Coach's Newsletter
November 20, 2003 | Men's Volleyball
Nov. 20, 2003
Dear Trojans,
The fall semester is nearly complete, and the team has been hard at work preparing itself for the upcoming season. With back-to-back tournaments at Canada and Long Beach, culminating in a heartbreaking five-set loss to top-ranked Long Beach State, our team has shown consistent improvement, particularly in our blocking and offensive tempo. During those two tournaments, the Trojans posted victories over a tough University of British Columbia
The progress made over this month of pre-season practice has done much to impress the coaching squad, Cal Baptist University, and Long Beach State's second team, while suffering another down-to-the-wire loss against UC Irvine, losing 16-14 in the final set. staff that this year's team will find itself within every match. We look forward to the upcoming challenge, and our goal of reestablishing USC as a dominant force within the MPSF. A few of the stand-outs this fall have been:
Joao Grangiero (OH, L: Rio de Janeiro): The team leader on and off the court. Joao completed last season as the only freshman to be named to the All-MPSF second team. He has begun this fall on a strong note, earning All-Tournament honors at the UBC Invitational this past October.
Blake Tippett (OH: Newport Harbor High): Blake's play this fall has established himself as one of the offensive leaders for the Trojans this season, consistently posting highest in kills, kill percentage, passing average, and service aces.
Our first-year players delivered some promising performances as well. Among them:
Gio Altamura (S: Mira Costa High): Gio displayed a level of play much bigger than his 5'9" frame over the course of both tournaments, impressing his coaches and teammates alike.
Matt Mosko (MB: Viewpoint High): Matt, a true freshman, has been a pleasant surprise for the Trojans, entering as a walk-on and pushing himself into serious contention for one of the starting middle blocker positions.
Fundraising Update:
We would like to thank all those who have contributed already to the Spikers fund. The demands of our yearly operating budget (travel, equipment, referees, Lyon center fees), coupled with limited funding, places fundraising amongst our highest priorities. Without the generous gifts from you, and other Trojan Spikers like you, our program cannot survive. So far, we are well below our needed objective. We would love to hear from any of our alumni who might have further ideas on how to help.
Recruiting
The fall recruiting class will be unveiled on usctrojans.com. We anticipate announcing one of the top recruiting classes in the nation, including the top setting and middle blocking recruits in the nation. We are eagerly awaiting their arrival to USC next fall.
NOTES:
The 2004 Alumni Match has been scheduled for January 20 at 7:00pm in the North Gym. Please mark your calendars.
We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming Trojan home match.
Fight on,
Turhan Douglas
Head Coach
USC Men's Volleyball
