USC Women's Volleyball's London Wijay and Taylor Deckert Earn Big Ten Weekly Awards

ROSEMONT, Ill. – USC women's volleyball redshirt sophomore outside hitter London Wijay (Porter Ranch, Calif./Bishop Alemany HS) was named the Big Ten Player of the Week and freshman libero Taylor Deckert (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) was chosen as the Freshman of the Week for the week of Oct. 13-19, the Conference announced on Monday, Oct. 20.

It is the first-career Big Ten award for both players. Wijay was a four-time Pac-12 Freshman of the Week choice in 2023. The awards lift USC's total to four for the season. Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Leah Ford was named the league's Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 1 and freshman setter Reese Messer was chosen for Freshman of the Week laurels on Sept. 22.

Wijay is the second USC player to earn Big Ten Player of the Week honors; the first since outside hitter Ally Batenhorst was selected on Nov. 4, 2024. Wijay matched her career high with 24 kills and did it with .308 hitting to spur the Trojans to a 3-1 win over No. 9 Wisconsin on the road. In the match, she also had a career-high 65 attacks and added two blocks and three assists to total 25.0 points in the victory. Including a 10-kill performance at Iowa, Wijay reached double-digit kills for the 10th and 11th times this season and registered her 13th match in double-digit points. In total, she averaged 4.25 kills per set (4.38 points per set) with 2.00 digs per set. Wijay also received serve 50 times with a 1.000 reception percentage.

Deckert was instrumental to the success of USC's floor defense in two wins at Iowa and Wisconsin. She averaged 6.63 digs per set and added 1.13 assists per set in the two victories. Deckert set a new career high with 28 digs against Iowa; the most by a USC player since Kelli Barry had 30 in a match (Nov. 25, 2022; vs. UCLA). The 28 digs also rank third among Big Ten single-match performances this season and her 25 digs (at Wisconsin) rank sixth. Deckert reached double-digit digs for the 10th time and recorded her first and second-career 20-plus dig performances. She also received serve 41 times in the two matches without an error.

Among other award winners, Nebraska's Andi Jackson was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and Purdue's Taylor Anderson was tabbed the Big Ten Setter of the Week.

The No. 22-ranked Women of Troy (13-5, 4-4 Big Ten) host Maryland (8-10, 1-7) on Thursday (Oct. 23) for a 7 p.m. PT match at Galen Center and then take on Washington (9-9, 4-4) on Sunday (Oct. 26) in a noon matchup. Both contests will be shown live on Big Ten Plus streams.

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

USC BIG TEN VOLLEYBALL WEEKLY AWARDS

2024
Mia Tuaniga, Setter of the Week (Sept. 23)
Jadyn Livings, Freshman of the Week (Sept. 23)
Mia Tuaniga, Setter of the Week (Nov. 4)
Ally Batenhorst, Player of the Week (Nov. 4)

2025
Leah Ford, Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 1)
Reese Messer, Freshman of the Week (Sept. 22)
London Wijay, Player of the Week (Oct. 20)
Taylor Deckert, Freshman of the Week (Oct. 20)

USC Women's Volleyball's London Wijay and Taylor Deckert Earn Big Ten Weekly Awards

Players Mentioned

Ally Batenhorst

Taylor Deckert

Leah Ford

Jadyn Livings

Reese Messer

Mia Tuaniga

London Wijay

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