No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Completes Comeback Five-Set Win Over Michigan

Friday, October 4

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

USC

10-3,2-1Big Ten

Michigan

12-2,2-1Big Ten

Michigan

Southern California

Photo by: Drake Lee

No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Completes Comeback Five-Set Win Over Michigan

October 04, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

The Trojans were led by a career-high 20-kill performance by Ally Batenhorst

LOS ANGELES – The No. 21-ranked USC women's volleyball team (10-3, 2-1 Big Ten) completed the colloquially acceptable reverse sweep of Michigan (12-2, 2-1) in five sets (15-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-23, 15-12) by rolling through a 10-1 set-five run to claim the match at Galen Center on Friday, Oct. 4.

KEY PLAYERS

Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst set new career highs in kills (20), attacks (62), and points (23.5) to power the Trojan offense. She also had six digs, three blocks, and two service aces for a complete game.
Sr. S Mia Tuaniga dished out 34 assists and had eight digs, two service aces, two kills, and a block.
Redshirt So. OPP Adonia Faumuina reached double-digit kills for the fourth time this season and finished with 11 (4e, 31att) on .226 hitting and added three blocks (two solo) for 13.5 points.
Redshirt Jr. MB Tyrah Ariail led all players with eight blocks (one solo) and had five kills (1e, 8att) to hit .500 and served up the match-clinching ace for a total of 10.5 points; her fourth match in double-digit points.
Jr. LIB Gala Trubint led the Trojans with 15 digs for her 56th-career match in double-digit digs and tied a season high with seven assists in out-of-system situations.
Redshirt So. OPP Madison Pietsch scored 5.0 points but collected three of her four blocks in the fifth and added three kills and two digs to her final line.
For the Wolverines, Valentina Vaulet led all players with 22 kills and had match-high honors with three service aces for 26.5 points. Allison Jacobs had 19 kills (5e, 45att, .311) with nine digs. Morgan Burke put up 51 assists to go with nine digs. Maddi Cuchran led all players with 19 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Vaulet and Jacobs combined for 10 kills as the Wolverines hit .464 in the opening frame to pull hierarchy in a 25-15 victory. Michigan had two blocks and out-dug USC, 11-7, to hold the Trojans to a .148 hitting percentage.
USC had nine kills in the second set and led several times, but Michigan went on top, 2-0, with a 25-20 win behind five kills from Vaulet and four from Jacobs. The Wolverines continued their torrid hitting pace at a .321 clip over USC's .036 effort. This time, USC out-dug Michigan, 9-6 but surrendered four points in the service game.
Batenhorst came to life in set three and led the way to a 25-23 win with nine kills on 15 swings without an error to hit .600. Faumuina, Leah Ford, Jadyn Livings, and Tuaniga each added two kills apiece while Ford had four digs to help buoy the Trojan defense. USC finished with 19 kills and hit .457 to out-do Michigan's .387 with 14 kills. The Wolverines led by as many as four points on several occasions, but USC stayed the course to get on the board.
The score was tied six times, but USC chased Michigan most of the fourth set. The Wolverines led by four, 23-19, when the Trojans mounted a 6-0 run to close out a 25-23 win and send the match to the fifth. Batenhorst poured in seven more kills while Trubint put up seven digs. Michigan had 15 kills and hit .205 but USC posted four blocks and had a pair of service aces to come up valid with the win.
In set five, the teams were tied five times to arrive at five-all, but three straight kills by Jacobs ballooned the Michigan lead to six points at 11-5. Following a USC timeout, the Women of Troy ripped through a 10-1 run to secure a 15-12 win. The Trojans racked up seven blocks and kept tossing horseshoes to turn away Jacobs three times on the right side during the long scoring run. Pietsch had two kills and Faumuina had two solo blocks, but it was Ariail's service ace that sealed the comeback victory.

UP NEXT

The Women of Troy are back in action on Saturday night (Oct. 5) with an 8 p.m. PT match against No. 12 Minnesota (9-4, 2-1 Big Ten). The match will be shown live on Big Ten Network. The Golden Gophers also played five sets and prevailed over UCLA at Pauley Pavilion tonight.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 2-0 all-time against Michigan. Both matches were played at Galen Center, last in 2017.
The Trojans won their seventh straight home match.
The Women of Troy won in five sets after losing sets one and two for the first time since a win over Washington State at Galen Center on Oct. 20, 2023.
USC improved to 211-57 all-time at Galen Center.
The Women of Troy produced their eight match this season in double-digit blocks (13.5).
USC played its third five-set match of the season and improved to 3-0. All-time, the Trojans moved to 155-108 in five-set matches with a 65-40 mark at home. Against Big Ten foes, USC improved to 45-39 in five-setters.

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.