No. 22 USC Women's Volleyball Takes Down No. 20 Minnesota in Five

Saturday, November 1

Minneapolis, Minn.

6:00 p.m. PT / 8:00 p.m. CT

USC

17-5,8-4Big Ten

Minnesota

17-6,7-5Big Ten

Southern California

Minnesota

Photo by: Alex Renteria

No. 22 USC Women's Volleyball Takes Down No. 20 Minnesota in Five

November 01, 2025 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Highlights

London Wijay put up a career-high 25 kills to go with 12 digs for a double-double in a five-set road win over the Gophers

MINNEAPOLIS – The No. 22-ranked USC women's volleyball team (17-5, 8-4 Big Ten) won its sixth straight match with a five-set decision (19-25, 25-22, 23-25, 25-15, 15-12) on the road over No. 20 Minnesota (17-6, 7-5) at Maturi Pavilion on Saturday, Nov. 1.

KEY PLAYERS

RS So. OH London Wijay put up a career-high 25 kills (6e, 52att) and hit .365 in the process. She also dug up 12 balls for her fourth double-double (13th career) and had a service ace and a block to finish with 26.5 points.
Fr. OPP Abigail Mullen tallied 10 kills (2e, 23att) and hit .348 with 10 digs for her fifth double-double.
RS Jr. OH Adonia Faumuina racked 14 kills (3e) on 33 swings to hit .333 and had five blocks.
Fr. S Reese Messer dished out a career-high 54 assists and added nine digs, to go with a career-best five blocks (one solo), four kills, and three service aces to set a new career mark of 10.0 points.
Fr. LIB Taylor Deckert dug up 10 balls for her 13th match in double digits and added six assists.
Sr. DS Gala Trubint had 12 digs for her fifth contest in double digits, the 75th-such match of her career.
Sr. MB Rylie McGinest scored 13.0 points earned on nine kills (2e, 17att) to go with four blocks and a pair of service aces.
RS So. MB Leah Ford played mostly in the fourth and fifth but collected five blocks (one solo) and had two kills on three swings during crucial USC runs.
For the Golden Gophers, Julia Hanson had a match-high 26 kills while Carly Gilk had 12. Stella Swenson had 44 assists and 14 digs to go with three blocks, two kills, and a service ace.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC out-hit Minnesota, .349 to .181 in the match and had more kills (68-56), assists (65-52), digs (63-57), and blocks (14.0 to 8.5) than the Gophers. It was the Trojans' 12th match in double-digit blocks.
The Trojans out-hit the Gophers, .440 to .323, in the opening frame but found themselves on the short end of a 25-19 finish as Minnesota won the service line by an 8-1 count. The Gophers had six service aces and more kills, 15-13, but USC hit better, had more digs (10-8), and both teams had two blocks apiece. Faumuina collected five of her kills in the first set while Wijay had three. Wijay also had three digs to share team-high honors with Trubint.
USC led wire-to-wire to take a 25-22 win in the second and evened the match, 1-1. The Trojans led by as many as eight points at 14-6 when McGinest tapped one down for the kill, but the Gophers chipped away and closed to within two points, twice, before USC closed the door. Faumuina tagged five more balls for kills while Wijay totaled six in the second set. USC hit .257 in set two and had 15 kills (6e) on 35 swings over Minnesota's .194 (12k, 6e, 31att).
The Trojans led the third by three points early in the frame, but Minnesota went in front, 14-13, and seized control to lead by as many as four including at 23-19. USC used a 4-0 run on Mullen serves to force the sixth tie of the set at 23-all but a service error and a Gopher service ace ended things, 25-23, for a 2-1 Minnesota lead. USC collected 14 kills in the third and hit .227 (4e) on 44 swings. Wijay led the way with four kills in the third and did that with three digs.
The Gophers built an early 5-1 lead to open the fourth, but the Trojans used a 3-0 run and then a big 9-1 burst to go in front by six points at 15-9. That burst ballooned into a 13-2 run that would end in a 25-15 win for the Women of Troy. USC put up five blocks in the fourth to hold the Gophers to a .000 hitting rate (8k, 8e) on 31 swings. On the other side of the net, Wijay added four more kills and Mullen had four to help lift USC to a .481 hitting percentage with 14 kills (1e, 27att).
McGinest went quick and then Wijay collected back-to-back kills to put USC on top, 4-2, in the fifth. Wijay added a third and Faumuina went off-speed to make it 8-6 for the Trojans at the side switch. Another Wijay kill followed by a solo block for Ford put USC on top by three, 10-7. Wijay was only halfway there as she added four more kills including one for match point at 14-10 and the final terminator at 15-12. Wijay racked up eight kills in the fifth alone and powered the Trojans to a .500 hitting rate on 20 swings (12k, 2e). On the other side, Minnesota had seven kills (2e, 17att) and hit .294.

UP NEXT

USC returns home to host Northwestern (14-9, 4-7 Big Ten) on Thursday (Nov. 6) at Galen Center for a 7 p.m. PT first serve. The Trojans and Wildcats will be shown live on Big Ten Plus. USC then heads to the Pacific Northwest to take on Washington on Sunday (Nov. 9) at Alaska Airlines Arena in Seattle, Wash.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 6-2-1 all-time against Minnesota and has won four straight in the head-to-head series. In five-set matches, the Trojans are 3-1 against the Gophers.
The Women of Troy won their sixth straight match to extend to the season's longest win streak.
USC improved to 1-1 in matches played in the state of Minnesota.
The Trojans improved to 3-1 in five-set matches this season and moved to 160-111 all-time in five-set contests, including a 67-56 mark when played on the road.
USC goes to 3-3 in six matches against ranked opponents this season.
The Women of Troy posted their 12th match in double-digit blocks (14.0) this season.

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, TikTok, and Instagram.