No. 7 USC Men's Volleyball Opens 2025 Campaign Against Wildcats and Tigers

LOS ANGELES – The seventh-ranked USC men's volleyball team (0-0) opens the 2025 season with matches against reigning Northeast Conference tournament champion Daemen (0-0) on Thursday (Jan. 9) and 19th-ranked Princeton (0-0) out of the EIVA on Saturday (Jan. 11). The Trojans—picked to finish second in the MPSF—will face the Wildcats in the Galen Center Pavilion and meet the Tigers in the Galen Center's main arena. Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m. PT starts and will both be shown live on Big Ten Plus streams.

USC will face Daemen for the first time. The Trojans and Tigers tangle up for just the fifth time; the first since a meeting in 2022. USC is 4-0 in the four previous meetings with Princeton.

Two-time All-MPSF junior OH Dillon Klein returns to lead the Trojans. He tallied over 400 points as a sophomore and led USC with 3.44 kills per set and .303 hitting. Sophomore MB Wesley Smith was USC's leader in hitting percentage (.509) and was a force on the block with 0.95 blocks per set. The Trojans will be set by sophomore Caleb Blanchette who had 954 assists in his freshman campaign (9.17 aps). Both Blanchette and Smith were members of the MPSF's all-freshman team. Senior libero Austin Stuard led USC's defense with 1.81 digs per set last season. The Trojans also return redshirt sophomore pin-hitters Riley Haine (2.00 kps, 1.24 dps) and Noah Roberts (1.79 kps, 0.49 bps).

Among newcomers, the Trojans have added graduate MB Guy Genis who joins USC following four seasons at crosstown rival UCLA. USC's top-rated freshman recruiting class includes outside hitters Sterling Foley and Christian Connell, opposite hitters Eamon Rigdon and Jack Von Der Ahe, middle blockers Parker Tomkinson and Tyler Robinson, and libero Johnny Dykstra.

Last year, the Trojans went 13-15 in the regular season, finished sixth in the MPSF standings (3-9), and were 13th in the final AVCA Coaches Poll. In the postseason, USC advanced to the MPSF tournament semifinal where it fell to league runner-up UCLA. The Trojans earned six wins over ranked opponents and head coach Jeff Nygaard reached 100-career victories.

For more information on the USC men's volleyball team, please visit USCTrojans.com/MVB. Fans of the Trojans can follow @USCmensvolley on Instagram, X, and Facebook.

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Players Mentioned

Caleb Blanchette

Christian Connell

Johnny Dykstra

Sterling Foley

Guy Genis

Riley Haine

Dillon Klein

Eamon Rigdon

Noah Roberts

Tyler Robinson

Wesley Smith

Austin Stuard

Parker Tomkinson

Jack Von Der Ahe