No. 6 USC Men's Volleyball Falls to No. 4 Pepperdine on Senior Night

Thursday, April 16

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 p.m. PT

USC

17-5,9-4MPSFMVB

Pepperdine

21-5,12-1MPSFMVB

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Pepperdine	25	25	29	3
Southern California	21	23	27	0

Photo by: Kevin Kim

No. 6 USC Men's Volleyball Falls to No. 4 Pepperdine on Senior Night

April 16, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Highlights

Outside hitter Dillon Klein put up 14 kills in a 3-0 loss to the Waves

LOS ANGELES – The sixth-ranked USC men's volleyball team (17-5, 9-4 MPSF) dropped a 3-0 decision (25-21, 25-23, 29-27) to No. 4 Pepperdine (21-5, 12-1) on Senior Night at Galen Center on Thursday, April 16.

KEY PLAYERS

Sr. OH Dillon Klein led the Trojans with 18.5 points earned on a team-high 14 kills (6e, 29att, .276) to go with six digs, two blocks, and three service aces. It was his 80th-career match in double-digit kills in 99 contests.
So. OH Sterling Foley added 12 kills (1e, 20att) to hit .550 and had four blocks (one solo) and a pair of aces for 16.5 points.
So. MB Parker Tomkinson put up six blocks and had five kills (1e, 11att, .364).
Jr. S Caleb Blanchette handed out 32 assists to go with five digs and a pair of kills.
Jr. LIB Brad Pan came off the bench to play the second and third sets and finished with five digs.
For the Waves, Ryan Barnett and Cole Hartke each had 15 kills. Hartke hit .323 to go with five digs and three aces. Barnett hit .400 with two digs and two blocks. James Eadie totaled seven kills on nine swings to hit .778 and had four blocks. Andrej Polomac put up 42 assists and had three digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Pepperdine hit .360 (44k, 13e, 86att) over USC's .321 (41k, 14e, 84att) and had a 7-5 edge in service aces. The Trojans had 8.5 blocks to the Waves' 5.0 total, but Pepperdine had a 24-22 edge in digs.
It took nine ties and three lead changes, but the Waves closed out a 25-21 win in the opening frame on .357 hitting. Barnett had six and Hartke had five kills in the set to hold off the Trojans who hit .200. Foley, Tomkinson, and Thiago Zamprogno each had two kills in set one.
USC hit .500 in set two and Klein poured in eight of his kills, but the Waves did enough to turn in a 25-23 win to go up, 2-0. The Trojans had 17 kills (4e) on 26 swings to outpace Pepperdine's 12-kill (3e, 23att, .391) effort. USC was plagued by six service errors and had three reception errors including on set point to give up nine points from the service line.
In the tightest set of the three, the Trojans weathered 19 ties and six lead changes but found themselves on the short end of a 29-27 result. Foley tagged six balls for kills while Klein totaled five and racked up a pair of service aces. Hartke and Barnett went six and four in kills respectively while Eadie added three in the win to seal the match.

UP NEXT

The Trojans will pay a return visit to the Waves' home court at Firestone Fieldhouse on Saturday (April 18) for a 6 p.m. PT match on the Waves' senior night.

MATCH NOTES

USC fell to 45-80 all-time against the Waves and has lost the last three against Pepperdine.
The Trojans dropped to 13-3 in home matches at Galen Center.
USC moves to 9-5 in matches against ranked opponents and to 2-5 against teams ranked in the top 10.
The Men of Troy put up their 18th match hitting over .321.

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.