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USC Women's Volleyball Closes Regular Season with Huskies and Bruins

by usctrojans.com
Nov 21, 2022

SEATTLE – The USC women's volleyball team (20-9, 12-6 Pac-12) wraps the regular season with two matches this week. The Trojans head to Seattle for a Wednesday-night meeting (Nov. 23) at No. 24 Washington (19-9, 11-7) with first serve set for 5:30 p.m. PT at Alaska Airlines Arena. On the day after Thanksgiving, USC concludes the regular season with Senior Day ceremonies when crosstown rival UCLA (15-12, 9-9) visits Galen Center for an 8 p.m. match on Friday (Nov. 25). Both of the Trojans' final regular-season matches will be shown live on the Pac-12 Networks.

MATCH #30 • Wednesday, November 23 • 5:30 p.m. PT
USC (20-9, 12-6) at #24 Washington (19-9, 11-7)
Alaska Airlines Arena • Seattle, Wash.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 43-32 (.573)
LAST MEETING: L 3-1 (Oct. 29, 2021 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Lost 4 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 4-6
TV/STREAM: Pac-12 Networks (Elise Woodward)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: GoHuskies.com

MATCH #31 • Friday, November 25 • 8 p.m. PT
USC (20-9, 12-6) vs. UCLA (15-12, 9-9)
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 62-57 (.521)
LAST MEETING: W 3-1 (Sept. 22, 2022 • Pauley Pavilion)
STREAK: Won 2 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 5-5
TV/STREAM: Pac-12 Networks (Brian Webber)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UCLABruins.com

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

  • USC is led by third-year head coach Brad Keller who has the unique experience of having also served as an assistant coach for the USC men.
  • The Trojans return just six letterwinners from last year's squad. Four transfers and seven freshmen make up the lion's share of USC's 17-woman roster.
  • USC is 41-34 all-time in the state of Washington (20-20 in Seattle). When the Trojans play the Huskies on the road, they are 17-19 all-time but are just 3-14 since 2005 when Washington won the NCAA title.
  • The Trojans are 192-54 (.780) all-time at Galen Center and are 13-2 at home this season.
  • Sr. OH Skylar Fields leads the Pac-12 in kills (521), kills per set (5.06 kps), points (562.0) and points per set (5.46 pps). She is the only outside hitter to rank in the league's top 12 for hitting percentage (.322, 12th).
  • So. S Mia Tuaniga set a new school record with 10 service aces against Colorado (Sept. 30) and recorded only the second rally-scoring era triple-double school history (37 assists, 10 digs, 10 aces). She leads the Pac-12 in aces (54), aces per set (0.48 saps), and is third in assists (11.11 aps).
  • Fr. LIB Gala Trubint ranks fifth in the Pac-12 in digs (3.88 dps) and earned back-to-back Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week awards (Oct. 10, 17).

LAST TIME OUT: USC earned a split on the road with a 3-0 sweep of Oregon State before taking a five-set loss to 12th-ranked Oregon after leading the match, 2-0. The Women of Troy were without starting libero Gala Trubint who has had 24 double-digit digs matches this season. USC's sweep of the Beavers was its first against a Pac-12 opponent this season and the Trojans' first in-conference sweep since it defeated Arizona at home almost exactly one year to the day (Nov. 19, 2021). Against the Ducks, USC went in front, 2-0, but couldn't withstand the Oregon comeback. It was the Trojans fourth five-set loss in six matches this season and the third time they had led, 2-0, in the match. Despite the outcome, Mia Tuaniga scored her seventh double-double of the season (15th career) and Skylar Fields matched her career-high of 27 kills for the fourth time this fall.
 
MIMI MILESTONE: OPP Emilia Weske enters the week with 998 career kills and is poised to become only the 19th Trojan in program history to reach the 1,000-kill plateau in her career. She had a career-best 303 kills in 2021 and is in position to surpass that mark with 276 this fall. 
 
SENIORITAS: Prior to USC's regular-season finale with UCLA on Friday (Nov. 25), the Trojans will recognize and honor the careers of three senior players: DS Keila Barra, DS Kelli Barry, and OPP Emilia Weske.
 
DAWG WALKERS: USC leads its all-time series with Washington by a 43-32 margin but has had little luck when it has had to play the Huskies in Seattle. The Trojans are 17-19 as the road team with UW; 3-14 since 2005 when the Huskies won the NCAA championship. After winning eight straight road matches over Washington between 1996-2004, USC has won just three times (2011, '18, '19) in 17 matches at Hec Ed. At home, the Trojans are a far more palatable 24-12 against Washington.
 
CROSSTOWN CONNECTIONS: USC head coach Brad Keller has the unique distinction of having coached both the men's and women's volleyball programs at both USC and UCLA. Prior to his arrival at USC, he served one season (2019) as UCLA's associate head coach. USC technical coordinator Virginia Pham graduated from UCLA with a bachelor's degree in computer science in 2015 and served three seasons as a student assistant for several of the Bruins' volleyball programs. Trojan graduate defender Kelli Barry played three seasons (2019-21) at UCLA and received her bachelor's degree in psychology in May 2022 before transferring to USC for her graduate studies. UCLA assistant coach Eric Barber served as USC's volunteer assistant coach during the 2018 season.
 
AGREE TO DISAGREE: The Women of Troy lead the all-time series with rival UCLA by a 62-57 margin. Ask someone in blue and gold and they'll tell you otherwise. The Bruins claim to lead the series, 68-62, but how? UCLA's program, which started in 1972, is several years older than the one at USC, which began in 1976. The Bruins earned a handful of victories over the Trojans before the Women of Troy officially started a varsity program. In those four seasons, the Bruins racked up 11 wins against USC's club team, which are included in UCLA's all-time record.
 

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