No. 12 USC Men's Volleyball Takes Down Harvard in Four

Thursday, January 11

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 PM

USC

3-0,0-0MPSF

Harvard

0-1,0-0EIVA

Harvard

Southern California

Photo by: Katie Chin/USC Athletics

No. 12 USC Men's Volleyball Takes Down Harvard in Four

January 11, 2024 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

The Trojans set a record for attendance at a home opener for the second consecutive season with 1,934 fans in attendance

LOS ANGELES – The 12th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (3-0) took down Harvard (0-1) in four sets (22-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-22) in front of a record season-opener crowd of 1,934 fans at Galen Center on Thursday, Jan. 11.

KEY PLAYERS

Redshirt Jr. OPP Jack Deuchar reached new career highs of 18 kills and 32 attacks (6e) while hitting .375 to lead the Trojans with 22.0 points. Deuchar added a career-high seven blocks (one solo) and had three digs.
So. OH Dillon Klein collected 12 kills (6e, 30att, .200) to go with four digs and two blocks.
Redshirt Fr. OH Riley Haine set new career marks with 11 kills (3e) and 22 attacks to hit .364. He also had career bests of four blocks, five digs, and two service aces to finish with 15.0 points.
Fr. MB Wes Smith totaled five kills (1e, 13att) on .308 hitting and set a new career highs with seven blocks and two aces.
Fr. S Caleb Blanchette dished out 40 assists and had three digs and a solo block.
Jr. LIB Austin Stuard reached double digits for the second time in three matches and finished with 12 digs and an assist.
For the Crimson, Owen Woolbert led with 11 kills (0e, 13att, .846). Ethan Smith and Zach Berty each had nine kills apiece. Berty also led Harvard with nine digs. James Bardin put up 34 assists with seven digs and three blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC hit .308 to outpace Harvard's .189 and finished with more kills (49-44), assists (43-41), and blocks (12.5-6.5). The Crimson had the edge in digs (36-29) and posted one more ace than the Trojans (6-5).
The score was tied 14 times and the first set saw five lead changes before the Crimson finished off a 25-22 win. Harvard had 13 kills and hit .296 over USC's .115 with 10 kills.
The Trojans led by eight several times before they evened the match with a 25-18 win in the second frame behind .345 hitting and six kills from Klein. Deuchar tallied five of his kills in set two.
USC never trailed in set three and claimed the 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-20 victory. The Trojans racked up 17 kills and hit .577 led by five kills apiece from Deuchar and Haine. Klein added four kills and USC put up five blocks to help hold the Crimson to .222 hitting with 11 kills on 27 swings.
It took 16 ties and seven lead changes before the Trojans closed out the match with a 25-22 win in the fourth set. Despite recording just seven kills (3e, 23att, .174), USC got the win thanks to 3.5 blocks, three service aces, and a .172 hitting rate by Harvard caused in part by five digs from Stuard.

UP NEXT

The Trojans host Lincoln Memorial (1-0) on Saturday (Jan. 13) at 7 p.m. PT at Galen Center. The match will be streamed on the USC live stream platform.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 5-0 all-time in meetings with Harvard.
The Trojans recorded a higher hitting percentage and collected more kills and more blocks than their opponent for the third time this season.
USC reached double-digit blocks for the first time this season.

For more information on the USC men's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/MVB. Fans of the Trojans can follow @USCmensvolley on Twitter and Instagram.