No. 5 USC Men's Volleyball Tops No. 15 Penn State in Straight Sets

Saturday, March 14

Los Angeles, Calif.

5:00 p.m. PT

USC

10-3,2-2MPSFMVB

Penn State

11-7,4-0EIVA

Penn St.

Southern California

Photo by: Katie Chin

No. 5 USC Men's Volleyball Tops No. 15 Penn State in Straight Sets

March 14, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

Cooper Keene poured in a career-high 14 kills to lead the Trojans in a win over the Nittany Lions

LOS ANGELES – The fifth-ranked USC men's volleyball team (10-3, 2-2 MPSF) swept No. 15 Penn State (11-7, 4-0 EIVA) in straight sets (25-13, 25-14, 25-17) at Galen Center on Saturday, March 14.

KEY PLAYERS

Fr. OH Cooper Keane led all players with career highs of 18.5 points and 14 kills (2e, 22att) with .545 hitting. He also had a career-high five blocks (two solo) and added four digs and a service ace.
Sr. OH Dillon Klein scored 14.0 points earned on 12 kills (3e, 22att) and .409 hitting with five digs, two blocks, and an ace. It was his 73rd-career match in double-digit kills.
So. OH Sterling Foley had seven kills with three digs and three blocks (one solo).
Jr. S Caleb Blanchette put up 28 assists with five digs and had a block.
So. LIB Johnny Dykstra recorded six digs and had four assists.
Redshirt So. MB Wesley Smith had four kills and four blocks (one solo) and added a pair of digs and an ace.
So. MB Parker Tomkinson had four kills (5att) to hit .800 and picked up a pair of blocks.
For the Nittany Lions, Sean Harvey led with 12 kills and had two blocks and three digs. Tristen Hassell added fix kills while Ryan Merk had a match-high 10 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC out-hit Penn State, .416 to .073 and had more kills (41-26), assists (35-26), service aces (3-1), digs (25-22), and blocks (10.5-6.0) than the Nittany Lions. It was the Trojans' 11th match hitting over .300 and their sixth time hitting north of the .400 mark. It was also USC's sixth time in double-digit blocks this spring.
The Trojans led set one wire-to-wire to claim a 25-13 win behind .500 hitting (13k, 1e, 24att). Keane and Klein each had four kills and each took just six swings to do it. Foley had three and Smith had two. USC collected five blocks in the opening frame to hold the Lions to .000 hitting (9k, 9e) on 33 attempts. Dykstra picked up four digs while Keane had three to go with three blocks (one solo) including a solo block for set point
USC went up, 2-0, with a 25-14 win in the second. Keane racked up five more kills and had a pair of blocks to go with one of three Trojan service aces. Klein and Tomkinson added three kills apiece to power USC to a .333 hitting percentage (12k, 3e) on 27 swings. Three blocks and nine digs by Trojans helped hold Penn State to a .080 hitting rate with eight kills (6e) on 25 attacks.
The third set was the most competitive of the three with 10 ties and five lead changes, but the Trojans completed the sweep with a 25-17 win. Keane and Klein each added five more kills to their totals to lead USC to a .423 hitting performance (16k, 5e) on 26 attacks. Foley had three kills and Smith added a pair. Harvey had four of his kills in the third and Penn State hit .167 but it wasn't enough to push the match to a fourth.

UP NEXT

USC returns to conference play as host to Jessup (6-9, 0-4 MPSF) on Friday (March 20, 7 p.m. PT) and Saturday (March 21, 5 p.m.). Both matches will be played at Galen Center and be shown live on Big Ten Plus streams.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 24-12 all-time against Penn State and won its fourth straight match against the Nittany Lions.
The Trojans moved to 7-2 at Galen Center this spring.
USC logged its sixth 3-0 sweep of the season.

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.