No. 4 USC Men's Volleyball Outlasts No. 13 Ohio State

Friday, January 30

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 p.m. PT

USC

5-0,1-0MPSF

Ohio State

4-3,0-0MIVA

Ohio St.

Southern California

Photo by: Bryce Dechert

No. 4 USC Men's Volleyball Outlasts No. 13 Ohio State

January 30, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Highlights Press Conference

Four Trojans reached double-digit kills led by 20 from Dillon Klein in a five-set win over the Buckeyes

LOS ANGELES – The fourth-ranked USC men's volleyball team (5-0) went the distance to claim a five-set win (25-19, 21-25, 25-27, 27-25, 15-11) over No. 13 Ohio State (4-3) at Galen Center on Friday, Jan. 30.

KEY PLAYERS

Sr. OH Dillon Klein led the Trojans with 25.0 points earned on 20 kills (5e, 47att, .319), two service aces, and five blocks (one solo) to go with four digs. It was his 66th-career match in double-digit kills and his ninth time with 20 or more.
So. OH Sterling Foley had 17.0 points with 12 kills (2e, 24att) and hit .417 to go with eight digs. Foley also tied his career high with six blocks (two solo) and had one of the Trojans' four service aces.
Redshirt So. MB Wesley Smith scored 10 kills (2e) on 17 attacks to log his seventh-career match in double digits. He hit .471 to go with seven blocks (two solo).
Redshirt Jr. OPP Noah Roberts produced 10 kills to go with a service ace and two blocks.
Jr. S Caleb Blanchette put up 32 assists and set a new career high with 14 digs for his sixth-career double-double.
For the Buckeyes, Stanislaw Chacinski led all players with 22 kills and had seven digs. Shane Wetzel had 15 kills but hit just .020 with 14 errors on 51 attacks. Daniel Henwood Rodriguez put up 47 assists and eight digs. Owen Pickering poured in 12 kills and had 10 digs for the double-double.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Trojans hit .333 to the Buckeyes' .219 and had 14.5 blocks over Ohio State's 5.5. The Buckeyes had the edge in kills (63-60), digs (51-46), and had more service aces (7-4).
USC collected 14 kills (1e) on 33 swings to hit .394 in a 25-19 first-set win. Roberts had six of those kills while Smith and Klein had three apiece. The Trojans put up three blocks and had 15 digs to hold the Buckeyes at .257 hitting (14k, 5e, 35att). Ohio State won three challenges through the first 26 rallies of the match and stayed within striking distance, but the Trojans never trailed after a three-all tie and led by as many as seven at 24-17 on a kill from Roberts.
Set two was tied 10 times and was knotted as late as 15-all before Ohio State pulled away to take a 25-21 win and tie the match at one set apiece. Klein logged six kills in the second, but the Trojans totaled just 10 kills (2e) on 24 attempts to hit .333. Despite hitting .265, Ohio State had 15 kills (6e) on 34 swings to claim the win. Eight of those kills came from Chacinski who also had one of four Buckeye aces in the win.
Ohio State led set three by as many as three points several times, but the Trojans forced the frame's seventh tie at 24-all on a line shot by Klein. USC fought off its second set point, but the Buckeyes closed out the 27-25 win with heavy service pressure. Klein and Foley each had four kills in the third and helped USC hit .303 with 16 kills (6e) on 33 attacks while Ohio State had 15 (6e) on 31 swings to log a .290 hitting rate. Wetzel had seven more kills to reach 13 through three sets.
In another 27-25 finish, the Trojans fought through 16 ties and five lead changes to send the match to a fifth set. USC had 13 kills (5e) on 35 attacks to hit .229 and was led by Klein who had four while Foley and Smith had three apiece. Foley racked five points in the fourth with three kills and two solo blocks. USC led by as many as three twice, but the Buckeyes forced tie after tie and saved two set points before the Trojans closed the books on the fourth.
The Trojans raced out to a quick 4-1 lead in the fifth and never trailed and were never tied on the way to a 15-11 win. Klein had two kills while Foley and Cooper Keane had two kills apiece to lift USC to a .583 hitting rate (7k, 0e) on 12 swings. Ohio State had eight kills but committed five errors—two on USC blocks—and ended the match hitting .167 in set five. Pickering kept the Buckeyes competitive in the fifth with four kills while Chacinski added three.

UP NEXT

USC hosts CSUN (7-1) for a midweek match at Galen Center on Wednesday (Feb. 4) and then takes on UC Santa Barbara (5-3) on Saturday (Feb. 7). The Trojans and Matadors take the court for a 7 p.m. PT match. USC and the Gauchos meet for a 5 p.m. start on Saturday. Both contests will be shown live on Big Ten Plus.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 21-9 in 30 all-time meetings with Ohio State and have won each of the last two.
The Trojans moved to 4-0 at home this spring and will play a total of 16 matches at Galen Center.
USC played its first five-set match of the season and trailed a team in sets for the first time this spring.

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.