No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Prevails in Five-Set Slugfest with Lions

Thursday, September 19

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 p.m.

USC

LMU

Photo by: Katie Chin

No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Prevails in Five-Set Slugfest with Lions

September 19, 2024 | Women's Volleyball

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Ally Batenhorst logged a career-high 21.5 points in the Trojans’ win over Loyola Marymount

LOS ANGELES – The No. 21-ranked USC women's volleyball team (6-2) completed a marathon match to extend their winning streak to three with a 3-2 victory (26-24, 28-26, 18-25, 33-35, 15-10) over Loyola Marymount (6-3) to open the Trojans/Lions Invitational at Galen Center on Thursday, Sept. 19.

KEY PLAYERS

Gr. OH Ally Batenhorst notched a career-high 21.5 points collected on a career-best 18 kills (6e, 49att) to go with .245 hitting, six digs, four blocks (one solo), and one service ace.
Sr. S Mia Tuaniga put up 48 assists to go with 10 digs for her third double-double of the season (31st career) and added six blocks and three kills (6att) with .500 hitting.
Fr. OH Jadyn Livings set new career marks with 16 kills and eight digs to go with three blocks (one solo) for 19.0 points.
On defense, Jr. LIB Gala Trubint led the team with 13 digs to notch her 54th-career match with double-digit digs. Gr. OH Grae Gosnell posted a second straight double-digit digs match with 10.
For the Lions, Paige Flickinger led all players with 25 kills but hit .175 to go with 13 digs for a double-double. Mia Schafer also had a double-double with 24 assists and 13 digs; and was one of three LMU players with three service aces. Sophia Meyers had 16 kills and hit .233 with nine digs and three blocks (one solo).

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC out-hit LMU, .202 to .145, but the Lions had more kills (63-60), service aces (12-4), and digs (62-56). The Trojans had the edge in blocks (19.5 to 15.0) to match their season high (vs. Kansas State, Sept. 6).
The Trojans had to erase a five-point deficit in the opening frame but faced down 12 ties and three lead changes to shake off the rust to rack a 26-24 win. Batenhorst and Livings each tallied three kills, and the USC defense had four blocks to keep the Lion attack at .200 with 15 kills. USC hit .233 with 12 kills on 30 swings.
Set two was tied 15 times and had three lead changes but the Trojans would see the fight through to close out a 28-26 win for a 2-0 lead in the match. Batenhorst had eight kills to lead all players and totaled 9.5 points with a service ace and a block. Livings had four kills and four digs in the set.
The Lions led by as many as seven in the third set and won by seven, 25-18. USC collected 12 kills led by MB Favor Anyanwu who had four, but LMU had four blocks to hold the Trojans to a .233 hitting rate and scored on five service aces to collect 19.0 points. The Lions came out of the marsh to post 10 kills and hit .304 in the win.
The Trojans collected 8.5 blocks in the fourth but went through 18 ties and 10 lead changes to end up on the wrong end of a 35-33 decision. Meyers had eight kills for the Lions while Flickinger added six. LMU hit just .077 with 18 kills and 14 errors on 52 swings but produced five service aces as part of 27.0 points in the win.
USC led by as many as six in the fifth and closed out the 15-10 win with 3.5 blocks while hitting .357 with six kills (1e) on 14 swings. Flickinger had four kills for the Lions. Livings had three kills and Batenhorst added two more.

UP NEXT

USC continues play in the Trojans/Lions Invitational with a bout against UNLV (7-2) at 7 p.m. PT on Friday (Sept. 20). The Trojans and the Rebels will be shown live on a Big Ten Plus (B1G+) stream with links available at USCTrojans.com.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 10-0 against Loyola Marymount, which includes a 6-0 mark as the home team. In the teams' previous nine meetings, LMU had won just one set (2017).
The Trojans won their third straight home match at Galen Center and improved to 207-56 all-time in the arena.
The Women of Troy played their first five-set match of the year and moved to 153-108 all-time in five-setters with a 63-40 mark when they play five at home.

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.