No. 3 USC Men's Volleyball Rides No. 8 Waves Out to 10th Straight Win

Thursday, April 3

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 p.m. PT

USC

19-2,7-0MPSF

Pepperdine

14-7,6-3MPSF

Pepperdine

Southern California

Photo by: Katie Chin

No. 3 USC Men's Volleyball Rides No. 8 Waves Out to 10th Straight Win

April 03, 2025 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

The Trojans extended their win streak to double digits for the first time since 2012

LOS ANGELES – The No. 3-ranked USC men's volleyball team (19-2, 7-0 MPSF) took down No. 8 Pepperdine (14-7, 6-3) in four sets (23-25, 26-24, 25-22, 25-23) at Galen Center on Thursday, April 3. The win extends the Trojans' streak of victories to 10; USC's first double-digit win streak since 2012 when it won 18 in a row. The Trojans also move to 7-0 in the MPSF for their best start in conference play since they were 9-0 in 1994.

KEY PLAYERS

Fr. MB Parker Tomkinson collected 12 kills (1e, 19att) and hit .579 to go with a career-high six dig and a match-high six blocks. It was his fourth match in double-digit kills and his eighth with double-digit points.
Fr. OH Sterling Foley notched 10 kills (2e, 26att) with .308 hitting and had five digs, five blocks, and a pair of service aces. It was Foley's ninth match in double-digit kills and his 14th in double-digit points.
Redshirt Sr. OPP Jack Deuchar scored 16 kills (6e, 36att, .278) to go with two aces and three digs for 18.5 points. It was Deuchar's eighth match in double-digit kills and points.
So. S Caleb Blanchette put up 48 assist and had eight digs, two blocks, two kills, and a service ace.
Gr. MB Guy Genis recorded six kills (0e, 11att, .545)—including the match-winner—and had four blocks.
Fr. LIB Johnny Dykstra picked up eight digs to tie for team-high honors.
For the Waves, Ryan Barnett had 22 kills on .341 hitting to go with eight digs. Cole Hartke scored 15 kills with .220 hitting and had nine digs. Both Barnett and Hartke registered two service aces apiece. Gabriel Dyer had 44 assists and 13 digs for the double-double and threw in five kills and a block.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC hit .303 with 57 kills (17e, 132att) to register its 18th match hitting north of .300. The Waves hit .290 with 61 kills (21e) on 138 swings. The Trojans logged their 11th match in double-digit blocks and out-blocked the Waves, 11.5 to 8.5.
The Trojans led set one by as many as five points at 11-6, but the Waves rolled through a 7-1 run to later lead by as many as four at 22-18. USC mounted one more comeback but fell short in a 25-23 Pepperdine win. The Waves hit .333 with 15 kills (4e) on 33 attacks while the Trojans got four kills apiece from Klein and Deuchar and finished with 14 kills (5e) on 32 swings for a .281 hitting percentage.
Set two was tied 13 times before the Trojans evened the match with a 26-24 win. Deuchar tagged five more balls for kills while Foley and Tomkinson picked up four kills apiece to help USC hit .519 with 15 kills (1e) on 27 swings. The Trojans put up three blocks including one to seal the set, but the Waves hit .448 with 17 kills (4e) on 29 attempts. Both teams had three service aces apiece in the second with Hartke and Deuchar each scoring two.
After a four-all tie in the third, USC led the rest of the way to take a 25-22 win and a 2-1 lead in the match. Deuchar racked six more kills while Tomkinson, Genis, Foley, and Dillon Klein each added two to put the Trojans at .344 hitting in set three (15k, 4e, 32att). USC collected two more blocks in the set to outpace a .333 attack by the Waves (16k, 3e, 39att). Tomkinson led all players in set three with five digs while Klein tallied four.
After the Waves went in front by three, 8-5, the Trojans got back-to-back kills from Tomkinson to close within a point and then produced the fourth lead change to take a 12-11 lead on a kill by Riley Haine. USC stayed in front and led by as many as five at 22-17 when Pepperdine head coach Jonathan Winder was issued a red card. The Waves got as close as one point at 24-23 before Genis sent one to the floor for his sixth kill to end the match.

UP NEXT

USC and Pepperdine meet again on Saturday (April 5) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif., for a 5 p.m. PT match that will be shown live on Big Ten Plus (B1G+).

MATCH NOTES

USC improves to 45-77 all-time against Pepperdine and snaps a five-match losing streak to the Waves.
The Trojans hit better than .300 for the 18th time in 21 matches and outhit their opponent for the 19th time this spring.
USC recorded double-digit blocks for the 11th time and finished with 11.5 in the match.
The Trojans collected their 12th win over a ranked opponent this season; their fourth over a top-10 foe.
USC's 10-match win streak is the longest this season and marks the first time the Trojans have had a double-digit win streak since the Trojans won 18 in a row in 2012.
The Trojans improved to 7-0 in MPSF play for the first time since 1994 when USC was 9-0 to start conference play.

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.