Trojan Men's Volleyball Captures USC Fall Tournament
November 09, 2009 | Men's Volleyball
Nov. 9, 2009
The USC men's volleyball team won 4 of its 5 matches, including beating Stanford in the final, to capture the championship of the USC Fall Tournament at the Galen Center and its adjacent Pavilion on Nov. 6 and 7.
The Trojans played 3 matches on Nov. 6. USC opened with a 30-25, 30-23, 14-16 win over Pacific in the best-of-3 matches (third sets were optional if a team won the first 2). USC then defeated Cal State Northridge, 30-22, 30-17, 15-12, in a match that pitted reserve players versus reserves. Stanford closed the evening by beating the Trojans, 30-27, 31-29, 12-15.
USC had a rematch with Pacific in the semifinal on Nov. 7, winning 30-21, 31-29, 15-12, with the reserves playing the third set.
The Trojans then won the tourney title with a 21-31, 34-32, 15-12 comeback victory over Stanford in the final, behind All-American Murphy Troy's dominating performance on the right side and some timely play off the bench by outside hitter Tyler Stevens and libero Andrew Pizula. USC climbed back from 6-0 and 29-25 deficits in the second set.
Not only did USC's regulars--Troy, Riley McKibbin, Tony Ciarelli, Austin Zahn and Tri Bourne--see action, but many of USC's backups got plenty of playing time in a variety of lineup combinations, including Stevens, Pizula, Sean Dennis, Brad Keenan, Jon Hackett, Matt Knutson, Ian Wright, Tucker Peleuses and Vince Altamura, along with newcomers Maddison McKibbin and Chris Trefzger
This was the final pre-season tourney for USC, which last month competed in the Can-Am Challenge in Alberta, Canada. The Trojans open their 2010 season on Jan. 7-9 at the Outrigger Hotels Invitational in Honolulu, Hi., facing Penn State, Ohio State and Hawaii, before beginning MPSF play at UCLA on Jan. 13.
