No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Knocks Off Northwestern in Four

Thursday, November 21

Evanston, Ill.

5:00 p.m.

USC

19-8,11-6Big Ten

Northwestern

5-20,3-14Big Ten

Southern California

Northwestern

Photo by: Aaron Wilson

No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Knocks Off Northwestern in Four

November 21, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

Adonia Faumuina racked up a career-high 20 kills in a win over the Wildcats

EVANSTON, Ill. – The No. 21-ranked USC women's volleyball team (19-8, 11-6 Big Ten) took down Northwestern (5-20, 3-14) in four sets (26-24, 21-25, 25-15, 25-16) at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Thursday, Nov. 21.

KEY PLAYERS

Redshirt So. OH Adonia Faumuina set career marks with 21.5 points and 20 kills on .471 hitting (4e, 34att) with five digs.
Sr. S Mia Tuaniga put up 48 assists and guided the Trojans to their eighth match over .300 hitting. USC finished at .355 with 61 kills (17e) on 124 attacks. Tuaniga also had seven digs, two blocks, three kills, and a service ace.
Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst led all players with 24.5 points gained on 22 kills—her fourth career match with 20 or more kills—and added seven digs, three blocks, a service ace, and an assist. With her 20th kill of the match, Batenhorst reached the 400-kill mark on the season. Her previous season high was 196 at Nebraska in 2023.
Redshirt Fr. MB Leah Ford led the Trojans with five blocks (two solo) and finished with five kills (1e, 8att, .500) for 8.5 points.
Fr. MB Favor Anyanwu scored five kills and had two blocks for six points.
Jr. LIB Gala Trubint had a match-high 16 digs for her 65th-career match in double digits to go with five assists and an ace.
For the Wildcats, Buse Hazan led with 11 kills and had two blocks. Sophia Summers put up five blocks and had four kills. Alexa Rousseau put up 19 assists, six kills, four digs, three blocks, and three service aces. Kennedy Hill scored seven kills and had two blocks. Rylen Reid led with 10 digs and had six kills.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC collected 11.0 blocks to Northwestern's 8.0 for the Trojans' 18th match in double-digit blocks. The Women of Troy out-hit the Wildcats, .355 to .155, and had more kills (61-41), assists (57-37), and digs (55-38).
The opening frame was tied seven times and the Wildcats led by as many as four points before USC claimed its first lead at 20-19 and held firm to close out a 26-24 win. Faumuina led the way with six kills on 11 swings while Tuaniga dished out 13 assists to help the Trojans hit .242 with 15 kills (7e) on 33 swings. Trubint had three of the Trojans' eight first-set digs.
The Wildcats opened five-point leads at 8-3 and 13-8 in the second set, but the Trojans forced the first of four ties at 15-all and led by a point on two occasions. Down, 19-18, Northwestern's 7-2 run allowed the Wildcats to shoot ahead and secure a 25-21 set-two win. Batenhorst had six kills and Faumuina had five to pace the USC attack, which hit .286. The Trojans collected four blocks to hold NU to a .139 attack rate but committed five service errors and were aced four times as Northwestern claimed a 9-1 advantage in points won from the service line.
The Trojans' 18 kills and two service aces would translate into a 25-15 win in the third set. USC hit .516 and had the floor defense to hold the Wildcats to a .192 hitting rate (9k, 4e, 26att) with 13 digs in the frame. Batenhorst racked up eight of those kills on 12 swings without an error while Trubint led the defense with four digs.
Set four was tied just once at three-all when Faumuina scored four straight kills to warn the Wildcat defense of what was to come. Faumuina finished with six kills in the set and helped the Trojans hit .400 to close the match with a 25-16 win. USC had three more blocks and Batenhorst tallied four more kills in the set. Trubint dug up four more balls while Batenhorst and Megan Verbiest each had three apiece to help USC out-dig Northwestern, 15-7.

UP NEXT

USC heads to West Lafayette, Ind., to take on eighth-ranked Purdue (22-6, 13-4). The Trojans and the Boilermakers meet at Holloway Gymnasium on Saturday (Nov. 23) for a 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT) set to be shown on Big Ten Plus.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 2-0 all-time against Northwestern. The teams first met—and last met—in 1982; a 2-0 win for the Trojans.
The Trojans finished with 11.0 blocks for the Trojans' 18th match in double-digit blocks this season.
The Women of Troy moved to 4-3 in matches played in the state of Illinois.

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.