No. 10 USC Men's Volleyball Meets No. 7 Waves For Two MPSF Bouts

LOS ANGELES – The 10th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (8-7, 1-3 MPSF) faces No. 7 Pepperdine (10-8, 2-2) in a home-and-home this week as conference play resumes. The Trojans start with a Thursday-night (March 9) match-up with the Waves at Firestone Fieldhouse set for 6 p.m. PT in Malibu, Calif. The Waves roll down to Galen Center for the rematch on Saturday (March 11) at 7 p.m. Both matched will be streamed live by Wavecasts and the USC live stream platform respectively. USC enters the week having won its last two contests.

THIS WEEK
No. 10 USC (8-7, 1-3 MPSF) vs. No. 7 Pepperdine (10-8, 2-2 MPSF)
SERIES RECORD: USC trails, 44-73 (.376)
LAST MEETING: L 3-1 (April 21, 2022 • Westwood, Calif.)
STREAK: Lost 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 3-7
OPPONENT WEBSITE: PepperdineWaves.com

MATCH #16 • Thursday, March 9 • 6 p.m. PT
Firestone Fieldhouse • Malibu, Calif.
LIVE STREAM: Wavecasts Live Stream

MATCH #17 • Saturday, March 11 • 7 p.m. PT
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
LIVE STREAM: USC Live Stream (Max Kelton)

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

USC is led by eighth-year head coach Jeff Nygaard, a three-time Olympian in indoor and beach volleyball and a two-time NCAA champion.
The Trojans are currently ranked 10th in the AVCA Div I-II Coaches Poll. USC has played nine matches against ranked opponents this season (2-7).
USC has played just six home matches this season. The Trojans are 3-3 with victories over UCSB(Jan. 19), No. 9 Stanford (Feb. 26), and Menlo (Mar. 3).
Freshman OH Dillon Klein leads the Trojans in kills (3.76 kps) and points (4.27 pps) with 13 matches in double-digit points.
USC returns All-American OH Simon Gallas who ranks ninth in the MPSF for points (3.47 pps) and is 10th with 2.82 kills per set this spring.
All-American OPP Kevin Kobrine--a grad transfer from UCLA--follows brother Sam Kobrine who also transferred after four years at UCLA in 2021. Kobrine is third on the team with 2.53 kps and 3.05 pps.
USC MB Lucas Frassrand returns after an All-America honorable mention campaign as a junior. His 0.79 blocks per set rank eighth in the MPSF.

FOLLOW THE TROJANS: All of USC's home matches at Galen Center are live streamed for free on USCTrojans.com except for matches televised live by the Pac-12 Networks. Fans also can follow USC home matches through live stats with links available at USCTrojans.com.

LAST TIME OUT: The Trojans defeated Menlo in four sets to conclude a stretch of five consecutive home matches. Simon Gallas moved to the outside and finished the night with 14 kills, two aces, two blocks, and three digs. Kevin Kobrine flipped to the opposite position and matched his season high with 15 kills on .467 hitting and racked up four blocks and five digs to finish with 17.0 points. Ryan Sprague tossed up a career-high 50 assists in the win and Dillon Klein posted his 12th match in double-digit kills as he finished with 13; his 13th match in double-digit points.

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Players Mentioned

Lucas Frassrand

Simon Gallas

Dillon Klein

Kevin Kobrine

Sam Kobrine

Ryan Sprague