No. 16 USC Women's Volleyball Handles Illinois on Senior Night

Saturday, November 22

Los Angeles, Calif.

4:00 p.m. PT

USC

22-6,13-5Big Ten

Illinois

13-14,8-10Big Ten

Illinois

Southern California

Photo by: Bryce Dechert

No. 16 USC Women's Volleyball Handles Illinois on Senior Night

November 22, 2025 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Highlights Press Conference

The Trojans swept the Illini in their final regular-season home match at Galen Center

LOS ANGELES – The No. 16-ranked USC women's volleyball team (22-6, 13-5 Big Ten) swept Illinois (13-14, 8-10) in straight sets (25-10, 25-18, 25-21) on Senior Night at Galen Center, Saturday, Nov. 22.

KEY PLAYERS

Fr. OPP Abigail Mullen had a match-high 14.0 points scored on eight kills (1e, 15att) with .467 hitting, and a career-high eight blocks and a pair of service aces. She also had 12 digs to lead all players.
RS Jr. OH Adonia Faumuina had a match-high 11 kills (2e, 23att) and hit .391 to go with three blocks.
Sr. MB Rylie McGinest hit .615 with eight kills (0e) on 13 attacks and added a pair of blocks.
RS So. OH London Wijay tallied seven kills and had a block and a dig.
RS So. MB Leah Ford finished with eight points earned on four kills and eight blocks.
Fr. S Reese Messer put up 28 assists and added seven digs and a service ace.
Fr. LIB Taylor Deckert had nine digs to go with three assists. Sr. DS Gala Trubint added five digs.
For the Illini, Alyssa Aguayo led with eight kills and had five digs. Averie Hernandez added seven kills with four digs. Ashlyn Philpot and Taylor de Boer each had six kills apiece. Taryn Kirsch led the Illini with 10 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC hit .337 to the Illini's .162 and had more kills (41-33), assists (35-32), aces (4-3), and blocks (11.5-0.0). Both teams finished with 41 digs each. The Trojans reached double-digit blocks for the 15th time this season and were not blocked in a match for the first time since Aug. 26, 2022 (vs. Colgate).
The Trojans made short work in a 25-10 opening set and hit .667 with 14 kills on 21 swings without an error. Faumuina tagged four balls for kills while Wijay and Mullen each added three kills apiece. Mullen also put in work on the defensive end with four digs and served two of the three USC aces. The Women of Troy put up four blocks and held the Illini to a .043 hitting rate with seven kills (6e) on 23 attempts, led by three from Hernandez.
USC hit .256 in the second set with 14 kills (4e) on 39 attempts and secured a 25-18 win to go up 2-0 in the match. Illinois led for the only time in the match, 1-0, but Faumuina delivered five kills while McGinest put in four. Mullen and Ford had two each, but it was the Trojan block—which produced four more blocks—that held Illinois to .105 hitting with 10 kills (6e) on 38 attacks. Mullen dug up seven more balls while Deckert had five and Messer four.
In the closest of the three sets, the Trojans completed the sweep with a 25-21 win in which they put up 3.5 blocks and got 15 digs to hold off a late Illini charge. Illinois had 16 kills in the third and did that on 38 attacks (5e) to hit .289 over USC's .237 hitting percentage (13k, 4e). McGinest, Mullen, and Wijay each had three kills apiece in the win and Trubint dug up four balls as part of the Trojans' 15-dig effort.

UP NEXT

USC completes the regular season on the road with matches at Michigan State (18-9, 8-9 Big Ten) on Wednesday (Nov. 26) in East Lansing, Mich., and a contest at Michigan (20-8, 10-7) on the Friday after Thanksgiving (Nov. 28) in Ann Arbor, Mich. Both matches will be shown live on Big Ten Plus streams.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 4-4 in eight matches against Illinois.
The Trojans concluded the home regular-season schedule 14-3 record and improved to 230-63 (.785) at Galen Center.
USC reached double-digit blocks (11.5) for the 15th time this season.
The Women of Troy matched their highest win total under sixth-year head coach Brad Keller (2022, '24).
USC collected its 10th 3-0 sweep of the season and the program's 631st straight-set win all-time.

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.