Concordia Sends USC Men's Volleyball To Sixth Consecutive Loss
Raymond Barsemian had 23 kills and 7 digs to help the visiting Concordia men's volleyball team come back to defeat USC, 18-25, 25-21, 25-23, 19-25, 15-9 in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match at USC's Galen Center on Saturday (March 6).
Concordia improved to 2-6 overall and in the MPSF, while USC lost its sixth consecutive match and fell to 1-6 overall and in the MPSF. It was USC's first 5-set match of 2021.
Billy Fauntleroy led USC with 21 kills, while Brandon Browning added career highs with 19 kills (hitting .562) and 11 digs, Clay Dickinson came off the bench to get 11 kills and 3 blocks (both career bests), Chris Hall had 17 digs and Cole Paxson had a career-high 15 digs.
Jordan Hoppe posted 11 kills, 9 digs, 4 blocks and 2 aces for Concordia, Gil Herold added 8 kills while hitting .438 and Addison Enriques had 12 digs.
USC outhit Concordia, .329 to .275, and had more digs (59 to 48), but the Eagles totaled more blocks (9.0 to 5.0) and aces (4 to 2).
USC ran off 4 consecutive points to build an 11-7 lead in the first set and kept a comfortable margin the rest of the way while hitting .344 and getting 17 digs in the set.
The second set started off tightly-contested until Concordia scored 5 straight points to go up 16-13 and USC couldn't catch up as the Eagles hit .455 in the set.
A 3-point run gave USC a 12-10 edge in the third set, but the Eagles knotted it at 16-16 and moved ahead by 2 points at 24-22 following a Trojan service error and hitting error, all the margin they needed to close out the set.
Concordia built a 10-8 lead in the fourth set, but USC then scored 10 of the next 13 points (including 4 in a row) to go up 18-13 and send the match to a fifth set while hitting .571 in the set.
In the fifth set, Concordia scored the first 2 points, then soon after USC went on a 4-0 run to move ahead at 6-5 only to see the Eagles tally the next 4 points for a 9-6 lead and then they closed by getting the match's final 4 points (hitting .692 in the set).
The teams continue their 3-match series next week, first with USC visiting Concordia on Thursday (March 11) at 7 p.m. PT and then the Trojans welcoming the Eagles back to the Galen Center on Saturday (March 13) at 5 p.m. PT.