USC Men's Volleyball Takes Down BYU in Five-Set MPSF Quarterfinal

Wednesday, April 17

Los Angeles, Calif.

5:30 PM

USC

13-14,3-9MPSF

Brigham Young

16-9,7-5MPSF

Southern California

BYU

Photo by: Katie Chin

USC Men's Volleyball Takes Down BYU in Five-Set MPSF Quarterfinal

April 17, 2024 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

The Trojans knocked off the third-seeded Cougars behind a career-high 34.5 points from Jack Deuchar

LOS ANGELES – The sixth-seeded USC men's volleyball team (13-14) eliminated third-seeded BYU (16-9) with a five-set win (30-32, 29-27, 25-23, 18-25, 15-12) in the quarterfinals of the 2024 MPSF Championship Tournament at Galen Center on Wednesday, April 17. The win moves the Trojans into the 4:30 p.m. PT semifinal on Thursday (April 18) where they will face crosstown rival and top-seeded UCLA (22-4).

KEY PLAYERS

Redshirt Jr. Jack Deuchar racked up a career-high 34.5 points to power the Trojan offense with career marks of 30 kills and 54 attacks while hitting .407. He also added four service aces and a block to go with seven digs. The 30-kill performance is the highest since All-American Simon Gallas had 30 against Penn State (Jan. 21, 2022) and the 34.5 points is the most since Dillon Klein had 31.0 in a match against Stanford (Feb. 26, 2023).
Fr. setter Caleb Blanchette set the Trojans to a plus-.300 hitting percentage for the 14th time and finished with a career-high 61 assists to go with three blocks (one solo), three digs, and a service ace.
Sr. MB Kyle Paulson matched his career high with 10 kills (0e, 15att) to hit .667 and added two blocks and an ace.
So. OH Dillon Klein had 12 kills for his 21st double-digit match (41st of his career) and added nine digs and three blocks.
Redshirt Fr. OH Riley Haine put up nine kills to go with five digs and a block.
Jr. MB Markus Olsson posted six kills (0e, 12att) to hit .500 and had five blocks and three digs.
For the Cougars, Luke Benson led with 25 kills with .465 hitting. Miks Ramanis put up 19 kills on .325 hitting. Jackson Fife led all players with 12 digs and Tyler Herget put up 62 assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Benson racked up 11 of his kills in the opening set to lead the Cougars to a 32-30 comeback win. The Trojans had set point at 24-18 but BYU ripped through a 7-0 run to wrestle it away. Deuchar had six kills and Klein added five as the Trojans hit .268 with 17 kills in set one. USC out-dug BYU, 16-14, in the opener.
In another extra-points affair, the Trojans got nine kills from Deuchar to clear a 29-27 victory and even the match at one set apiece. BYU hit .481 and had five kills apiece from Benson and Ramanis in the loss. The score was tied 15 times and the lead changed hands eight times before a set-two winner was decided.
USC led or was tied only twice en route to a 25-23 win in the third. The Trojans hit .286 and got five kills from Klein and four from Deuchar. USC put up three blocks and held off a late comeback by the Cougars who got five kills from Benson.
BYU sent the match to a fifth set with a 25-18 win in the fourth. Deuchar added six more kills to his line but was equaled by Browne's six-kill output. The Trojans had 11 kills and hit .435 just a share behind BYU's .458 and 13-kill set.
The score was tied six times and the lead flipped three times before the Trojans closed out a 15-12 win in the fifth set to seal the win. Deuchar added five more kills while Paulson had three to help USC hit .375 in the final frame. Tied at eights, Blanchette teamed with Olsson for a block and then served an ace to create the separation the Trojans needed to hold off the Cougars down the stretch.

UP NEXT

The Trojans meet crosstown rival UCLA (22-4) in the semifinals on Thursday (April 18) at 4:30 p.m. PT. The Bruins won the MPSF regular-season title to claim the top overall seed in the tournament and are ranked No. 1 in the latest AVCA/NVA Coaches Poll. The match will be streamed live by FloSports.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 27-51 all-time against BYU and have won each of the last two meetings in five sets.
The Trojans improved to 16-19 all-time in MPSF tournament matches.
USC moved to 6-11 in matches with AVCA top 20 opponents this season.
The Trojans hit over .300 for the 14th time (.343).
USC goes to 3-3 in five-set contests in 2024.

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 X and Instagram.