No. 4 USC Men's Volleyball Hosts Fort Valley State for Saturday Bout

Saturday, January 24

Los Angeles, Calif.

5:00 p.m. PT

USC

Fort Valley State

USC men's volleyball junior outside hitter Kahale Clini passed the ball during a match against Princeton at Galen Center

Photo by: Kevin Kim

No. 4 USC Men's Volleyball Hosts Fort Valley State for Saturday Bout

January 23, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

#USCMVB Notebook (Jan. 23)2026 USC Schedule

The Trojans look to extend on an early three-match win streak when the Wildcats visit

LOS ANGELES – No. 4 USC men's volleyball (3-0) hosts Fort Valley State (1-1) for a Saturday-evening contest (Jan. 24) at Galen Center. The teams will meet at 5 p.m. in a match that will be shown live on Big Ten Plus. The Trojans have faced the Wildcats just one other time in program history and earned a 3-0 win over FVSU in their 2024 season opener. The teams played in the Galen Center Pavilion in the first meeting.

THIS WEEK
MATCH #4 • Saturday, January 24 • 5 p.m. PT
No. 4 USC (3-0) vs. Fort Valley State (1-1)
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 1-0 (1.000)
LAST MEETING: W 3-0 (Jan. 5, 2024 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Won 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 1-0
TV/STREAM: B1G+ (Kyle Loquet & Kasey Kazliner)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: FVSUSports.com

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

USC is led by 11th-year head coach Jeff Nygaard, a three-time Olympian in indoor and beach volleyball and a two-time NCAA champion.
The Trojans are ranked fourth in the AVCA Coaches Poll; the program's 505th appearance in the national poll.
USC previously faced Fort Valley State in its 2024 season opener. Following Saturday's meeting, the Trojans and Wildcats will gather for a special meal and hear from speakers Dr. Julie Rousseau and Olympic gold medalist and USC head beach volleyball coach Dain Blanton.
The Trojans are 2-0 at Galen Center. Last year, USC won 11 home matches. USC plays 16 times at home in 2026 and plays in Southern California for all but two regular-season matches (at BYU, April 10-11).
USC returns five players in 2026 that were recognized by the AVCA All-America committee in 2025 including first-team choice OH Dillon Klein and second-team MB Parker Tomkinson. S Caleb Blanchette, OH Sterling Foley, and LIB Johnny Dykstra each received All-America honorable mention.
Klein leads the MPSF and all NCAA players in hitting (.671), kills per set (5.00 kps) and points per set (5.80 pps).
The Trojans rank second in the MPSF in aces (2.10 saps), assists (12.30 aps), blocks (2.90 bps), kills (13.20 kps), and hitting percentage (.439).

LAST TIME OUT: The Trojans opened MPSF play with a sweep of Vanguard on the road behind 11 kills from Dillon Klein and a .468 hitting performance by the team. Kahale Clini got his first start as a Trojan and put up a career-best 9.5 points with seven kills. Despite dropping a set, USC earned its first victory over a ranked opponent in a win over No. 18 Princeton at Galen Center. Klein poured in 27 kills on just 40 swings and hit .650 to finish with 30.5 points. Wesley Smith had 10 kills and added eight blocks as a force in the middle.

POLL POSITION: The Trojans were ranked No. 5 in the AVCA Preseason Poll. USC ranks fourth in the Jan. 19 poll for the Trojans' 505th time in the coaches poll. Last season, the Trojans reached fifth on Feb. 3 to mark their highest position since they were also ranked No. 5 in 2022 (April 18). On March 10, USC's spot at No. 5 marked the 200th time the Trojans had been ranked in the poll's top five; now 210 times. The Trojans' reached the top three (March 24) for the first time in over 10 years and were previously ranked as high as third on Feb. 16, 2015.

EXTENDED: 11th-year head coach Jeff Nygaard had his contract extended through the 2028 season. He is the longest-tenured coach in program history and has collected 126 wins at USC. In 2025, he led the Trojans to their highest ranking in over a decade.

1K DK: OH Dillon Klein has reached double-digit kills in 64 of 81 career matches and crossed the 20-kill mark eight times. He reached 1,000 career kills on April 17, 2025, in a match at UCLA and now has 1,095 career kills and counting.

UPPER CLASS: Through three matches, OH Dillon Klein leads the MPSF and the NCAA in three statistical categories: hitting percentage (.671), kills per set (5.00 kps), and points per set (5.80 pps).

2K GOLD: S Caleb Blanchette crossed the 2,000-assist mark in his career in the Trojans' season opener against St. Thomas Aquinas (Jan. 10). He dished out 28 assists in a 3-0 win over the Spartans and is now up to 2,086-career assists. In 2025, he led the MPSF—ranked fourth in the NCAA—in assists (10.61 aps) and equaled his career-high (61) twice.