No. 24 USC Women's Volleyball Hosts Golden Bears and No. 2 Cardinal

LOS ANGELES – The 24th-ranked USC women's volleyball team (16-9, 11-5 Pac-12) defends its unblemished home record and looks to extend a 12-match home win streak when California (15-12, 4-12) and No. 2 Stanford (22-3, 15-1) visit Galen Center. The Women of Troy are 10-0 at home this fall, including 7-0 against Pac-12 foes. The Trojans will have revenge on their minds when the Golden Bears and Cardinal pay a visit this week. Cal and Stanford held USC to its only winless league weekend when the Trojans went to the Bay Area in mid-October.

MATCH #27 • Friday, Nov. 17 • 7 p.m. PT
No. 24 USC (17-9, 11-5) vs. California (15-12, 4-12)
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 67-13 (.838)
LAST MEETING: L 3-1 (Oct. 15, 2023 • Berkeley, Calif.)
STREAK: Lost 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 9-1
STREAM: USC Live Stream (Max Kelton)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: CalBears.com

MATCH #28 • Sunday, Nov. 19 • 12 p.m. PT
No. 24 USC (17-9, 11-5) vs. No. 2 Stanford (22-3, 15-1)
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
SERIES RECORD: USC trails, 26-71-1 (.265)
LAST MEETING: L 3-0 (Oct. 13, 2023 • Stanford, Calif.)
STREAK: Lost 12 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 0-10
STREAM: Pac-12 Insider (Max Kelton)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: GoStanford.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 61-43 (.587) as the Trojans' head coach.
The Women of Troy are undefeated (10-0) at home this season and have won 12 straight matches at Galen Center since Nov. 12, 2022. USC is 203-54 (.790) all-time at the arena since it opened in 2006.
The Trojans are 6-4 in five-set matches this season and have played four sets (7) and three sets (9) times fewer times than they have played five.
USC seeks revenge when Cal and Stanford visit. The Trojans' trip to the Bay Area yielded their only 0-2 weekend in Pac-12 play this fall.
Sr. OH Skylar Fields has had double-digit kills in 25 matches; and has been named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week three times this season (seven career). She leads the Pac-12 in kills (5.23 kps) and points (5.66 pps).
Fr. OH London Wijay was named Pac-12's Freshman of the Week (Nov. 13) for the fourth time this season and is USC's second-leading scorer (2.89 pps).
First-year California assistant coach Savannah Rennie previously served as the Trojans' volunteer assistant for one season (2022).

LAST TIME OUT: USC earned a crucial road split in the Pacific Northwest. The Trojans swept Washington in Seattle for the first time since 2011 and won 14 straight sets when they went up, 2-0, on No. 9 Washington State before the Cougars charged back to get a five-set win on Senior Day on the Palouse. OH Skylar Fields put together her ninth straight 20-kill match and notched a new career high with 29 kills against WSU. Setter Mia Tuaniga recorded back-to-back double-doubles (25th and 26th career) with 10 digs in each match; and OH London Wijay put up back-to-back double-doubles with 10 kills and 10 digs against UW and an 18-kill, 12-dig performance against WSU. Tuaniga crossed the 3,000-assist plateau in the match against the Huskies and set the Women of Troy to a better hitting percentage than their opponent for the 19th time this season. The Trojans defeated the Cougars in a comeback 3-2 win at Galen Center earlier this season but got the same treatment from WSU on their visit to Pullman.

TIME TO PAC IT UP: The Women of Troy play 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 have made similar announcements and all four teams will now compete in the Big Ten for most sports.

KILLER QUEENS: The Women of Troy rank first in the Pac-12 in kills (1,408), attacks (3,514), assists (1,328), and digs (1,455). OH Skylar Fields is the most terminal of all Pac-12 players at 5.23 kills per set, which also ranks second in the nation. Behind her, OH London Wijay (2.89 kps) also racks up more than two kills per frame. In total, five different Trojans have 100 or more kills this season.

PAC-12 POW(ER)S: USC players have won Pac-12 Player of the Week honors 89 times (fourth all-time). OH Skylar Fields was named Offensive Player of the Week three times this season (Sept. 11, Oct. 23, Nov. 6). Her seven-career Pac-12 awards rank second at USC behind only three-time All-American OH Samantha Bricio who won the award nine times (2012-15). Fields is also just the 10th player in league history to have won the Pac-12's weekly honor seven or more times. OH London Wijay has earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Week laurels four times (Sept. 18, Sept. 25, Oct. 23, Nov. 13) and is one of only four Women of Troy to own multiple Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards. Since 2011, when the Pac-12 began honoring separate offensive and defensive players of the week and introduced a freshman award, Trojans have earned 30 offensive awards, 13 defensive awards, and 25 freshman honors. Bricio (9), Fields (7), Natalie Hagglund (5), Asia Kaczor(5), and Jennifer Kessy (5) have had the most individual career selections among USC players.

HOME, SWEET HOME: USC is 203-54 (.790) all-time at Galen Center. The Trojans went 12-1 in home matches in 2011 and completed the 2012 home schedule with a 17-1 mark. In 2007, USC was 19-0 at home on the way to an appearance in the NCAA national semifinal match. The Trojans are 20-4 all-time at Galen Center in NCAA tournament matches. The four losses were to Hawai'i (2008 and 2009) and San Diego (2018) each time in the second round; and to Washington in the 2013 NCAA Regional Final.

LONG DISTANCE: USC is 152-107 all-time in five-set matches: 62-39 at home; 66-54 on the road; 24-14 in neutral matches. The Trojans are 6-4 in five-set matches this fall. They played six five-setters in 2022 (2-4) but have endured many full-length matches in recent years including seven in 2021, six in 2020-21, and a school-record 11 in 2019. In fact, the Trojans' 10 five-setters total more times than USC has played in four-set matches (7) or three-set matches (9) this season. Against Pac-12 opponents, the Women of Troy are 5-3 in five-set contests with the only losses all on the road at Arizona State (Oct. 6), at Colorado (Oct. 27), and at Washington State (Nov. 12).

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Players Mentioned

Skylar Fields

Mia Tuaniga

London Wijay