No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Welcomes Lions, Rebels and Tritons

LOS ANGELES – The No. 21-ranked USC women's volleyball team (5-2) co-hosts the Trojans/Lions Invitational this week and will play three matches to conclude the non-conference portion of the Trojans' regular-season schedule. USC welcomes Loyola Marymount (6-2), UNLV (6-2), and UC San Diego (6-2) to the Galen Center where action begins on Thursday evening (Sept. 19) with a matchup between UNLV and UCSD at 4 p.m. PT. The Women of Troy and the Lions follow with the teams' 10th all-time meeting at 7 p.m. All matches will be shown live on Big Ten Plus (B1G+) with links available at USCTrojans.com.

THIS WEEK
TROJANS/LIONS INVITATIONAL
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.

MATCH #8 • Thursday, Sept. 19 • 7 p.m. PT
No. 21 USC (5-2) vs. Loyola Marymount (6-2)
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 9-0 (1.000)
LAST MEETING: W 3-1 (Aug. 25, 2017 • Los Angeles, Calif.)
STREAK: Won 9 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 9-0
TV/STREAM: B1G+ (Kasey Kazliner & Lily Coleman)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: LMULions.com

MATCH #9 • Friday, Sept. 20 • 7 p.m. PT
No. 21 USC (5-2) vs. UNLV (6-2)
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 1-0 (1.000)
LAST MEETING: W 3-1 (Sept. 18, 1999 • Las Vegas, Nev.)
STREAK: Won 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 1-0
TV/STREAM: B1G+ (Thomas Johnson & Devyn Dyett)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UNLVRebels.com

MATCH #10 • Saturday, Sept. 21 • 7 p.m. PT
No. 21 USC (5-2) vs. UC San Diego (6-2)
SERIES RECORD: First meeting
TV/STREAM: B1G+ (Andrew Giesler & Grace Schneider)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UCSDTritons.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 68-49 (.581) as the Trojans' head coach.
The Trojans are 206-57 all-time at Galen Center (.783).
Sr. setter Mia Tuaniga has started as the Trojans' setter for each of the last three seasons and has 3,582 career assists to rank seventh in school history. She was selected to the Big Ten Preseason All-Conference Team.
Jr. LIB Gala Trubint logged her 53rd career match in double-digit digs last week and has 15-career matches with 20-plus digs.
Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst ranks seventh in the Big Ten for kills (3.84 kps) and is sixth in the league for points (4.60 pps).
Sr. MB Tyrah Ariail is fourth in the Big Ten in blocks (1.46 bps) and is one block from reaching the 200-career blocks plateau. As a team, USC ranks second in the conference for blocks at 2.96 bps.
The Trojans will play their first season as a member of the Big Ten Conference in 2024 and were picked to finish seventh in a preseason coaches poll.

LAST TIME OUT: USC hosted top-ranked Pittsburgh in its home opener and sought revenge after the Panthers put the Trojans out of the NCAA tournament in the second round last December. Pitt—holding the No. 1 ranking for the first time in program history—was ready for the test and defeated USC, 3-0. The Women of Troy rebounded to get a pair of wins as part of the USC/LMU Classic tournament with a 3-0 sweep of Utah State and a four-set win over Ohio. Ally Batenhorst reached double-digit kills in each match and had a career-high 17 against the Bobcats and logged her third double-double of the season with 11 digs. Mia Tuaniga notched her 30th-career double-double (second of the season) in USC's win over the Aggies. Jadyn Livings got her first collegiate starts and posted 12 kills against Ohio. Off the bench, Grae Gosnell had 15 digs in the win over the Bobcats, just one short of matching her career high. Batenhorst, Tuaniga, and Livings were each named to the all-tournament team with Batenhorst taking home co-MVP honors.

AVCA POLL POSITION: The Trojans opened the 2024 season ranked No. 21 in the AVCA coaches' poll. Overall, USC has appeared in the coaches' poll 530 times, which ranks sixth all-time. The Women of Troy have held a spot among the poll's top 10 teams 317 times, which ranks eighth all-time, and the Trojans have held the No. 1 ranking 47 times for seventh all-time. Since 1982—the year of the poll's inception—USC has appeared in the final poll 34 of 41 times with 18 finishes in the top 10; 12 in the top five, and twice as the No. 1-ranked team (2002, '03).

HOME, SWEET HOME: USC is 206-57 (.783) all-time at Galen Center. The Trojans were 11-2 at home a year ago. USC went 12-1 in home matches in 2011 and completed the 2012 home schedule with a 17-1 mark. In 2007, USC was 19-0 at home on the way to an appearance in the NCAA national semifinal match. The Trojans are 20-4 all-time at Galen Center in NCAA tournament matches. The four losses were to Hawai'i (2008 and 2009) and San Diego (2018) each time in the second round; and to Washington in the 2013 NCAA Regional Final.

DOUBLE DOWN: Five Trojans have recorded career double-doubles. Setter Mia Tuaniga owns 30 double-doubles in her career (one triple-double on Sept. 30, 2022, against Colorado). OPP Adonia Faumuina logged a double-double in her first-collegiate match as she led the Women of Troy to a win over crosstown rival UCLA. OH London Wijay had back-to-back double-doubles in road matches at Purdue and UCLA for her first two of her career and now has nine-career double-doubles. LIB Gala Trubint had a 20-dig, 10-assist double-double against Arizona State in 2022 for the first of her career. OH Ally Batenhorst owns five-career double-doubles, twice as a Husker in 2022.

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Players Mentioned

Tyrah Ariail

Ally Batenhorst

Adonia Faumuina

Grae Gosnell

Jadyn Livings

Gala Trubint

Mia Tuaniga

London Wijay