# #

USC Women’s Volleyball Sweeps Brown in Non-Conference Bout

by usctrojans.com
Nov 22, 2021

LOS ANGELES – The USC women's volleyball team (14-14, 9-9 Pac-12) won its fourth straight match with a straight-set sweep (25-19, 25-16, 25-21) of Ivy League champion Brown (20-5, 13-1 Ivy) at Galen Center on Monday, Nov. 22.
 
KEY PLAYERS

  • Gr. OH Paige Hammons led the Trojans with 11 kills (1e, 32att) as she hit .312 to go with five digs and three blocks. 
  • Gr. OH Brooke Botkin put up 10 kills and hit .200 (4e, 30att) as she moved into sole possession of 11th place all-time at USC for career kills (1,482). She also collected seven digs on defense. 
  • Jr. OPP Emilia Weske scored nine kills (3e, 20att) with a .300 hitting percentage and led the USC blocks with four.
  • Gr. MB Candice Denny posted eight kills (1e, 13att) and hit .538 with three blocks and three digs.
  • Fr. S Mia Tuaniga handed out 39 assists and had four digs, three kills (1e, 6att, .333) and three service aces. 
  • Gr. LIB Shannon Scully led the Trojans with 16 digs and added a pair of assists.
  • For Brown, Sophia Miller (5e, 25att, .080) and Beau Vanderlaan (3e, 15att, .267) each had seven kills apiece to lead the Bears. Miller also tallied 11 digs and had one of five service aces. Victoria Vo led Brown with 13 digs and added a service ace. Cierra Jenkins had 27 assists, 10 digs, four kills (2e, 9att, .222) and one block. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • The Trojans out-hit Brown, .276 to .135, and had a 47-33 edge in kills with an 8-5 advantage on the block.
  • Brown came out and took an early 6-2 lead, but the Trojans buckled down to claim a 25-19 win in the first set thanks to five kills apiece from Botkin and Hammons; and four more from Weske. USC dug up 19 balls to hold the Bears to a .125 hitting percentage with 12 kills (7e) on 40 swings.
  • The Trojans rolled out to an 11-3 lead in the second set with Weske on serve. USC continued to press and grabbed a 10-point lead (21-11) before closing out a 25-16 win for the 2-0 set lead. Hammons added four more kills but USC's five blocks helped the Trojans hold Brown to a negative .097 hitting rate with just six kills (9e) on 31 attempts.
  • Brown seized control of the third set and started out with a 4-0 lead and then led by as many as six points at 15-9. Weske, Botkin, and Sr. MB Sabrina Smith each scored four kills apiece as the Women of Troy went on a 16-6 run to close out the sweep with a 25-21 win in the third. USC hit .368 in the final set with 17 kills (3e) on 38 attacks to outpace a hot Brown attack, which had 15 kills (3e) on 33 swings for a .364 percentage.

UP NEXT

  • USC closes the regular season with Pac-12 home matches against No. 18 Stanford (16-10, 11-7 Pac-12) on Wednesday, Nov. 24, at 4 p.m. PT and a meeting with crosstown rival No. 13 UCLA (22-4, 15-3) on Friday, Nov. 26, at 7 p.m. The Trojans and the Bruins will be shown live on the Pac-12 Networks.

MATCH NOTES

  • USC and Brown faced each other for the first time.
  • The Trojans won their fourth straight match to equal the season's longest win streak (Oct. 10-22).
  • The Women of Troy improved to 7-6 in home matches this season and to 178-51 all-time at Galen Center.

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.
 

Related News & Videos