USC Women’s Volleyball Heats Up to Beat Sun Devils in Four

LOS ANGELES – The USC women's volleyball team (13-14, 9-9 Pac-12) won its third straight match on a 3-1 victory (21-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-16) over Arizona State (14-15, 7-11) at Galen Center on Sunday, Nov. 21. The win makes USC 4-0 against the Arizona schools in regular season matches for the first time since 2015.
 
KEY PLAYERS

• Gr. OH Brooke Botkin put up 17 kills and hit .244 to lead the USC attack (6e, 45att). She also had five digs, a block, and a service ace for a total of 18.5 points. Botkin's weekend kills total helped her reach 1,472 career kills, which ties for 11th all-time in program history with Megan McAllister (1987-90).
• Jr. OPP Emilia Weske posted 14 kills (4e, 25att) and hit .400 to go with a pair of blocks.
• Gr. MB Candice Denny had 14 kills (3e, 20att) for a .550 hitting rate and added two blocks to go with three service aces.
• Gr. MB Sabrina Smith reached a new career mark with 12 kills and matched her career high with a .647 hitting percentage (1e, 17att). Smith also had a team-high four blocks (one solo).
• Fr. S Mia Tuaniga put up 60 assists (one shy of matching her career high) and helped the Trojans hit .315 in the match (66k, 21e, 143att) to go with three digs, two blocks, and two kills.
• Gr. LIB Shannon Scully led all players with 22 digs and served one of the Trojans' seven aces. Jr. DS Keila Barra matched career highs with 11 digs and two service aces.
• For Arizona State, Marta Levinska led with 16 kills (4e, 39att, .308). Iman Isanovic tallied 12 kills (7e, 34att, .147). Levinska had a match-high five blocks; and both had eight digs apiece. Claire Jeter collected 11 kills (2e, 21att) and hit .429 with four blocks. Ella Snyder had a double-double with 37 assists and 10 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Trojans out-hit the Sun Devils, .315 to .268 and had 17 more kills (66-49) than Arizona State. USC was also steady in the service game with seven aces and allowed only two by ASU.
• Despite several early ties in the opening set and 16 kills by the Trojans, Arizona State held a solid lead and closed out a 25-21 win behind five kills from Isanovic and four from Levinska.
• 12 ties into the second set, USC had turned a corner and seized momentum behind an eight-kill performance from Smith. Her kills gave USC a 23-22 lead and then set point at 24-23. Finally, Smith and Weske teamed up to block Isanovic for the final point in a 25-23 win to even the match.
• Weske served USC to a 10-5 lead and then Barra went back to serve six straight rallies that broke open a 13-6 lead for the Trojans in the third set. The Sun Devils closed within two at 18-16, but USC was unfazed as it finished out a 25-19 win.
• The teams went back and forth in the fourth before a 4-1 burst gave the Trojans a three-point cushion at 15-12. USC scored a 7-0 run behind Scully's serves to grab a 20-12 lead and never looked back. The Trojans had 17 kills and hit .371 in the fourth to out-duel the Sun Devils who were held to .107. Weske herself had seven kills and Denny had six in the fourth.

UP NEXT

• USC turns around to take on Ivy League champion Brown (20-4, 13-1 Ivy) at Galen Center at noon PT on Monday (Nov. 22). The match will be shown on the USC live stream platform. The Trojans then close out the regular season with matches against Stanford (Wednesday, Nov. 24) and crosstown rival UCLA (Friday, Nov. 26).

MATCH NOTES

• USC won its third straight match over Arizona State and improved to 73-14-1 all-time against the Sun Devils; 36-5 at home.
• The Trojans won their third straight match to equal the season's second-longest win streak (Aug. 28-Sept. 3).
• The Women of Troy improved to 6-6 in home matches this season and to 177-51 all-time at Galen Center.
• USC swept the Arizona schools (4-0) in the regular season for the first time since 2015. 

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.