No. 11 USC Men's Volleyball Falls to No. 18 CSUN in Five

Wednesday, January 24

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 PM

USC

5-2,0-0MPSF

CSUN

4-3,0-0Big West

CSUN

Southern California

Photo by: Katie Chin/USC Athletics

No. 11 USC Men's Volleyball Falls to No. 18 CSUN in Five

January 24, 2024 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

Dillon Klein and Jack Deuchar shared team-high honors with 17 kills each against the Matadors

LOS ANGELES – The 11th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (5-2) fell to 18th-ranked CSUN (4-3) in five sets (25-21, 25-27, 20-25, 25-17, 10-15) at Galen Center on Wednesday, Jan. 24.

KEY PLAYERS
·       Redshirt Jr. OPP Jack Deuchar shared team-high honors with 18.5 points earned on a shared team-high 17 kills (6e, 33att) with .333 hitting. Deuchar also had five digs and an ace.
·       So. OH Dillon Klein reached double-digit kills in a match for the 25th time in his career and shared the team-high 17 kills (6e, 35att) with .314 hitting. Klein also had six digs and three blocks.
·       Sr. MB Kyle Paulson recorded three blocks in the first eight points of the match (five blocks total), recorded three kills (0e, 6att, .500), totaling 7.5 points.
·       Fr. S Caleb Blanchette put up 29 assists—with four digs and a block.
·       Fr. MB Wesley Smith racked up five kills (0e, 9att, .556) with two blocks and three digs.
·       For the Matadors, Kyle Hobus led all players with 23 kills and 25.5 points. Griffin Walters had eight kills and three aces. Jalen Phillips had 14 kills with two blocks and two digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED
·       The Trojans took the first set, 25-21, led by Smith and Klein with four kills each, and out-hit the Matadors .350 to .087. The set saw three lead changes and four ties. With a kill from Smith at 12-11, the Trojans ended a 4-0 Matador scoring run. Later, after an error from CSUN, USC went on a 6-0 scoring run — not stopped by a Matador timeout at 18-16. CSUN recorded four service aces in the first set, matching the Trojans. Smith and Klein both had four kills in the first set, and Blanchette recorded three aces.
·       Both teams kept it close in the second set, with four lead changes and 16 tie scores. Out of a timeout, Klein put the Trojans up 20-19 with a big kill, but the Matadors answered back and continued to stay within reach. On the first set point—a kill by Smith—CSUN used a challenge and was successful, making the score 24-all. The Matadors closed out the set with a kill from Hobus and a Trojan error, winning 27-25. CSUN out-hit USC .350 to .290 and out-dug them 8-5. Deuchar recorded seven kills in the second set and hit .385.
·       The back-and-forth theme continued in the third set, with five lead changes and eight tie scores. After a 3-0 Trojan run, at 10-7 the Matadors answered with a 4-0 run of their own, ending with back-to-back blocks and forcing a USC timeout. After the timeout, the Trojans went on another 3-0 run, but the Matadors came back to finish the set on a 6-2 run, winning 25-20. CSUN out-hit USC .417 to .160 in set three. Klein led all scoring in the third set with five kills and hit .300.
·       The Trojans cruised to a win in the fourth set, 25-17, out-hitting the Matadors .467 to .296, after a successful challenge to the first point of the set. The Matadors kept it tight to start—as the set saw two lead changes and five tie scores—but the Trojans extended their lead to 15-9 later in the set. After a long rally, Smith ended the set with a big solo block. Deuchar led scoring for the Trojans in set four with four kills (1e, 8att,.375).
·       The Matadors took a 4-1 lead to start the fifth, and rode momentum to the end, for a 15-10 win. Though the Trojans scored back-to-back points out of a timeout to narrow CSUN's lead to two (5-7), USC was forced to take a timeout at 11-7. CSUN ended the set on a kill by Jano Tello. The Matadors out-hit the Trojans .667 to .083.

UP NEXT
·       The Trojans host Central State (0-7) on Thursday (Jan. 25). USC-Central State will be streamed live on the USC live stream platform. Tickets for this match are available at USCTrojans.com/tickets.

MATCH NOTES
·       USC fell to 52-35 and ended a five-match winning streak against the Matadors.
·       This is the first time USC has played back-to-back five-setters since Jan. 18-19, 2023.
·       The last time the Trojans lost back-to-back five-setters was Mar. 3, 8, and 10, 2013.
·       The Trojans lost as home for the first time this season. USC was previously 4-0 at Galen Center.

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.