No. 20 USC Women's Volleyball Set to Make Midwest Trek

LOS ANGELES – The No. 20-ranked USC women's volleyball team (16-6, 8-4 Big Ten) will play five of its next eight regular-season matches on the road and begins with a trip to the Midwest to take on Illinois (15-7, 7-5) and Indiana (12-10, 5-7) this week. The Trojans meet the Illini at Huff Hall in Champaign, Ill., on Friday (Nov. 8) and then head to Bloomington, Ind., to face the Hoosiers at Wilkinson Hall on Sunday (Nov. 10). Both matches will be shown live on Big Ten Plus streams.

THIS WEEK
MATCH #23 • Friday, Nov. 8 • 5 p.m. CT (3 p.m. PT)
No. 20 USC (16-6, 8-4) at Illinois (15-7, 7-5)
Huff Hall • Champaign, Ill.
SERIES RECORD: Tied, 3-3 (.500)
LAST MEETING: W 3-2 (Sep. 14, 2023 • West Lafayette, Ind.)
STREAK: Won 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 3-3
TV/STREAM: Big Ten Plus
OPPONENT WEBSITE: FightingIllini.com

MATCH #24 • Sunday, Nov. 10 • 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT)
No. 20 USC (16-6, 8-4) at Indiana (12-10, 5-7)
Wilkinson Hall • Bloomington, Ind.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 2-0 (1.000)
LAST MEETING: W 3-0 (Dec. 10, 2010 • Dayton, Ohio)
STREAK: Won 2 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 2-0
TV/STREAM: Big Ten Plus
OPPONENT WEBSITE: IUHoosiers.com

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

USC is led by fifth-year head coach Brad Keller who has the unique experience of having coached both men's and women's programs at both USC and UCLA. Overall, Keller is 79-59 (.598) as the Trojans' head coach.
The Trojans are 3-2 all-time in the state of Illinois and are 11-1 all-time in the state of Indiana. USC won a pair of matches in West Lafayette in 2023.
Gr. DS Grae Gosnell previously played four years at Indiana. Assoc. head coach Spencer McLachlin served as the Hoosiers' coach in 2022. Indiana Gr. DS Delaynie Maple won four NCAA championships as a USC beach athlete.
Sr. S Mia Tuaniga has started as the Trojans' setter for each of the last three seasons and has 4,185 career assists to rank third in school history.
Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst ranks ninth in the Big Ten for kills (3.76 kps) and is seventh in the league for points (4.48 pps).
Redshirt Fr. MB Leah Ford leads USC (3rd in Big Ten) in hitting (.405).
Sr. MB Tyrah Ariail is eighth in the Big Ten in blocks (1.22 bps). USC ranks second in the conference (5th in the NCAA) for blocks at 2.95 bps.

LAST TIME OUT: USC swept crosstown rival UCLA on Halloween night and then defeated Washington for the third straight time to move to 8-4 in the Big Ten standings. The Trojans have won seven of their last nine meetings with the Bruins and won three straight contests over the Huskies for the first time since 2010-11. Ally Batenhorst had back-to-back double-doubles and hit a season-high .536 with 16 kills in the sweep of UCLA. Mia Tuaniga set the Trojans to their fifth and sixth matches with plus-.300 hitting while producing her seventh double-double of the season. USC had four players in double-digit kills including Batenhorst, Leah Ford, Jadyn Livings and Adonia Faumuina in win over the Huskies.

B1G AWARDS: Sr. Mia Tuaniga was chosen as the Big Ten Setter of the Week and OH Jadyn Livings was awarded Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors on Sept. 23. The two honors were the first ever earned by Trojan players as members of the Big Ten Conference. For Livings, it was her first weekly award of any kind. Tuaniga took home her first weekly award since she was tabbed for Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors in 2021. Tuaniga was later chosen a second time for Setter of the Week laurels on Nov. 4 and was joined the second time by OH Ally Batenhorst who was named the Big Ten Player of the Week for the first time in her career.

INDY EXCHANGE: Several Trojans and Hoosiers have connections with the other school. When USC visits Bloomington, associate head coach Spencer McLachlin will return to a gym where he coached IU in the same position during the 2022 season. Graduate DS Grae Gosnell arrived in Bloomington ahead of the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season and played four years for the Hoosiers before joining the Trojans as a grad transfer in 2024. Similarly, former USC setter Emily Fitzner spent four seasons at Indiana before playing for USC in 2023 and then for the Trojans' beach volleyball program in the spring of 2024. On the Hoosiers' side of the net, graduate defensive specialist Delaynie Maple arrived at IU this fall. Previously, she captained the USC beach volleyball team as a two-time All-American and helped the Women of Troy capture four straight NCAA championships (2021-24) and a pair of Pac-12 titles (2022, '24). Maple and Fitzner coincidentally both attended Torrey Pines High School in San Diego, Calif., together.

MIDWEST STATE OF MIND: The Trojans are 3-2 all-time in the state of Illinois. USC's three wins are over Notre Dame (1987), American (2004) and Northern Illinois (2013). Each of its losses were to Illinois, once in Chicago and once in Champaign. In the Hoosier State, USC is 11-1 all-time with its only loss at the hands of Notre Dame in South Bend in 1995. The Trojans played in West Lafayette last fall and earned wins over the Illini and Purdue in the Boilermaker Challenge (Sept. 14-15).

ONCE AROUND THE BLOCK: The Trojans' 2.95 blocks per set ranks second in the Big Ten and rank fifth nationally. In 22 matches, USC has reached double-digit blocks 14 times including season-highs of 19.5 blocks twice; vs. Kansas State (Sept. 6), vs. Loyola Marymount (Sept. 19).

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Players Mentioned

Tyrah Ariail

Ally Batenhorst

Adonia Faumuina

Emily Fitzner

Leah Ford

Grae Gosnell

Jadyn Livings

Mia Tuaniga