No. 25 USC Women's Volleyball Falls to No. 9 Washington State in Five

Sunday, November 12

Pullman, Wash.

12:00 PM

USC

17-9,11-5Pac-12

Washington State

20-7,10-6Pac-12

Southern California

Washington St.

Photo by: Drake Lee

No. 25 USC Women's Volleyball Falls to No. 9 Washington State in Five

November 12, 2023 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

Three Trojans had double-doubles and OH Skylar Fields recorded a career-high 29 kills in a loss to the Cougars on the Palouse

PULLMAN, Wash. – The 25th-ranked USC women's volleyball team (17-9, 11-5 Pac-12) fell to ninth-ranked Washington State (20-7, 10-6) in five sets (15-25, 16-25, 25-16, 27-25, 15-11) on the Cougars' Senior Day at Bohler Gymnasium, Sunday, Nov. 12.

KEY PLAYERS

Sr. OH Skylar Fields recorded a new career with 29 kills (8e, 63att) and hit .333 to go with 13 digs and a block. It was her seventh double-double of the season (17th career) and was her 55th time in double-digit kills as a Trojan; her 34th time with 20 or more kills in a match. She now has 1,142 kills at USC and 2,068 in her career.
Jr. S Mia Tuaniga set the Trojans to a .338 hitting percentage (67k, 17e, 148att) and totaled 55 assists to go with 10 digs for her 11th double-double of the season (26th career). She also added four kills and two blocks.
Fr. OH London Wijay racked up 18 kills (4e, 38att) to hit .368 and matched her career high with 12 digs for her fourth-career double-double to go with two blocks.
So. MB Tyrah Ariail scored nine kills (1e, 18att) and hit .444 with five blocks (two solo), three digs, and a service ace.
So. LIB Gala Trubint matched her season high with 22 digs to go with one assist. It was her 13th time over the 20-dig mark in her career and her 43rd-career match in double-digit digs (18th this season).
In her final return to Bohler Gym, Gr. OPP Kalyah Williams finished with five kills, two blocks, and three digs.
For the Cougars, Iman Isanovic led with 24 kills and had 10 digs for the double-double. Argentina Ung put up 53 assists and had seven blocks, six kills, and six digs. Magda Jehlarova led all players with nine blocks and added eight kills.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Trojans out-hit the Cougars, .338 to .263, but WSU had the slight edge in total kills (68-67), blocks (13-10), and service aces (4-1). USC out-dug WSU, 67-57, and had the edge in assists, 64-62.
The Trojans locked up a 25-15 first set win with 16 kills on .577 hitting powered by five from Wijay and four from Fields. USC collected four blocks and out-dug the Cougars, 12-7, in the opening frame to hold WSU to a .091 hitting percentage with 10 kills (7e) on 33 swings. The Trojans led by four several times early on but pulled away to finish off the 10-point win.
USC racked up 17 more kills in the second set and continued the hot hitting for a .441 attack percentage and a 25-16 win. The Trojans added two more blocks and dug up 20 balls to hold Washington State to a .146 hitting rate with 12 kills (6e) on 41 attacks. Wijay led the Trojans with seven kills while Trubint had five digs in the second set.
The Cougars turned the tables on the Trojans to get a 25-16 win in the third set. This time, WSU hit .424 with 18 kills (4e) on 33 swings and held the Women of Troy to just eight kills (4e) on 25 attempts. Both teams served their first aces of the match in the third. Ariail had one for the Trojans and Lana Radakovic scored twice from the service line for the Cougars.
Fields totaled 12 kills in the fourth and helped the Trojans fight through 12 ties and five lead changes, but the Cougars finished off a 27-25 win to push the match to a fifth set. WSU hit .366 and put up six blocks to hold the Trojans to a .308 hitting set to get the win. Wijay also added four more kills in the set and had the Trojans up by as many as four.
Washington State used a 5-0 run in the fifth set to go in front, 7-3, and then doubled up the Trojans at 10-5 to put a stranglehold on the win. USC got four kills from Fields and two more from Ariail; and Trubint put up four digs, but Washington State held off the Trojans' comeback bid to close out a 15-11 victory for the Senior Day win.

UP NEXT

The Women of Troy return home to host matches at Galen Center against California (15-12, 4-12 Pac-12) on Friday (Nov. 17) at 7 p.m. PT; and fourth-ranked Stanford (22-3, 15-1) on Sunday (Nov. 19) at noon. The Trojans-Bears matchup will be shown on a live stream and the Sunday-matinee USC-Stanford match will be carried on Pac-12 Insider.

MATCH NOTES

USC fell to 53-20 all-time against Washington State and went to 21-15 as the visiting team in Pullman.
The Trojans and the Cougars played a five-set match for the sixth time in the teams' last 12 meetings. USC falls to 5-8 all-time in five-set matches with Washington State.
The Trojans fell to 6-4 in 10 five-set matches this season; 5-3 against Pac-12 opponents. USC goes to 152-107 in all-time five-set matches including a 66-54 record on the road. The most five-set matches the Women of Troy have played in a single season is 11, set in 2019.
The Trojans go to 42-36 all-time in the Evergreen State.

For more information on the USC women's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/WVB. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow @USCWomensVolley on Facebook, X, and Instagram.