USC Women’s Volleyball Sweeps Oregon State

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The USC women's volleyball team (11-14, 7-9 Pac-12) defeated Oregon State (4-22, 2-14) in three sets (25-13, 25-17, 25-17) at Gill Coliseum on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 14). The win halts a six-match losing streak for the Women of Troy and keeps the Trojans' postseason hopes alive.
 
KEY PLAYERS

• Fr. S Mia Tuaniga put up her seventh double-double of the season with 36 assists and 14 digs. She also had two kills and a service ace to finish with three points.
• Gr. OH Brooke Botkin led the USC attack with 14 kills (3e, 29att) to hit .379 and had eight digs with a service ace.
• Jr. OPP Emilia Weske posted seven kills with four blocks (one solo).
• Gr. MB Candice Denny tallied her eighth double-digit kills match of the season. She finished with 10 kills without an error on 16 swings for a .625 hitting percentage and had a service ace.
• Gr. MB Sabrina Smith posted seven kills (2e, 16att, .312) to go with five blocks (two solo).
• Gr. LIB Shannon Scully led the Women of Troy with 16 digs and added six assists.
• For Oregon State, Kateryna Tkachenko led with nine kills (5e, 29att, .138) and Mychael Vernon added eight kills (6e, 28att, .071). Grace Massey had 15 digs. The Beavers were without key scorers Maddie Goings and Vivian Light.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Trojans led wire to wire and by as many as a dozen to take the first set. USC got six kills from Botkin and posted a .436 hitting percentage with 19 kills (2e) on 39 attacks. Oregon State was held to a .030 hitting rate with just five kills.
• USC collected five blocks in the second set to help hold the Beavers to a negative .061 hitting rate. Oregon State had 10 kills to the Trojans' nine, but USC hit .222 (3e, 27att) to go on top, 2-0, in the match. Smith alone had four blocks including both of her solo blocks and was one of two Trojans with three kills.
• The Women of Troy controlled the third set most of the way and created an eight-point lead at 15-7, but Oregon State chipped away to close within three at 19-16. USC used a 6-1 run to hold off the Beavers and complete the sweep. Botkin added six more kills while Denny and Weske had four each. USC hit .429 in the third with 19 kills (4e) on 35 swings.

UP NEXT

• The Women of Troy return home for their final four matches of the regular season. USC hosts Arizona (15-12, 7-9 Pac-12) for an 8 p.m. PT match on Friday night (Nov. 19) and then gets Arizona State (14-12, 7-8) on Sunday (Nov. 21) at 1 p.m. The team will only have two days between matches as Stanford (14-10, 9-7) visits for a Wednesday (Nov. 24) match and then UCLA (20-3, 13-2) comes to Galen Center to close the regular-season slate on Black Friday (Nov. 26).

MATCH NOTES

• USC won its third straight over Oregon State and improved to 60-10 all-time against OSU; 29-7 in Corvallis, Ore.
• The Trojans improved to 57-13 all-time in the state of Oregon and are now 6-7 in road matches this season.
• The Women of Troy ended a six-match losing streak.
• USC collected its fourth 3-0 sweep of the season.

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.