No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Grills No. 12 Golden Gophers

Saturday, October 5

Los Angeles, Calif.

8:00 p.m.

USC

11-3,3-1Big Ten

Minnesota

9-5,2-2Big Ten

Minnesota

Southern California

Photo by: Bryce Dechert

No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Grills No. 12 Golden Gophers

October 05, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

The Women of Troy recorded their ninth match with double-digit blocks in a 3-1 win over 12th-ranked Minnesota

LOS ANGELES – The No. 21-ranked USC women's volleyball team (11-3, 3-1 Big Ten) took down No. 12 Minnesota (9-5, 2-2) in four sets (25-23, 22-25, 25-11, 25-18) at Galen Center on Saturday, Oct. 5. It was the Trojans' eighth straight home victory and USC's first win over a ranked opponent this season, the team's first since it defeated 15th-ranked Arizona State on Nov. 5, 2023.

KEY PLAYERS

Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst powered the Trojans' offense with 19 kills (3e, 46att) on .348 hitting and finished with 23.0 points with three service aces, two blocks, and six digs.
Sr. S Mia Tuaniga put up 48 assists and set USC to .320 hitting to go with nine digs, four blocks, and two kills.
Redshirt So. OH Adonia Faumuina reached double-digit kills for the fifth time this season and finished with 12 (5e, 29att) on .241 hitting and had five blocks (two solo) for 15.5 points with eight digs.
Jr. LIB Gala Trubint led the Trojans with 17 digs for her 57th-career match in double-digit digs had five assists and a pair of service aces. She pushed her career total to 988 digs to move within 12 of reaching 1,000.
Fr. OPP Jadyn Livings had 13 kills (4e, 18att) with .500 hitting and racked up four blocks.
Redshirt Fr. MB Leah Ford had a career-high 11.0 points on six kills (.417) and a career-high nine blocks (one solo).
Gr. OH Grae Gosnell picked up her sixth match in double-digit digs and finished with 10 to go with two service aces.
For the Golden Gophers, Lydia Grote led with 16 kills (.209) and Julia Hanson had nine with eight digs. Melani Shaffmaster posted 33 assists to go with four kills, four digs, and two blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Trojans topped the Gophers in every statistical category with more kills (58-42), assists (56-39), digs (58-36), blocks (13.0-6.0), service aces (8-6), and hitting percentage (.320-.146). USC hit plus-300 for the second time this season (.390 at Pepperdine, Aug. 30) and recorded a ninth match in double-digit blocks this season.
The teams traded barbs through 14 ties in the first set before the Trojans closed out a 25-23 win behind .293 hitting with 19 kills (7e) on 41 swings. Batenhorst and Faumuina each had six kills to pace the USC attack while Livings added four. Trubint dug up six balls in the opening frame and USC posted two blocks to hold Minnesota to .105 hitting (9k, 5e, 38att).
The Trojans led set two, 21-19, when the Gophers went on a 6-1 run to seal a 25-22 win and even the match. Batenhorst tallied four more kills, but Grote scored eight kills to help lift Minnesota to .258 hitting with 13 kills (5e) on 31 attempts. USC had three more blocks and racked up four service aces but hit .111 with 12 kills (8e) on 36 swings.
USC led from wire-to-wire in a 25-11 set-three victory to take a 2-1 lead in the match. The Trojans collected 13 kills on 20 swings without an error to log .650 hitting. USC also racked up six more blocks and got five digs from Trubint to hold Minnesota to .071 hitting with eight kills (6e) on 28 attacks. Ford had four kills and Batenhorst had three more to lead the USC attack, which also added two service aces.
The Women of Troy hit .393 in the fourth set and got six kills from Batenhorst and five more from Livings to close out the match with a 25-18 win. The Gophers led by two points several times, but USC tied the score for an eighth time at 14-all and then moved ahead for good. Trubint and Megan Verbiesteach scored on service aces and Gosnell recorded four digs to help the Trojans hold Minnesota to a .152 hitting rate with 12 kills on 33 swings.

UP NEXT

The Women of Troy hit the road to face a familiar conference foe next week when USC takes on No. 11 Oregon (11-2, 3-1 Big Ten) at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Ore. The teams meet for a 6 p.m. PT match on Wednesday (Oct. 9) and will be shown live on Big Ten Network.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 5-2-1 all-time against Minnesota and moved to 1-1 in home matches with the Gophers.
The Trojans won their eighth straight home match and improved to 212-57 all-time at Galen Center.
USC faced its fourth ranked opponent this season and moved to 1-3 in those contests.
The Women of Troy have won eight of their last nine matches.
USC produced its ninth match this season in double-digit blocks (13.0).

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.