No. 6 USC Men's Volleyball Extends Streak to Five in 3-1 Win Over No. 15 CSUN

Wednesday, January 22

Northridge, Calif.

6:00 p.m. PT

USC

5-0,0-0MPSF

CSUN

5-1,0-0Big West

Southern California

CSUN

Photo by: Kate Tsao

No. 6 USC Men's Volleyball Extends Streak to Five in 3-1 Win Over No. 15 CSUN

January 22, 2025 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

The Trojans are 5-0 for the third time in four seasons

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. – The sixth-ranked USC men's volleyball team (5-0) remained undefeated after a gutsy four-set win (23-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-13) over 15th-ranked CSUN (5-1) at Premier America Credit Union Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 22. The Trojans move to 5-0 for the second straight year and for the third time in the last four seasons.

KEY PLAYERS

Jr. OH Dillon Klein led the Trojans with season highs of 22.5 points and 17 kills (.351 hitting) and a career-best nine blocks. Klein collected seven of his kills in set four and had a dig, a service ace, and an assist on his final line.
Redshirt So. OPP Noah Roberts scored 17.0 points with 15 kills (.312 hitting) and had seven digs and four blocks.
Fr. LIB Johnny Dykstra led all players with 14 digs to raise his career high. It was the highest dig total by a Trojan since Klein had 14 in a five-set match at UC Irvine on Feb. 7, 2024.
Fr. MB Parker Tomkinson posted 17.0 points and did it with 13 kills (1e) on 17 swings for a .706 hitting percentage to go with seven blocks (one solo).
Fr. OH Sterling Foley had five kills (2e, 13att, .231) with three blocks (one solo), five digs, and a service ace.
So. S Caleb Blanchette set the Trojans to a fifth straight match over .300 hitting (.389) and dished out 41 assists to go with four digs, two blocks, and two kills.
Gr. MB Guy Genis racked up five kills (1e, 11att) to hit .364 and had seven blocks, two digs, and a service ace.
For the Matadors, Jalen Phillips had 19 kills but hit .188 with 10 errors on 48 attacks. Phillips also had a pair of service aces to finish with 21.0 points. Lorenzo Bertozzi scored 17 kills with .235 hitting and put up nine digs. Donovan Constable had 42 assists and had three digs and three blocks with five kills.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC put up a season-high 17.0 blocks for their fourth match in double digits. It is the highest total by the team since the Trojans had 20.0 blocks at Stanford on April 19, 2023. USC finished with more kills (57-54) and produced a fifth straight match with over .300 hitting (.389) to outpace CSUN's .209 attack.
The Trojans scored 20 points in the opening frame and did it with 19 kills (4e, 34att) while hitting .441, but fell short in a 25-23 loss that snapped a 12-set win streak. Roberts racked up seven of his kills in the first set and had three digs to help USC out-dig CSUN, 13-10. The Trojans had one block and outpaced a Matador attack that hit .333 with 14 kills (3e, 33att). Klein had four kills while Genis and Tomkinson each added three apiece.
USC evened the match with a 25-23 win of its own in the second. The Trojans hit .241 and had 11 kills with five from Klein. The Matadors hit .161 in set two thanks in part to 4.5 USC blocks. Down, 15-11, CSUN cleared the four-point deficit to tie the score for a 10th time at 21-all. The Trojans went in front by two, 23-21, before Klein and Genis teamed up for the final block and the final point of set two.
The Trojans went in front, 2-1, with a hard-fought 25-22 win in the third. USC posted six more blocks in the third to hold the Matadors to a .229 hitting rate despite 15 kills (7e, 35att). The Trojans had 14 kills (5e) on 30 swings to hit .300 and led by as many as four points at 9-5. But CSUN erased that lead and tied the score nine times—the last time at 21-all—before the Trojans slammed the door with a 4-1 run bracketed by a pair of blocks.
USC led wire-to-wire for a 25-13 win in the fourth set to close out the match. The Trojans rolled out to a quick 6-1 lead and then built a 20-11 gap on three straight kills by Klein. Klein finished the set with seven kills on 11 swings for .636 hitting. USC was error-free on offense to post a .667 hitting percentage on 21 attempts (14k) and had 3.5 more blocks to keep the Matadors down at .100 with 11 kills (8e) on 30 attacks. Roberts and Tomkinson each also added three kills in the fourth. Phillips had five kills and Bertozzi had four to power the CSUN offense.

UP NEXT

USC heads to the Midwest to take on Central State (Jan. 29) in Wilberforce, Ohio, before heading to Columbus for the Big Ten Challenge. There, the Trojans take on Ohio State (Jan. 31) and Penn State (Feb. 1) at Covelli Center—the site of the 2025 NCAA championship—in a pair of matches that will be shown live on Big Ten Plus.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 53-35 all-time against CSUN.
The Trojans are 5-0 for the second straight season and for the third time under Jeff Nygaard (2022, '24) and the third time in the last four seasons.
USC reached double-digit blocks for fourth time this season and finished with a season-high 17.0 blocks.
The Trojans collected its second win over a ranked opponent this season (No. 19 Princeton).
CSUN's first-set win snapped a streak of 12 straight sets won by the Trojans.

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 Facebook, X, and Instagram.