No. 5 USC Men's Volleyball Sweeps Vanguard in MPSF Opener

Thursday, January 15

Costa Mesa, Calif.

7:00 p.m. PT

USC

2-0,1-0MPSF

Vanguard

1-2,0-1MPSF

Southern California

Vanguard

Photo by: Alex Renteria

No. 5 USC Men's Volleyball Sweeps Vanguard in MPSF Opener

January 15, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Highlights

The Trojans got 14.5 points from OH Dillon Klein in a 3-0 road win over the Lions

COSTA MESA, Calif. – The fifth-ranked USC men's volleyball team (2-0, 1-0 MPSF) collected a 3-0 sweep (25-22, 25-17, 25-14) of Vanguard (1-2, 0-1) at the Freed Center for Leadership to open conference play on Thursday, Jan. 15.

KEY PLAYERS

Sr. OH Dillon Klein led all players with 14.5 points earned on a match-high 11 kills (2e, 14att) for a .643 hitting percentage with three blocks and a pair of service aces. It was his 63rd-career match in double-digit kills. He also added three digs and had a pair of assists on out-of-system plays.
Jr. OH Kahale Clini got his first start of the season and set career highs in kills (7) and attacks (15), hitting percentage (.267), blocks (3), and points (9.5).
Jr. MB Thiago Zamprogno scored 7.5 points with five kills (0e) on seven swings and added three blocks and a service ace.
Redshirt So. MB Wesley Smith totaled five kills (0e) on eight attacks to hit .625 and had three blocks for 6.5 points.
Redshirt Jr. OPP Noah Roberts scored on five kills (1e, 12att, .333) to go with three blocks, five digs, and a service ace.
So. LIB Johnny Dykstra had four digs and a pair of assists.
Jr. S Caleb Blanchette dished out 26 assists to go with three digs and a pair of service aces.
For the Lions, Cole Oliver led with eight kills. Micah Sybesma had six kills while Logan Freemon and Grant Veldman had five kills each. Oliver led all players with seven digs. Brock Henderson put up 23 assists and had five digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC put up a .468 hitting percentage (36k, 7e, 62att) over Vanguard's .130 (28k, 18e, 77att) and had the edge in assists (33-25), digs (23-15), service aces (8-3), and blocks (8.5-2.0).
The Trojans claimed a 25-22 win to take set one. USC racked up five blocks to hold the Lions to a .138 hitting percentage and got 11 kills (3e) on 21 swings to hit .381. Klein had three kills while Roberts, Smith, Clini, and Zamprogno each added two kills apiece. Vanguard pushed ahead for leads through eight rallies, but the Trojans pulled away to lead by five at 14-9 when Klein and Smith teamed up to block Sybesma. USC led by as many as six points at 22-16.
USC hit .478 in set two and walked away with a 25-17 win to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Klein, Clini, and Zamprogno each racked three kills as part of 13 as a team. The Lions put up eight kills and had just three errors on 22 swings to register a .227 hitting percentage.
Klein ripped through five kills on just five swings as part of a 25-14 USC win to complete the sweep. The Trojans hit .556 with 12 kills (2e) on 18 attacks and put up two more blocks to hold Vanguard to a .038 rate (7k, 6e) on 26 attempts.

UP NEXT

USC returns to Galen Center to host 18th-ranked Princeton (0-1) on Friday (Jan. 16) for a 7 p.m. PT match. The Trojans-Tigers matchup will be shown live on a Big Ten Plus stream.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 4-0 in meetings with the Lions.
The Trojans moved to 37-20 all-time in conference openers.

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, TikTok, and Instagram.