USC Women's Volleyball Hosts No. 4 Cougars and Huskies in Home Contests

LOS ANGELES – The USC women's volleyball team (11-7, 5-3 Pac-12) returns home following four straight matches on the road to host No. 4 Washington State (17-2, 7-1) on Friday evening (Oct. 20) and Washington (13-6, 4-4) on Sunday afternoon (Oct. 22). The Trojans will play just their second and third home matches in the month of October but will have seven of their last 12 regular-season contests at Galen Center. After falling in back-to-back road matches in the Bay Area, USC looks to right the ship to conclude the front half of the Pac-12 schedule and can secure the program's 200th win at Galen Center with its next home victory. While the Women of Troy fell to 3-7 on the road with the two losses, USC is undefeated on their home floor with a 6-0 mark this season.

MATCH #19 • Friday, Oct. 20 • 7 p.m. PT
USC (11-7, 5-3) vs. No. 4 Washington State (17-2, 7-1)
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 52-19 (.732)
LAST MEETING: L 3-2 (Sept. 24, 2022 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Lost 2 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 4-6
STREAM: Pac-12 Insider (Eli Kleinmann & Victoria Dennis)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: WSUCougars.com

MATCH #20 • Sunday, Oct. 22 • 2 p.m. PT
USC (11-7, 5-3) vs. Washington (13-6, 4-4)
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 43-33 (.566)
LAST MEETING: L 3-1 (Nov. 23, 2022 • Seattle, Wash.)
STREAK: Lost 5 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 3-7
STREAM: USC Live Stream (Max Kelton & Paul Duchesne)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: GoHuskies.com

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

USC is led by fourth-year head coach Brad Keller who has the unique experience of having coached both men's and women's programs at both USC and UCLA. Overall, Keller is 55-41 (.573) as the Trojans' head coach.
The Women of Troy are undefeated (6-0) at home this season and have won eight straight matches at Galen Center since Nov. 12, 2022.
The Trojans' next home win will be their 200th at Galen Center since the arena opened on Oct. 12, 2006. USC enters the weekend with a 199-54 (.787) record and got its first win against California (Oct. 13,2006).
Washington and Washington State have won a combined seven straight matches against USC. The Cougars were responsible for one of just two of the Trojans' home losses last season.
Sr. OH Skylar Fields has reached double-digit kills in 17 matches. She was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 11) for the fifth time in her career and leads the Pac-12 in kills (4.97 kps) and points (5.36 pps).

LAST TIME OUT: USC took a pair of losses in the Bay Area to third-ranked Stanford (3-0) and California (3-1). The Cardinal extended its win streak over the Trojans to 12 matches while the Golden Bears ended a 14-match losing streak to USC with their first home victory over the Women of Troy since 2009. OH Skylar Fields led the Trojans in kills in both matches and reached double-digit kills for the 16th and 17th times this season.

TIME TO PAC IT UP: The Women of Troy will be playing their final season in the Pac-12 Conference. On June 30, 2022, USC and UCLA both announced that the schools' athletic programs would join the Big Ten Conference in 2024. Since that time, Oregon and Washington also made similar announcements and all four teams will now compete in the Big Ten for most sports.

DAWG WALKERS: USC leads its all-time series with Washington by a 43-33 margin but has had little luck when it has played the Huskies in Seattle. The Trojans are 17-20 as the road team and are just 3-15 since 2005 when the Huskies won the NCAA championship. After winning eight straight road matches over UW between 1996-2004, USC has won just three times (2011, '18, '19) in 18 matches at Hec Ed. At home, the Trojans are a far more palatable 24-12 against Washington.

CAT FIGHT: While USC owns a dominating 52-19 all-time record against Washington State, the Cougars have claimed seven of those wins since 2013. The Trojans are 8-7 in the last 15 meetings with WSU and of those seven losses, five have been in matches that have gone to five sets with three of those times on the Palouse. USC is 30-5 at home against WSU.

Players Mentioned

Skylar Fields