NEXT

USC takes on third-ranked Penn State (19-1, 9-0) at Galen Center on Saturday (Oct. 26). The match is scheduled for an 8 p.m. PT start and will be shown live on Big Ten Network. The Nittany Lions went five sets in a win over UCLA earlier this evening at Pauley Pavilion.

MATCH NOTES

USC fell to 7-2 all-time against Michigan State and to 1-1 at home (Galen Center, 2007).
The Trojans reached double-digit blocks (15.0) in a match for the 12th time this season.
USC's only other loss to Michigan State was also a five-set decision (2009) in East Lansing, Mich.
The Trojans played their fifth five-set match this season and fell to 4-1 in those contests. All-time, USC fell to 156-109 in five-set matches with a 66-41 record as the home team. Against Big Ten teams, the Trojans go to 46-40 all-time in five-setters.
The Women of Troy lost a match in which they won the first two sets for the first time since Nov. 12, 2023; a loss to ninth-ranked Washington State in Pullman, Wash.
USC had a nine-match home win streak snapped and fell to 9-2 at Galen Center this season.
The Trojans go to 213-58 all-time at Galen Center and to 128-46 in conference matches played in the building. It is USC's first home conference loss this season.
USC's last lead of the match was at 24-23 in the third set. From that point on, the score was tied five more times, but the Spartans never trailed again on the way to the five-set victory.

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.