No. 3 USC Men's Volleyball Wins Ninth Straight in Four-Setter Over No. 13 GCU

Saturday, March 29

Los Angeles, Calif.

5:00 p.m. PT

USC

18-2,6-0MPSF

Grand Canyon

14-8,3-5MPSF

Grand Canyon

Southern California

Photo by: Drake Lee

No. 3 USC Men's Volleyball Wins Ninth Straight in Four-Setter Over No. 13 GCU

March 29, 2025 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

Outside hitter Dillon Klein led the Trojans with 16 kills in a win over the Lopes

LOS ANGELES – The No. 3-ranked USC men's volleyball team (18-2, 6-0 MPSF) defeated No. 13 Grand Canyon (14-8, 3-5) in four sets (25-19, 25-18, 17-25, 25-20) at Galen Center on Saturday, March 29. The win extends the Trojans' streak to nine straight victories and has USC at 6-0 in MPSF conference play for the first time since 2015. It is also only the second time in program history that USC has put together two winning streaks of nine matches or more in the same season (1988; 15 and 11).

KEY PLAYERS

So. S Caleb Blanchette posted his second double-double (fifth career) with 43 assists and a career-high tying 13 digs to go with three blocks and a pair of kills.
Jr. OH Dillon Klein scored a match-high 16 kills (2e, 41att) and hit .341 to go with seven digs and two blocks. It was his 16th time this season in double-digit kills (57th career).
Fr. OH Sterling Foley scored 16.0 points with 14 kills (6e, 33att, .242) to go with six digs, two blocks, and a service ace.
Redshirt Sr. OPP Jack Deuchar notched his first-career double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs to go with a block.
Gr. MB Guy Genis racked up six kills on nine swings (.667) and had two blocks.
Fr. MB Parker Tomkinson had six kills (1e, 12att, .417) to go with five blocks (one solo) and a service ace.
Fr. LIB Johnny Dykstra had nine digs and an assist.
For the Lopes, Jarrett Anderson led with 15 kills and had five digs. Cole Ottmar added 12 kills while Trent Moser and Karter Rogers each had six. Jordan Trevell had seven kills and four blocks (two solo). Jaxon Herr led GCU with 10 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Trojans out-hit the Lopes, .279 to .250, and registered more kills (55-48), assists (50-45), and digs (47-43). Grand Canyon had more blocks (11-8) and more service aces (4-2).
USC claimed set one, 25-19, behind five kills apiece from Klein and Foley. The Trojans hit .257 (15k, 6e, 35att) to outpace the Lopes' .062 attack (9k, 7e) on 32 swings. USC out-dug Grand Canyon, 14-10, in the opening frame as Blanchette and Deuchar picked up four each and Dykstra three.
Klein tallied five more kills to help power the Trojans to a 25-18 win in set two for a 2-0 lead in the match. Blanchette led with four digs and dished out 10 assists to get the Trojans to .258 hitting (13k, 5e) on 31 swings. Grand Canyon hit .179 with 11 kills (6e) on 28 attacks.
Grand Canyon won set three, 25-17, with six kills apiece from Anderson and Rogers. The Lopes hit .500 with 16 kills (3e, 26att) and used 11 digs and a pair of blocks to hold the Trojans to a .231 hitting rate (10k, 4e, 26att). Klein and Foley each had three kills in the third.
The fourth set was tied seven times and the Lopes led by as many as three points twice before the Trojans turned the tables for the third lead change at 17-16 and led the rest of the way for a 25-20 win. Genis poured in five of his kills in the fourth and Deuchar had four to help USC hit .351 (17k, 4e, 37att). Grand Canyon hit .294 with 12 kills (2e) on 34 swings and were led by five kills from Jarrett and three from Ottmar.

UP NEXT

USC opens the month of April with a home-and-home against No. 9 Pepperdine (14-6, 6-2 MPSF). The Waves visit Galen Center for a Thursday night (April 3) meeting at 7 p.m. PT. The teams meet again on Saturday (April 5) at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif., for a 5 p.m. match. Both contests will be shown live on Big Ten Plus (B1G+).

MATCH NOTES

USC improves to 8-12 all-time against Grand Canyon.
The Trojans collected their 11th win over a ranked opponent this season.
USC's nine-match win streak matches the longest this season (9-0 to start the season) and marks the first time the Trojans have had win streaks of nine or more matches twice in the same season (11 and 15 in 1988).
The Trojans improved to 6-0 in MPSF play for the first time since 2015 (6-0).
Two different Trojans produced double-doubles in the same match for the first time since Jan. 19, 2023, when Ryan Sprague and Kevin Kobrine both did in a match against UC Santa Barbara.

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 Facebook, X, and Instagram.