No. 25 USC Women's Volleyball Takes on Huskies and No. 9 Cougars in PNW

LOS ANGELES – The 25th-ranked USC women's volleyball team (16-8, 10-4 Pac-12) heads to the Pacific Northwest this week to take on Washington (14-11, 5-9) in Seattle on Friday (Nov. 10) and ninth-ranked Washington State (19-6, 9-5) on Sunday (Nov. 12). The Women of Troy seek their first season sweep of the Huskies and Cougars since 2011 and to solidify their position in the Pac-12 standings with just six regular-season contests remaining on the schedule.

MATCH #25 • Friday, Nov. 10 • 7 p.m. PT
No. 25 USC (16-8, 10-4) at Washington (14-11, 5-9)
Alaska Airlines Arena • Seattle, Wash.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 44-33 (.571)
LAST MEETING: W 3-2 (Oct. 22, 2023 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Won 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 4-6
STREAM: Pac-12 Insider (TBD)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: GoHuskies.com

MATCH #26 • Sunday, Nov. 12 • 12 p.m. PT
No. 25 USC (16-8, 10-4) at No. 9 Washington State (19-6, 9-5)
Bohler Gymnasium • Pullman, Wash.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 53-19 (.736)
LAST MEETING: W 3-2 (Oct. 20, 2023 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Won 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 5-5
STREAM: WSU Stream (TBD)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: WSUCougars.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 60-42 (.588) as the Trojans' head coach.
The Women of Troy are 41-35 all-time in the Evergreen State but are 4-6 in their last 10 matches in Washington; and 7-13 in 20 matches since 2013.
USC has gone 2-0 against UW and WSU on its Pacific Northwest trip nine previous times but last knocked off both the Huskies and Cougars in 2011.
The Trojans are 6-3 in five-set matches this season and have played four sets (7) and three sets (8) times fewer times than they have played five.
Sr. OH Skylar Fields has had double-digit kills in 23 matches; and has been named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week three times this season (seven career). She was also named the AVCA/GameChanger National Player of the Week for the third straight season. She leads the Pac-12 in kills (5.14 kps) and points (5.57 pps).
Fr. OH London Wijay was named Pac-12's Freshman of the Week (Oct. 23) for the third time this season and is USC's second-leading scorer (2.72 pps).
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.

LAST TIME OUT: USC swept both Arizona and 15th-ranked Arizona State at home to stay undefeated at Galen Center (10-0) and earned its first back-to-back clean sweep (6-0 in sets) over a Pac-12 opponent on the same weekend since 2018. OH Skylar Fields crossed the 2,000-career kills plateau in the win over the Sun Devils and advanced into the Trojans' career top 25 with 1,091 of those kills collected in the Cardinal and Gold. Setter Mia Tuanigaracked up her ninth double-double of the season (24th of her career) with 32 assists and 11 digs against Arizona State. Fields had back-to-back matches with 24 kills to average 8.00 kills per set over the weekend and lifted the Trojans to their third win over a top-20 opponent this fall. LIB Gala Trubint posted her 16th match in double-digit digs this season with 10 against the Wildcats.

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.

UNLIMITED SKY: OH Skylar Fields was chosen as the AVCA/GameChanger National Player of the Week on Nov. 7. It was her third-career honor (Oct. 5, 2021, at Texas; Oct. 11, 2022, at USC) and the 13th award won by a USC athlete. She now joins an elite list of Trojan pin-hitters to have won the award twice while at USC including All-Americans Khalia Lanier (2017, '19), Samantha Bricio (2012, '15), and Alex Jupiter (twice in 2010). She was also named the Pac-12's Offensive Player of the Week for the third time this season and the seventh time in her career, making her only the 10th player in league history to have won the award seven or more times.

DAWG WALKERS: USC leads its all-time series with Washington by a 44-33 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 25-12 against Washington.

CAT FIGHT: While USC owns a dominating 53-19 all-time record against Washington State, the Cougars have claimed seven of those wins since 2013. The Trojans are 9-6 in the last 15 meetings with WSU and of those six losses, five have been in matches that have gone to five sets with three of those times on the Palouse. USC is 31-5 at home against WSU and 21-14 in Pullman.

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 three times (Sept. 18, Sept. 25, Oct. 23) 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 24 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.

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Players Mentioned

Skylar Fields

Gala Trubint

Mia Tuaniga

London Wijay