USC Women's Volleyball Bounces To Bay Area For Stanford and Cal Matches

LOS ANGELES – The USC women's volleyball team (11-5, 5-1 Pac-12) heads to the Bay Area this week. The Women of Troy look to generate momentum as the second half of the regular season begins and take on third-ranked Stanford (13-2, 6-0) in a Friday-night (Oct. 13) match-up at Maples Pavilion. The Trojans then head to the East Bay for a battle with the Cal Golden Bears (12-5, 1-5) on Sunday (Oct. 15) at Haas Pavilion. While USC is undefeated at home (6-0), the Trojans are 3-5 on the road and look to grab a pair of victories this week. USC has won 14 straight against Cal but is on the wrong end of an 11-match streak against Stanford. The meeting with the Bears will mark a reunion with former volunteer assistant coach Savannah Rennie, now an assistant at Cal.

MATCH #17 • Friday, Oct. 13 • 8 p.m. PT
USC (11-5, 5-1) at No. 3 Stanford (13-2, 6-0)
Maples Pavilion • Stanford, Calif.
SERIES RECORD: USC trails, 26-70-1 (.268)
LAST MEETING: L 3-2 (Nov. 10, 2022 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Lost 11 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 0-10
TV: Pac-12 Networks (Kevin Danna & Nicole Branagh)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: GoStanford.com

MATCH #18 • Sunday, Oct. 15 • 2 p.m. PT
USC (11-5, 5-1) at California (12-5, 1-5)
Haas Pavilion • Berkeley, Calif.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 67-12 (.848)
LAST MEETING: W 3-2 (Nov. 12, 2022 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Won 14 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 10-0
TV: Pac-12 Networks (TBA)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: CalBears.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 55-39 (.585) as the Trojans' head coach.
The Trojans have won 14 straight over the Golden Bears but have lost 11 in a row against the Cardinal.
The Women of Troy are 46-48 in five Bay Area cities: Berkeley, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Stanford.
USC is 37-47 all-time as the road team against Cal and Stanford combined but has won five of its last seven matches in the Bay, all against the Bears.
First-year Cal assistant coach Savannah Rennie served as the Trojans' volunteer assistant for one season (2022).
Sr. OH Skylar Fields has reached double-digit kills in 15 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 (5.02 kps) and points (5.42 pps).

LAST TIME OUT: USC had a nine-match win streak stopped in a five-set loss to 23rd-ranked Arizona State but turned things around to get a five-set win over Arizona in its first Pac-12 road trip of the season. In the loss to the Sun Devils, three Trojans logged double-doubles including LIB Gala Trubint who had the first of her career with 20 digs and 10 assists. S Mia Tuaniga put up back-to-back double-doubles including a match where she had a career-high 17 digs. OH Skylar Fields led the Trojans with 24 kills against ASU and 23 more against Arizona.

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.

SIDELINE SHUFFLE: The three assistant coaches on the Trojans' bench are new faces this fall. Spencer McLachlin joins the program as its associate head coach after a stint in the same position at Indiana. Megan Moenoa previously coached at UC Irvine but took a hiatus from coaching and now returns to the court as a USC assistant. Former practice player Garrett Geiger gets his collegiate start in coaching as the Trojans' fourth coach. McLachlin was a national champion athlete at Stanford and has previously coached at UCLA and California. Moenoa was a standout setter at UCLA and is quite familiar with the USC-UCLA rivalry on the women's side. Geiger played at Hawai'i but returned to USC to complete his undergraduate studies and retired from playing.

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Players Mentioned

Skylar Fields

Gala Trubint

Mia Tuaniga