USC Women's Volleyball Sweeps Mavericks to Advance to NCAA Second Round

Thursday, December 5

Austin, Texas

2:00 p.m. PT

USC

22-9,13-7Big Ten

UT Arlington

29-3,16-0WAC

UT Arlington

Southern California

Photo by: Aaron Wilson

USC Women's Volleyball Sweeps Mavericks to Advance to NCAA Second Round

December 05, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

The Women of Troy halted the Mavericks’ 20-match win streak behind a .361 hitting performance

AUSTIN, Texas – The 19th-ranked and sixth-seeded USC women's volleyball team (22-9) collected a three-set sweep (26-24, 25-7, 25-21) of UT Arlington (29-3) in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Gregory Gymnasium on Thursday, Dec. 5. The win moved the Women of Troy into the second round where they will face either Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (20-10) or site host third-seeded and 13th-ranked Texas (18-6) at 6:30 p.m. CT (4:30 p.m. PT) on Friday (Dec. 6).

KEY PLAYERS

Sr. S Mia Tuaniga put up 33 assists and had five kills (0e, 6att, .833) to go with four digs, two blocks (one solo), and a service ace. Under her guidance, the Trojans hit .361 for their 11th match over .300 this fall. With her total, she moves within six assists of tying the school's career record of 4,510 (Kendall Bateman, 2008-11).
Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst led all players with 15 kills (4e, 34att) and hit .323 to go with nine digs and four blocks. Her 15th kill put USC at match point and was the 999th kill of her career.
Redshirt So. OH Adonia Faumuina scored 12.5 points for her 20th match in double digits and collected those points on 10 kills (3e, 22att) for .318 hitting and added four blocks (one solo) and a dig.
Redshirt Jr. MB Tyrah Ariail logged eight kills (2e, 14att) with .429 hitting and led all players with six blocks (one solo).
Fr. MB Favor Anyanwu racked up five kills (1e, 11att) to hit .364 with four blocks (one solo).
Jr. LIB Gala Trubint had a match-high 15 digs for her 69th-career match in double digits and added four assists and two of the Trojans' seven service aces.
For the Mavericks, Brianna Ford led with 14 kills (6e, 30att) on .267 hitting and added six digs and three blocks. Sjakkie Donkers tallied nine kills (4e, 24att, .208) with five digs and two blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC out-blocked UTA, 13.0 to 5.5, and reached double digits for the 20th time this season. The Trojans also had more kills (46-36), assists (42-36), digs (40-34), and service aces (7-1) than the Mavericks.
The Trojans fought off seven tie scores after leading by as many as seven points to get a hard-fought 26-24 win in the first set. Batenhorst and Faumuina each scored five kills apiece to lead the attack while Trubint dug up six balls on defense to help hold the Maverick attack to a .333 hitting percentage (17k, 4e, 39att). All four of UTA's attack errors in the opening frame were met by USC blocks.
USC warmed up like a Texas barbecue to go on top, 2-0, with a dominant 25-7 win in set two. The Trojans collected 13 kills on just 15 swings without a single error to hit .867 and held the Mavs to a negative .087 hitting rate with five kills (7e) on 23 swings. Four different Trojans served aces in the win as USC put up a 7-for-7 sideout rate. The Women of Troy added four more blocks and got five digs from Trubint. On offense, Batenhorst and Ariail each scored four kills to lead the way.
The Trojans broke open the third set to take an early 11-4 lead, but the Mavericks chipped away and went in front, 16-15. The UTA lead didn't hold long like banana pudding on a hot summer day as USC put together a run to go up by three, 21-18, when Trubint tossed in her second service ace. Batenhorst racked up six more kills in the third and had four digs to match Trubint's four-dig output. Despite hitting .167 (12k, 6e, 36att), USC put up five blocks to hold UTA to a .194 hitting rate (13k, 6e, 36att) to top off the sweep.

UP NEXT

The Women of Troy move into the second round of the NCAA tournament for the 35th time and will face either Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (20-10) or site host third-seeded and 13th-ranked Texas (18-6) at 6:30 p.m. CT (4:30 p.m. PT) on Friday (Dec. 6) at Gregory Gym. The match will be shown live on ESPN+.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 4-0 all-time against UT Arlington in the teams' first meeting since 1996. In the four matches, USC is 12-0 in sets played for four clean sweeps. The Trojans snapped UTA's 20-match win streak.
The Trojans moved to 35-5 all-time in NCAA first-round matches.
USC improved to 130-43 all-time in postseason matches with an 84-36 mark in the NCAA tourney.
The Women of Troy moved to 33-8 in the state of Texas with a 12-2 record in the city of Austin.
USC improved to 42-9 against teams from the state of Texas.
The Women of Troy collected their seventh 3-0 sweep of an opponent this season.
The Trojans reached double-digit blocks (13.0) for the 20th time this fall.

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.