USC Falls to No. 16 Oregon in Hard-Fought Five-Setter

LOS ANGELES – The USC women's volleyball team (10-9, 6-4 Pac-12) fell to 16th-ranked Oregon (15-5, 6-4) in five sets (21-25, 19-25, 25-21, 25-15, 16-14) at Galen Center on Sunday, Oct. 24.
 
KEY PLAYERS

• Jr. OPP Emilia Weske led the Trojans with 17 kills (4e, 34att), hit .382, and had three digs and a service ace.
• Gr. OH Brooke Botkin had 18 kills (9e, 47att, .191) to go with eight digs and two blocks.
• Jr. OH Kalen Owes collected 11 kills on 33 swings and had seven digs.
• Fr. MB Tyrah Ariail led the net defense with six blocks (one solo) and added six kills (1e, 14att, .357). 
• Fr. S Mia Tuaniga posted her fourth straight double-double with 52 assists and 10 digs.
• Gr. MB Candice Denny had nine kills (2e, 18att, .389) and one service ace.
• Gr. LIB Shannon Scully led all players with 23 digs.
• For Oregon, Brooke Nuneviller had 19 kills and 12 digs for a double-double. Gloria Mutiri had 15 kills (1e, 24att, .583). Georgia Murphy led the defense with 17 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• USC flipped the scoreboard and broke away to take set one, 25-21, behind a .200 hitting performance with 18 kills on 45 swings. Weske had five kills and Botkin and Owes each had four apiece.
• The Trojans broke the eighth tie of the second frame and raced off to get a 25-19 win and a 2-0 lead in the match. This time, Botkin had five kills and the team had three blocks to hold the Ducks at bay.
• The Ducks came to life in the third and took a 25-21 win to get on the board. The Trojans caught up to Oregon at 20-all for the third tie of the set, but the Ducks flew away with five of the last six points for the win.
• Service errors slowed the start of the fourth set, but once Oregon got into a rhythm, it staved off any comeback attempts from the Trojans to take a 25-15 win to send the match into the fifth.
• The Ducks never led by more than two points in the fifth. The Trojans scored a block and took the Oregon error to tie the score at 14-all, but the Ducks secured the final two points for the five-set victory.

UP NEXT

• The Trojans open the back half of the Pac-12 schedule as host to Washington (15-3, 8-2 Pac-12) on Friday (Oct. 29) at 8 p.m. PT and Washington State (13-7, 7-3) on Sunday (Oct. 31) at 1 p.m. The Friday-night meeting with the Huskies will be shown live on Pac-12 Networks.

MATCH NOTES

• USC fell to 55-17 all-time against Oregon and to 25-11 in home matches with the Ducks.
• Oregon won its fourth straight match against USC (all five-set decisions) to match its longest streak in the series' history previously set between Sept. 28, 1986, and Sept. 27, 1987.
• The Women of Troy fell to 4-4 at home this season and to 175-49 all-time at Galen Center.
• USC's season-long four-match winning streak was snapped by the Ducks.

For more information on the USC women's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/WVB. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow @USCWomensVolley on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.