No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Outruns Rebels for 3-1 Win

Friday, September 20

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

USC

7-2,0-0Big Ten

UNLV

7-3,0-0Mountain West

UNLV

Southern California

Photo by: Drake Lee

No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Outruns Rebels for 3-1 Win

September 20, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

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The Trojans won their fourth straight match on a four-set victory over UNLV

LOS ANGELES – The No. 21-ranked USC women's volleyball team (7-2) took down UNLV (7-3) in four sets (25-21, 25-18, 25-27, 25-20) in the Trojans' second match of the Trojans/Lions Invitational at Galen Center on Friday, Sept. 20.

KEY PLAYERS

Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst logged her fourth double-double of the season (sixth career) and finished with 18.0 points collected on 15 kills (4e, 32att) with .344 hitting and four blocks (two solo).
Sr. S Mia Tuaniga racked up her fourth double-double of the season (32nd career) with 39 assists and 14 digs to go with four kills (1e, 8att, .375) and two blocks. She also had three of USC's four service aces for her 16th-career match with three service ace or more.
Fr. OH Jadyn Livings set new career marks with 18 kills and 47 attacks.
Sr. MB Tyrah Ariail led the team with eight blocks and added five kills (1e, 11att, .364) for 9.0 points.
Gr. OH Grae Gosnell posted her third straight double-digit digs match with 10 and Jr. DS Megan Verbiest had 12 digs and the other USC service ace.
For the Rebels, Chloe Thomas had 15 kills and four blocks. Caleigh King led all players with 16 digs. Jordyn Freeman led all players with nine blocks (one solo) and had seven kills.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC won every statistical category and finished with a .203 hitting rate to UNLV's .125. The Trojans had more kills (55-46), assists (45-42), digs (53-46), blocks (14.5-12.0), and service aces (4-3).
The Trojans collected a 25-21 win to open the match behind .375 hitting with five kills from Batenhorst and four apiece from Livings and Ariail. Tuaniga dished out nine assists and picked up four digs in the win while the Rebels had 11 kills and hit .214 led by three kills from Quinlan.
USC closed out set two on an 8-1 run and went up, 2-0, on a 25-18 win. Livings tallied five more kills in the second set while Batenhorst and Anyanwu picked up three each. The Trojans shut down the Rebel attack with 5.5 blocks led by three from Ariail. Between the net defense and seven digs, USC held UNLV to a .091 hitting rate with 11 kills on 33 swings.
Batenhorst led the Trojans with five more kills in the third and Gosnell picked up six digs, but UNLV flipped the last of five lead changes in its favor for a 27-25 victory. Both teams had four blocks apiece but the Rebels out-hit USC, .150 to .086.
Livings came to life for seven kills in the fourth set and led the Trojans to a 25-20 win to close out the match. USC led by as many as nine at 21-12 but the Rebels ripped through an 8-0 run to close within a point at 21-20. Madison Pietsch terminated from the right pin to end the Rebel run and started the 4-0 USC run that ended the match. The Trojans had four more blocks in set four and held UNLV to a .070 hitting rate.

UP NEXT

USC concludes play in the Trojans/Lions Invitational with a Saturday-night (Sept. 21) match at Galen Center against UC San Diego (6-4). First serve is set for 7 p.m. PT and the Trojans-Tritons finale will be shown live on a Big Ten Plus (B1G+) stream. Links are available at USCTrojans.com.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 2-0 all-time against UNLV as the teams met for the first time since 1999.
The Trojans won their fourth straight home match at Galen Center and improved to 208-56 all-time in the arena.
USC reached double-digit blocks for the fifth time this year.

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.