No. 11 USC Falls Men's Volleyball to No. 8 Pepperdine in Rematch

Saturday, March 30

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 PM

USC

11-11,2-6MPSF

Pepperdine

17-7,5-5MPSF

Pepperdine

Southern California

Photo by: Drake Lee

No. 11 USC Falls Men's Volleyball to No. 8 Pepperdine in Rematch

March 30, 2024 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

The Trojans were led by 17 kills from sophomore outside hitter Dillon Klein

LOS ANGELES – The 11th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (11-11, 2-6 MPSF) was defeated in four sets (15-25, 25-20, 27-25, 25-19) by No. 8 Pepperdine (17-7, 5-5) at Galen Center on Saturday, March 30.

KEY PLAYERS

So. OH Dillon Klein collected 17 kills (6e, 34att) and hit .324 to register double-digit kills for the 37th time in his career. He also had six digs, three blocks, and a service ace to finish with 19.5 points.
Fr. setter Caleb Blanchette put up 33 assists with eight digs, two blocks, and had three kills on five swings.
Redshirt Fr. OPP Noah Roberts posted new career highs of 10 kills (0e) and 23 attacks to hit .435 and had two blocks and a service ace to record a career-best 12.5 points.
Sr. MB Kyle Paulson led the Trojans with six blocks and had five kills (1e, 7att) to hit .571.
For the Waves, Akin Akinwumi led with 18 kills (4e, 35att) and hit .400 to go with four blocks (one solo). Cole Ketrzynski had 16 kills and added six digs. Alexander Mrkalj had nine kills with .562 hitting. Ryan Graves put up 50 assists and had three kills and three digs. Trey Cole led all players with 12 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Pepperdine hit .421 and had 11 kills in the opening frame to roll away with a 25-15 win. Klein posted four of his kills in the first set, but the Trojans hit .045 as a team in the loss.
Klein put up five more kills in the second set and led USC to a .393 hitting percentage for a 25-20 win to even the match. Blanchette and Klein each put up three digs apiece and the Trojans had a pair of service aces in a wire-to-wire win.
USC trailed by as many as five points twice in the third set, but closed the gap and forced a tie at 23-all. Klein had five kills and Paulson had four as the Trojans hit .250 but fell short in a 27-25 finish. Both Ketrzynski and Akinwumi had six kills each for the Waves in set three.
The Waves opened up an early five-point lead in the fourth and led the length of the set to take a 25-19 win and close out the match victory. Roberts had four of his kills in the fourth while Klein added three more, but Pepperdine scored 19 of its 22.5 points on kills and finished with a .586 hitting rate.

UP NEXT

USC hosts seventh-ranked BYU (15-7, 6-4 MPSF) next weekend (April 5-6) to close out regular-season home matches at Galen Center. The Trojans take on the Cougars at 7 p.m. PT on both nights and will honor its senior class of Jack Deuchar, Kyle Paulson, and Jackson Reed, on Saturday night in pre-match ceremonies.

MATCH NOTES

USC fell to 44-77 all-time against Pepperdine lost its fifth straight match against the Waves.
The Trojans fell to 4-10 in matches with AVCA top 20 opponents this season.

For more information on the USC men's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/MVB. Fans of the Trojans can follow @USCmensvolley on Twitter and Instagram.