USC
Harvard
No. 1 USC Men's Volleyball Beats Harvard
March 16, 2011 | Men's Volleyball
March 16, 2011
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Tanner Jansen and Sean Dennis each had 12 kills to lead the No. 1-ranked USC men's volleyball team to a 25-19, 25-23, 22-25, 25-16 non-conference win over Harvard on Wednesday (March 16) in USC's Galen Center.
The Trojans, playing their only non-conference match of the 2011 regular season, improved to 15-1 overall. It is USC's best overall start since 1994 (also 15-1). Harvard, which competes in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, fell to 8-8 overall.
USC played primarily backups throughout the match, with only one middle blocker position manned by a regular starter. Three of the 12 players who got into the match were seeing their first action of 2011 and 4 others had played only sparingly this season.
Jansen hit .364 in the match and added 5 digs and 3 aces. Teammate Maddison McKibbin had 11 kills and 7 digs, while Tucker Peleuses came off the bench in the third set to post 11 kills (hitting .318). Andrew Pizula had a match-best 9 digs and Jeff Carlson had 48 assists, 7 digs and 2 aces. It was the first court time for Peleuses, Pizula and Carlson in 2011.
For Harvard, Chris Gibbons had 11 kills, Matt Jones added 10 kills, 7 digs and 4 blocks, Nick Madden had 8 kills, 7 digs and 4 blocks, Kyle Rehkemper had 6 kills (hitting .308) with a match-leading 5 blocks, Rob Lothman had 30 assists and 7 digs and Dan Schreff also had 7 digs.
USC hit a season-low .225, while the Crimson hit just .165. The Trojans had more aces (7 to 1) and digs (42 to 35), but got outblocked by Harvard (12.0 to 3.0).
After falling behind 2-0 in the opening set, USC scored the next 4 points and steadily built on the lead while hitting .379 and serving 3 aces. The Trojans scored 4 consecutive points with Jansen serving to close out a tight second set as both teams hit less than .160. Harvard battled back from an 18-16 deficit in the third set and soon after scored 3 unanswered points to go up 22-20, getting all the edge it needed while hitting .321. USC jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the final set and continued to increase the margin while hitting .304.
USC now has a 9-day break before its next match when it concludes a 6-match homestand by hosting No. 13 Pepperdine--the only team to have beaten the Trojans in 2011--on Friday, March 25, in a 7 p.m. Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match in the Galen Center.
