No. 11 USC Men's Volleyball Falls to No. 9 Pepperdine

Thursday, March 14

Malibu, Calif.

6:00 PM

USC

11-10,2-5MPSF

Pepperdine

15-5,3-3MPSF

Southern California

Pepperdine

Photo by: Kait Devir

No. 11 USC Men's Volleyball Falls to No. 9 Pepperdine

March 14, 2024 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

Four Trojans scored double-digit points in a four-set road loss to the Waves

MALIBU, Calif. – The 11th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (11-10, 2-5 MPSF) was defeated in four sets, 22-25, 28-26, 25-23, 25-20, by No. 9 Pepperdine (15-5, 3-3) at Firestone Fieldhouse on Thursday, March 14.

KEY PLAYERS

So. OH Dillon Klein collected 19 kills (7e, 35att) and hit .343 to register double-digit kills for the 36th time in his career. He also added three digs and had two blocks to lead the team with 20.0 points.
Fr. setter Caleb Blanchette had 44 assists and matched his career high with 13 digs to log his third-career double-double.
Redshirt Sr. OH Jackson Reed reached new career highs of nine kills and 20 attacks while hitting .400. He also had three blocks (one solo) to finish with a career-best 11.0 points to go with four digs.
Redshirt So. MB Teddy Terrill got the start and tallied career highs of 9.5 points, eight kills, and .889 hitting (9att, 0e).
Redshirt Fr. OPP Noah Roberts racked up career highs of eight kills (3e) and 14 attacks while hitting .357 and had three blocks (one solo) to finish with a career-high 10.0 points.
Redshirt Fr. OH Riley Haine wore the libero jersey and finished the night with career highs of seven digs and eight assists.
For the Waves, Cole Ketrzynski led with 15 kills and added six digs and three blocks. Alexander Mrkalj had 10 kills with .615 hitting and added four blocks and three aces. Ryan Graves put up 47 assists and had four digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC collected more kills (59-55) and assists (55-49) and had more digs (32-25) than the Waves, but Pepperdine had the edge in hitting (.358 to .342) and out-blocked the Trojans, 12-9.5.
The Trojans led by as many as six points in the opening frame (20-14) and held off a late Pepperdine charge to secure a 25-22 win. Both teams collected 14 kills and both sides had four service errors, but the Trojans' four-block output was the difference in the first set. Klein had four of his kills in set one while Kyle Paulson and Jack Deuchar each added three.
USC broke open a back-and-forth battle in the second set to claim a 20-15 lead, but the Waves cleared that hole to force a 25-all tie and closed out a 28-26 win with what ended up a 13-6 run. Klein added seven more kills in set two while Deuchar had seven. Blanchette tallied five of his digs in the second frame.
The Trojans went down by four, 14-10, but found a way to close the gap to one at 20-19 before the Waves went on a 4-0 run to seize set point. USC fought off four of those, but Pepperdine closed out a 25-23 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Klein continued to pour in the offense with five kills in set three and got help from Reed who had three.
The score was tied five times in the fourth, but Pepperdine broke away and finished off the win with a 25-20 decision. Roberts put up five kills in set four while Klein had three, but Pepperdine hit .565 with six kills from Ketrzynski.

UP NEXT

USC will take on the Waves in a rematch on Saturday, March 30, to close out the month at Galen Center. The teams will meet 7 p.m. PT that night and be shown live on a USC stream.

MATCH NOTES

USC fell to 44-76 all-time against Pepperdine lost its fourth straight match against the Waves.
The Trojans fell to 4-9 in matches with AVCA top 20 opponents 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.