No. 10 USC Men's Volleyball Falls to No. 2 Grand Canyon

Friday, February 23

Phoenix, Ariz.

5:00 PM

USC

10-5,2-1MPSF

Grand Canyon

12-0,3-0MPSF

Southern California

Grand Canyon

Photo by: Aaron Wilson

No. 10 USC Men's Volleyball Falls to No. 2 Grand Canyon

February 23, 2024 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

The Trojans took their first conference loss in a road match against the Antelopes

PHOENIX – The 10th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (10-5, 2-1 MPSF) fell to No. 2 Grand Canyon (12-0, 3-0) in four sets (21-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-15) at Global Credit Union Arena on Friday, Feb. 23.

KEY PLAYERS

So. OH Dillon Klein reached double-digit kills for the 32nd time in his career and finished with a team-best 16.5 points collected on 15 kills (5e, 40att, .250) to go with six digs and three blocks.
Fr. S Caleb Blanchette put up 33 assists with five digs and two blocks.
Fr. MB Wesley Smith had 10 kills (0e, 14att) and hit .714 with three blocks (two solo).
So. OH Riley Haine scored 11 kills (3e, 22att) with .364 hitting and had five digs.
Sr. MB Kyle Paulson hit .467 and had seven kills (0e) on 15 swings with three blocks and three service aces.
Jr. L Austin Stuard reached double-digit digs for the fifth time and finished with 10 and four assists.
For the Antelopes, Cameron Thorne and Jackson Hickman each had 14 kills apiece to power the offense. Thorne had six blocks and Hickman had four. Nicholas Slight had 46 assists with eight digs and a block. Karter Rogers put up 11 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC took the first set, 25-21, behind .516 hitting and had 18 kills (2e) on 31 swings. Smith collected six of his kills in the opening frame while Haine contributed five kills and Klein had four. GCU hit .393 with 14 kills and had eight digs.
The Trojans had 4.5 blocks in set two but hit only .097 with 11 kills in a 25-21 loss. Grand Canyon hit .250 and had 10 kills with 3.5 blocks to even the match at one set apiece.
The third set was tied 11 times and the lead changed hands three times before the Lopes closed out a 25-23 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Thorne added four more kills to equal Klein's output in the back-and-forth set.
Grand Canyon never trailed in the fourth set and sewed up the win with a 25-15 victory by holding the Trojans to a negative .033 hitting percentage with just seven kills. Four Lopes had multiple kills in the win.

UP NEXT

The Trojans meet the Lopes for a second time on Saturday (Feb. 24) at Antelope Gymnasium. First serve is set for 3 p.m. PT (4 p.m. MST) with a live stream available via links at USCTrojans.com.

MATCH NOTES

USC fell to 6-11 all-time against Grand Canyon and has lost three straight matches to the Lopes.
The Trojans had a three-match win streak ended by the Lopes.

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.