No. 20 USC Falls to No. 13 Creighton in Four-Set Fight

Thursday, September 5

Omaha, Neb.

4:00 p.m.

USC

2-1,0-0Big Ten

Creighton

4-0,0-0Big East

Southern California

Creighton

Photo by: Aaron Wilson

No. 20 USC Falls to No. 13 Creighton in Four-Set Fight

September 05, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

The Trojans got a season-high 22 digs from libero Gala Trubint in a loss to the Bluejays

OMAHA, Neb. – The No. 20-ranked USC women's volleyball team (2-1) fell in four sets (23-25, 25-17, 25-23, 28-26) to No. 11 Creighton (4-0) in the first match of the Creighton Classic at D.J. Sokol Arena on Thursday, Sept. 5.

KEY PLAYERS

Jr. LIB Gala Trubint led all players with a season-high 22 digs and reached double-digit digs for the 51st time in her career; her 15th match with 20 or more digs. Trubint also had five assists and one of the Trojans' four service aces.
Sr. S Mia Tuaniga put up 41 assists to go with seven digs, three kills, a block, and a service ace.
Redshirt So. OPP Adonia Faumuina had career highs in hitting (.367), kills (15), attacks (30) and blocks (4).
Fr. MB Favor Anyanwu logged nine kills (4e, 20att, .250) to go with two blocks.
Sr. MB Tyrah Ariail led the Trojans' blocking effort and finished with seven (two solo) and had three kills, and two digs.
Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst registered 12 kills, five digs, three blocks, and a service ace.
For the Bluejays, Norah Sis and Ava Martin tied for match-high honors with 16 kills apiece. Sis had 10 digs for the double-double. Elise Goetzinger had 10 kills and led the Creighton block with four (one solo). Maddy Bilinovic had 20 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Both teams registered 56 kills, but Creighton out-hit USC, .250 to .183. The Bluejays had one more dig (56-55) and two more aces (6-4), but the Trojans out-blocked Creighton, 10.5 to 7.0.
The Trojans scored 20.5 points in the opening frame behind a six-kill performance from Faumuina and 5.5 blocks with five from Ariail (two solo) to win, 25-23. USC hit .324 (15k, 3e, 37att) as So. OH London Wijay and Anyanwu added three kills apiece and held the Bluejays to a .222 (16k, 8e, 36att) hitting rate thanks to four digs apiece by Trubint and Batenhorst.
Both teams logged 15 digs and two blocks in set two, but Creighton pulled out a 25-17 victory to even the match with .343 hitting. The Trojans had 11 kills but hit .132 in set two. Faumuina led with three kills while Ariail had two.
USC led, 19-18, when the Bluejays went on a 4-0 run to seize control of the third set. The Trojans mounted a short comeback, but Creighton closed out a 25-23 win to take the third behind .222 hitting with 14 kills. USC out-dug the Bluejays, 14-10 and had just two fewer points on sideout opportunities. Batenhorst picked up five more kills and Faumuina had four for the Trojans.
The fourth set was tied 10 times, and the lead changed hands three times before the Bluejays sealed the victory with a 28-26 win. USC scored 21.0 points with 17 kills, two blocks, and a pair of service aces, but were out-hit, and found itself on the wrong end of a pair of challenged calls. The Trojans had a 24-22 lead, but Creighton saved a pair of set points and went ahead for good at 26-25.

UP NEXT

The Trojans play Kansas State (1-2) on Friday (Sept. 6) at 4 p.m. CT (2 p.m. PT) in the second match of the Creighton Classic. The match will be streamed live on FloVolleyball.com. Links to watch are available at USCTrojans.com.

MATCH NOTES

USC fell to Creighton for the fourth straight time and dropped to 6-4 in the all-time series dating back to 2014.
The Trojans go to 6-7 in the state of Nebraska and fall to 2-7 in the city of Omaha.

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.