No. 4 USC Men's Volleyball Hosts Jessup at Galen Center

Friday, March 20

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 p.m. PT

USC

Jessup

USC men's volleyball outside hitter Dillon Klein dives to pick up a dig during a match against Penn State at Galen Center

Photo by: Katie Chin

No. 4 USC Men's Volleyball Hosts Jessup at Galen Center

March 16, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

#USCMVB Notebook (March 16)2026 USC Schedule

The Trojans have won six straight sets heading into a first-time meeting with the Warriors

LOS ANGELES – Fourth-ranked USC (10-3, 2-2 MPSF) stares down the barrel of a stretch run that includes only conference matches and gets started with two home contests against Jessup (6-9, 0-4) on Friday and Saturday (March 20-21). The Trojans and the Warriors meet for the first time and will take the court at 7 p.m. and 5 p.m. PT respectively on back-to-back nights. Both matches will be shown live on Big Ten Plus streams.

USC is 7-2 on its home floor and rolls into its weekend with the Warriors as winner of six straight sets following sweeps of Concordia on the road and over 15th-ranked Penn State at Galen Center. The winning weekend brought the Trojans back to the No. 4 position in the AVCA coaches poll. USC is also ranked fourth in the first run of the NCAA's ratings percentage index.

THIS WEEK
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
No. 4 USC (10-3, 2-2 MPSF) vs. Jessup (6-9, 0-4 MPSF)

MATCH #14 • Friday, March 20 • 7 p.m. PT
TV/STREAM: B1G+ (PxP Avi Singh, Analyst Nia Satterfield-Brown, and Sideline Aidan Pham)

MATCH #15 • Saturday, March 21 • 5 p.m. PT
TV/STREAM: B1G+ (PxP Avi Singh, Analyst Kyle Loquet, and Sideline Nia Satterfield-Brown)

SERIES RECORD: First meeting
OPPONENT WEBSITE: JessupAthletics.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 513th appearance in the national poll.
USC and Jessup will meet for the first time.
The Trojans are 7-2 at Galen Center. Last year, USC won 11 home matches and will play 16 times at home in 2026. In fact, the Trojans play in Southern California for all but two regular-season matches (at BYU, April 10-11).
USC leads the MPSF in digs (8.74 dps) and in opponent hitting percentage (.239). The Trojans are also second in assists (12.00 aps), kills (12.78 kps), and blocks (2.48 bps) and are in the top 10 nationally for each.
Sr. OH Dillon Klein ranks second in the nation for kills (4.26 kps) and is third for points (4.92 pps). He has reached double-digit kills in 12 of 13 matches and has had five matches with 20 or more kills.
Redshirt So. MB Wesley Smith leads the MPSF in blocks (1.22 bps) ranks ranks sixth in the NCAA. He has had a block in every match including season highs of eight blocks in two matches.

LAST TIME OUT: The Trojans snapped a three-match losing streak by sweeping Concordia on the road and then came home to take down 15th-ranked Penn State in straight sets at Galen Center. USC hit a season-high .559 in the win over the Golden Eagles and were led by a career-best 15.5 points from Cooper Keane who did that damage with 10 kills and an astonishing five service aces. Sterling Foley also racked double-digit kills with 11 and led the Trojans in digs with six. USC had 8.5 blocks to hold CUI to just .100 hitting on 70 swings (24k, 17e). The Trojans then out-hit the Nittany Lions, .416 to .073, and put up 10.5 blocks to reach double digits for the sixth time. This time, Keane upped his season highs with 14 kills and 18.5 points by collecting five blocks (two solo) against Penn State. Dillon Klein reached double-digit kills for the 12th time this season (73rd career) with 12 kills and Johnny Dykstra led the defense with six digs and added four assists.

POLL POSITION: The Trojans ranked No. 5 in the AVCA Preseason Poll. USC now ranks fourth in the March 16 poll for the Trojans' 513th time in the poll. Last season, USC reached fifth on Feb. 3 to mark their highest position since they were also ranked No. 5 in 2022 (April 18). On March 10, 2025, USC's spot at No. 5 marked the 200th time the Trojans had been ranked in the poll's top five; now 218 times. The Trojans reached the top three (March 24, 2025) 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 133 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 73 of 91 career matches and reached the 20-kill mark 12 times. He reached 1,000 career kills on April 17, 2025, in a match at UCLA and now has 1,258 career kills and counting.

UPPER CLASS: Through 13 matches, OH Dillon Klein ranks second in the MPSF for points per set (4.92 pps, 2nd in the NCAA) and kills per set at 4.26 kps (2nd in the NCAA). Through three matches he was the NCAA leader in hitting percentage but is now second in the MPSF and is 14th in the nation at .386.

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 2,465-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.

BLOCKHEADS: MB Wesley Smith and MB Parker Tomkinson are among the top blockers in the MPSF. Smith's 1.22 blocks per set leads the conference (6th in the NCAA) while Tomkinson averages 0.94 blocks per set but is not ranked due to minimum sets played for individual statistical rankings.

JOHNNY ON THE SPOT: LIB Johnny Dykstra led the MPSF in digs with 2.24 dps in 2025. He produced nine matches in double-digit digs and ranked 18th in the nation for digs, third best among the nation's freshmen. Dykstra logged his first two double-digit digs matches against UCLA this spring. He put up a career-high 19 digs in the first meeting between the crosstown rivals and is up to 11-career matches in double-digit digs.