USC Men's Volleyball Crashes Waves for Five-Set MPSF Semifinal Victory

Thursday, April 23

Provo, Utah

5:00 p.m. MT / 4:00 p.m. PT

USC

19-6,9-5MPSFMVB

Pepperdine

23-6,13-1MPSFMVB

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Southern California	21	25	25	22	16	3
Pepperdine	25	21	20	25	14	2

USC Men's Volleyball Crashes Waves for Five-Set MPSF Semifinal Victory

April 23, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Highlights

The Trojans will return to the league championship match for the second straight year

PROVO, Utah – The third-seeded USC men's volleyball team (19-6) exacted revenge on No. 2-seeded Pepperdine (23-6) with a five-set win (21-25, 25-21, 25-20, 22-25, 16-14) in the semifinals of the MPSF tournament at Smith Fieldhouse on Thursday, April 23. The Trojans will play in their second straight MPSF title match on Saturday (April 25) and will face either top-seeded UCLA or fifth-seeded tourney host BYU in a 7 p.m. MT (6 p.m. PT) start on Big Ten Network.

KEY PLAYERS

So. OH Sterling Foley poured in career highs of 19 kills, seven blocks, and 23.5 points, and did it with .429 hitting (4e, 35att) to go with a service ace and four digs. It was his ninth match in double-digit kills; 14th in double-digit points.
So. MB Parker Tomkinson racked up a career-best 12 blocks (one solo) to become the first Trojan since Kyle Paulson (10 blocks vs. Ohio State, Jan. 20, 2024) to put up double-digit blocks. He also matched his career high with 13 kills (1e, 19att) to hit .632 and registered his first-career double-double. Tomkinson also served one of four USC aces.
Redshirt So. MB Wesley Smith had 13 kills to equal his career-high while hitting .667 (1e, 18att). Smith totaled five blocks, had a pair of digs, and also served an ace.
Sr. OH Dillon Klein recorded seven kills to go with four digs and a pair of blocks.
Fr. S Andrew Chapin put up a career-high 32 assists to go with eight digs, three blocks, and a service ace.
So. LIB Johnny Dykstra registered his fourth match in double digits and finished with 12 digs.
For the Waves, Cole Hartke led all players with 26 kills (.367 hitting) and collected 10 digs for the double-double. He also led Pepperdine with six blocks (one solo). Ryan Barnett had 13 kills but committed 10 hitting errors (.091) to go with eight digs. Andrej Polomac dished out 56 assists and had eight digs. Grant Lamoureux came off the bench to record nine kills on 18 swings (.333) and served a pair of aces.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC hit .320 to finish north of .300 for the 20th time this season. The Waves hit .244 but had more kills (63-57) than the Trojans. Pepperdine also had more digs (40-34), assists (63-54), and a slight edge in service aces (5-4), but USC put up a season-high 19.5 blocks over the Waves' 8.5 to help keep the Pepperdine attack at bay. It was the Trojans' 10th match in double-digit blocks this spring.
The Trojans got out to a slow start and fell behind, 4-0, quickly. From there on, USC stayed toe-to-toe with the Waves, but Pepperdine claimed the first set, 25-21. Despite putting up five blocks, USC couldn't stop a Wave offense that hit .344 and totaled 17 kills (6e, 32att) in the opening frame. Hartke and Barnett each had six kills apiece to finish with more than the Trojans as a team (10 kills) who were led by four from Foley and three from Smith.
USC racked three more blocks and pushed aside eight ties in the second set to walk away with a 25-21 win and evened the match at one set apiece. The Trojans caught fire through the belly of the frame and ended with a .400 hitting rate on 25 attempts (12k, 2e). Pepperdine had 13 kills but also had seven errors (27att) to hit .222. Foley collected six more kills while Tomkinson had four; each without an error.
After six ties, the Trojans pulled away and led by as many as five several times before closing out a 25-20 win in the third for a 2-1 lead. Foley and Smith each had four kills and Noah Roberts entered the match to rack three kills to lift USC to a .417 hitting performance (14k, 4e, 24att). Chapin delivered 10 assists and the Trojans put up four more blocks to help hold Pepperdine to a .130 hitting rate (9k, 6e, 23att).
USC led by three at 13-10 and then again at 15-12 in the fourth, but Pepperdine fought back to turn the tables and forced set five with a 25-22 win. Both teams had 3.5 blocks each, but the Waves held the Trojans to .162 hitting (13k, 7e, 37att) while putting up 14 kills (6e, 33att) for .242. Hartke totaled six kills while Lamoureux came in and had five to spark the Waves. Chapin had four digs as USC picked up 11 balls, but Pepperdine finished with 12.
The fifth was tied four times and the lead changed hands four times before the Trojans sealed the victory, 16-14. Tomkinson, Smith, Foley, and Klein each had two kills apiece to help USC hit .471 (0e) on 18 attacks. Klein's tool of the Waves' block put the Trojans at match point, 15-14, before Hartke sent it long to close out the match. Chapin had three digs and an assist on every USC kill. Hartke added five more kills and Lamoureux had four, but four USC blocks held Pepperdine to .250 hitting (10k, 5e, 20att).

UP NEXT

USC advances to the MPSF championship match for the second straight year and for the sixth time since 1993. The Trojans are 1-4 in the title match and won their only MPSF crown in 2009. The four losses came in 1999 (BYU), 2011 (UCSB), 2019 (Pepperdine), and 2025 (Pepperdine). The Trojans will face either top-seeded No. 1-ranked UCLA (27-1) or tourney host fifth-seeded No. 8 BYU (21-11) in the championship match on Saturday (April 25) at 7 p.m. MT (6 p.m. PT). The match will be shown live nationally on Big Ten Network.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 46-81 all-time against Pepperdine and snapped a four-match losing streak to the Waves.
The Trojans moved to 10-6 in matches against ranked opponents and to 3-6 against teams ranked in the top 10.
USC improved to 19-21 all-time in MPSF tournament matches.
USC played its second neutral site match of the season and improved to 6-3 away from home (2-0 in neutral matches).

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.