No. 10 USC Men's Volleyball Comes Back to Take Five-Set Win Over UC San Diego

Saturday, January 7

Santa Barbara, Calif.

5:30 PM

USC

2-1,0-0MPSF

UC San Diego

1-2,0-0Big West

Southern California

UC San Diego

Photo by: Aaron Wilson

No. 10 USC Men's Volleyball Comes Back to Take Five-Set Win Over UC San Diego

January 07, 2023 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

Freshman outside hitter Dillon Klein collected 20 kills in his first collegiate start to pace the Trojans

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The 10th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (2-1) came back from down two sets to earn a five-set win (22-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-22, 15-12) over UC San Diego (1-2) to conclude the ASICS Invitational at Robertson Gymnasium on Saturday, Jan. 7.

KEY PLAYERS

Fr. OH Dillon Klein posted a career-high 20 kills (3e, 34att) to hit .500 and had two service aces in his first collegiate start.
Jr. OPP Simon Gallas put up 12 kills (3e, 32att, .281) and led the Trojans with four blocks (one solo) to go with two aces.
Sr. OH Kevin Kobrine had one kill through the first two sets of action but finished with 10 kills (3e) on 26 swings to hit .269 and added four digs and two blocks for 11.0 points on the night.
Jr. S Nate Tennant put up a career-best 41 assists to go with eight digs, five kills (0e, 8att, .625), and two service aces.
Sr. MB Lucas Frassrand racked up seven kills without a hitting error (11att) to hit .636 in the match and added two blocks.
Jr. MB Kyle Paulson collected four kills (1e, 11att, .273) and had three blocks and two service aces for 7.5 points.
For the Tritons, Ryan Ka led with 18 kills and Matthew Lim and Berkeley Miesfeld each had 15 apiece. Ka and Evan Boyle each had 10 digs to pace the UCSD defense. Ka also led with three of the Tritons' seven service aces.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC held leads in each of the first two sets, but the Tritons came back to go 25-22 and 25-20 to lead the Trojans, 2-0. USC hit .400 in the opening frame with 15 kills on 30 swings, but UCSD hit .500 with 14 kills on just 24 attempts. Miesfeld had seven of his kills in the first. The Tritons stayed hot in the second with 14 kills and a .455 attack rate.
The tables turned in the third as USC posted 13 kills with just one error on 22 swings for a .545 hitting percentage. Klein, Frassrand, and Kobrine each tallied three kills apiece in the 25-16 win.
Despite five ties, the Trojans took a 4-3 lead in the fourth and never trailed again. USC led by as many as three throughout the set and finished with a 25-22 win on Gallas' 11th kill of the match.
Klein stole the show in the fifth with five kills and no errors on eight swings to power the Trojans to a 15-12 victory. Frassrand had two more kills and Kobrine and Gallas added one each. USC hit .421 in the final set to outrun the Triton comeback bid. UCSD led early, but the Trojans forced the first Triton timeout with a 7-5 advantage. The score was tied four more times before USC topped things off with a 3-0 run for the win.

UP NEXT

USC will host Lindenwood (0-1) and King (0-1) in a pair of matches at the facilities at Long Beach State. USC and the Lions will meet on Friday (Jan. 13) at 5 p.m. PT in the Walter Pyramid and then the Trojans take on the Tornado on Saturday (Jan. 14) at 4 p.m. at the Gold Mine, LBSU's recreational sports facility.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 46-11 all-time against UC San Diego with back-to-back wins over the Tritons.
The Trojans recorded their first five-set win of the season. Last year, they were 3-2 in five such matches.

For more information on the USC men's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/MVB. Fans of the Trojans can follow @USCmensvolley on Twitter and Instagram.