USC Women's Volleyball Falls to Washington State in Five-Setter

LOS ANGELES – The USC women's volleyball team (9-4, 1-1 Pac-12) fell to Washington State (9-4, 1-1) in a hard-fought five-set match (25-19, 25-27, 25-22, 19-25, 15-6) at Galen Center on Saturday, Sept. 24.
 
KEY PLAYERS

• Sr. OH Skylar Fields led all players and matched her season high with 25 kills (3e, 55att) while hitting .400. She also logged her fourth double-double of the year and equaled her career best with 12 digs to go with two blocks.
• So. setter Mia Tuaniga posted 44 assists and had six digs, four kills, two blocks, and two service aces. 
• Fr. LIB Gala Trubint recorded her 13th straight double-digit match and put up a career-best 21 digs with five assists.
• Gr. DS Kelli Barry logged a season-best 11 digs. Sr. DS Keila Barra had eight digs and served two aces.
• Gr. MB Kalyah Williams had eight kills (1e, 23att) with .304 hitting and put up a career-high seven digs with four blocks.
• For the Cougars, Pia Timmer had 24 kills on .333 hitting and Laura Jansen put in 20 kills with 14 digs. Argentina Ung set WSU to .301 hitting and finished with 52 assists, 13 digs, and added eight kills and four blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars went in front, 5-1, to open the fifth set and quickly went up, 10-3, to put a stranglehold on momentum. Jansen had six kills and Timmer had four to power the WSU offense to a 15-6 win on .550 hitting.
• The first set was tied for the sixth and final time at 12-all before the Cougars went up by as many as seven at 22-15. Williams' kill and service ace sparked a short USC run to get the Trojans within four at 22-18, but WSU held on to take a 25-19 win. Fields had five of her kills in the first frame, but WSU hit .455 to seal the victory.
• USC seized early momentum in the second set and led by as many as five points at 15-10, but the Cougars closed the gap to tie the score at 15-all and stayed within striking distance of the Trojans until USC earned the 27-25 win. Fields collected seven more kills on just nine swings in the second set while Trubint dug up seven of USC's 18 digs.
• WSU broke yet another 15-all tie in the third set with a 7-0 run, but USC fought back to close within a point at 22-23. The comeback fell short as the Cougars closed out a 25-23 win.
• In a similar position in the fourth, USC turned the tables on a 16-13 deficit to take a 25-19 win thanks to a big 12-3 run. Fields provided the spark with eight of her kills while the Trojan defense provided three blocks to earn a fifth set.

UP NEXT

• The Trojans and Galen Center host the mountains schools for a pair of matches next weekend. USC takes on Colorado first on Friday (Sept. 30) at 7 p.m. PT and then meets Utah for a Sunday-matinee match-up at 1 p.m. on Oct. 2. Visit USCTrojans.com/promos to purchase tickets for the Brunch & Bucket Hats promotion when the Trojans face the Utes.

MATCH NOTES

• USC fell to 52-19 all-time against Washington State and to 30-5 at home. The Cougars have won six of the last 10 meetings including three straight matches at Galen Center.
• The Trojans and Cougars played the 11th five-set match in the schools' all-time series. USC fell to 4-7 in those matches.
• USC had a seven-match home winning streak snapped and took its first set loss and match loss 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.