No. 6 USC Men's Volleyball Defeats No. 15 BYU In 4 Sets

Simon Gallas and Sam Kobrine each had 14 kills to help the No. 6 USC men's volleyball team snap a 4-match losing streak to BYU with a 25-23, 25-19, 18-25, 25-20 victory over the No. 15 Cougars in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation contest on Friday (March 4) at USC's Galen Center.
 
USC improved to 12-3 overall and 2-1 in the MPSF while remaining undefeated (8-0) at home in 2022.
 
BYU lost its eighth straight match of the season while falling to 5-10 overall and 0-3 in the MPSF.
 
The teams play again on Saturday (March 5) at 7 p.m. in the Galen Center. 
 
USC hit .327 in the match and had 10.0 blocks, 37 digs and a season-best 10 aces.  The Cougars hit at a .264 pace, with 5.5 blocks, 33 digs and 6 aces.
 
Gallas hit .323 and had 7 digs and 2 aces, while Kobrine hit .300 with 3 aces and 3 blocks.  Teammate Lucas Frassrand added 9 kills while hitting .727 and he had 5 blocks.  Cole Paxson and Chris Hall each had 10 digs, with Hall also getting 4 blocks and 3 aces with his 44 assists.  Liam Schroeder had 5 blocks for the Trojans.
 
For BYU, Davide Gardini had a match-best 18 kills while hitting .375 and also had 5 digs.  Kupono Browne added 14 kills (hitting .333) with 9 digs and 2 aces and Miks Ramanis had 8 kills and 3 aces.  Mitchel Worthington had 7 digs and Bartosz Slawinski had 6 digs, 3 blocks and 38 assists.
 
USC got out to a 7-4 lead in the first set and never gave up the lead, although the Cougars twice pulled within one point at 10-9 and then at 24-23.  Troy hit .348 in the set to BYU's .321, while the Cougars had 3.5 blocks to USC's 2.0.
 
In the second set, BYU went on an early run when it scored 5 out of 6 points to build a 6-4 lead, but USC soon after put together a 4-0 run to go up 12-10 and kept extending the margin from there.  The Trojans had 5 blocks, 5 aces and 13 digs in the set.
 
BYU used a pair of 4-0 runs in the third set to build 7-3 and then 14-7 leads before USC pulled within 18-16, but the Trojans could get no closer as the Cougars edged away.  BYU hit .423 in the set to the Trojans' .368 and served 4 aces.
 
The fourth set was tied at 9-9 before USC scored 8 of the next 11 points to forge a 17-12 lead, but BYU closed to 18-16 before the Trojans restored order to close out the match.  In the set, USC hit .310, served 4 aces and had 10 digs.
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