No. 20 USC Women's Volleyball Falls in Narrow Five-Set Loss to Illinois

Friday, November 8

Urbana-Champaign, Ill.

3:00 p.m.

USC

16-7,8-5Big Ten

Illinois

16-7,8-5Big Ten

Southern California

Illinois

Photo by: Aaron Wilson

No. 20 USC Women's Volleyball Falls in Narrow Five-Set Loss to Illinois

November 08, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score

The Trojans had a season-high 17 service aces against the Fighting Illini

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 20-ranked USC women's volleyball team (16-7, 8-5 Big Ten) dropped a hard-fought five-set decision (21-25, 29-27, 25-23, 17-25, 15-12) to Illinois (16-7, 8-5) at Huff Hall on Friday, Nov. 8.

KEY PLAYERS

Sr. S Mia Tuaniga dished out 50 assists and had a season-high six service aces and five digs with two blocks to finish with 8.0 points. It was her 20th-career match with three or more aces and her sixth time with five or more.
Fr. OPP Jadyn Livings had a career-high 22.5 points collected on 16 kills (8e, 39att, .205), a career-high five service aces, and three blocks. Livings also had 12 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.
Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst put up 14 kills to go with eight digs, five blocks, and a pair of service aces.
Redshirt So. OH Adonia Faumuina totaled 13 kills (5e, 34att) on .235 hitting and put up five digs and three blocks.
Redshirt Jr. MB Tyrah Ariail finished with 11.0 points on seven kills (2e, 18att, .278) with a team-high six blocks and an ace.
Fr. MB Favor Anyanwu tallied eight kills (2e, 14att) to hit .429 and had three blocks (one solo).
Jr. LIB Gala Trubint posted 16 digs for her 62nd-career match in double-digits and added five assists and a service ace.
For the Fighting Illini, Raina Terry had 18 kills and reached 2,000-career kills to go with 11 digs for a double-double. Christina Martinez Mundo led all players with 18 digs. Ashlyn Philpot scored 17 kills and Averie Hernandez had 16.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The teams were tied 11 times in the first set before the Trojans used a 4-0 run to seize the final lead and closed out a 25-21 win. Batenhorst and Livings each landed four kills while Faumuina had three. USC put up five blocks and served four aces—two from Batenhorst—in the opening frame and held the Illini to a .135 hitting percentage with 12 kills and seven attack errors on 37 swings. USC started slow but got warm late and hit .219 with 12 kills (5e) on 32 attacks to finish.
The Trojans led set two by as many as four points, but the Illini caught a draft and used a late 5-0 run to take their first lead at 22-21. Illinois had set point first at 24-23, but USC flipped the script and went on top, 25-24. The Trojans also had set point at 27-26, but Illinois scored the final three points in a 29-27 win to even the match. Batenhorst and Livings each had four more kills and Faumuina added four in set two as USC hit .238 with 18 kills (8e) on 42 swings.
Illinois led through the belly of the third, but the Trojans' 3-0 run put USC on top, 15-14. Both teams threw barbs until the Trojans pushed out to a two-point lead at 20-18, but back-to-back aces by Terry put USC behind, 23-22. The Trojans scored one more point, but Illinois took a 2-1 lead in the match on a 25-23 win. Livings led the way with five kills as USC totaled 14 in the frame and added four aces and three blocks.
The Trojans trailed by as many as three in set four but forced an 11-all tie with back-to-back kills by Ariail. Illinois stepped in front at 15-14, but the USC mounted what would ultimately become an 11-2 run to finish off a 25-17 win to set up set five. USC had 11 kills but hit just .147 in the fourth. The Trojans used another pair of service aces and put up four blocks to help hold the Illini to a negative .047 hitting percentage (9k, 11e, 43att).
Illinois fired the first shots in set five, but the Trojans moved in front for a 7-5 lead. The score was tied for the fifth time at eight-all before the Illini claimed a 15-12 lead to close the match. The Trojans came as close as a single point at 12-13 but couldn't pull even in the end. Illinois hit .409 with 10 kills in the final frame. USC had just six kills but added three service aces to finish the night with 17.

UP NEXT

USC heads to Bloomington, Ind., to face Indiana (12-11, 5-8) on Sunday (Nov. 10) at Wilkinson Hall in a 4 p.m. ET matchup (1 p.m. PT). The match will be streamed live on Big Ten Plus.

MATCH NOTES

USC fell to 3-4 all-time in seven all-time meetings with Illinois. The Trojans' only other previous trip to face the Illini in Champaign was in 2004, which resulted in a 3-2 loss to a 16th-ranked Illinois in the State Farm Illini Volleyball Classic (Sept. 11). The loss ended what was then an NCAA-record 52 match win streak.
The Women of Troy fell to 3-3 all-time in the state of Illinois.
The Trojans reached double-digit blocks for the 15th time this season (14.5) and registered double-digit service aces for the third time with a season-high 17.
USC's 17 aces were the most in a single match since the Trojans had 15 against Colorado on Sept. 30, 2022.

For more information on the USC women's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/WVB. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow @USCWomensVolley on Facebook, X, and Instagram.