No. 22 USC Women's Volleyball Sweeps No. 13 Creighton to Claim Trojan Invitational Crown

Sunday, September 7

Los Angeles, Calif.

1:00 p.m. PT

USC

5-0,0-0Big Ten

Creighton

3-3,0-0Big East

Creighton

Southern California

Photo by: Kim Ly

No. 22 USC Women's Volleyball Sweeps No. 13 Creighton to Claim Trojan Invitational Crown

September 07, 2025 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

The Women of Troy improve to 5-0 for the first time under head coach Brad Keller and for the first time since 2015

LOS ANGELES – The No. 22-ranked USC women's volleyball team (5-0) swept No. 13 Creighton (25-23, 25-22, 25-16) in straight sets to win the Trojan Invitational at Galen Center on Sunday, Sept. 7.

The win snapped a four-match streak of losses to the Bluejays and moved the Women of Troy to 5-0 for the first time under sixth-year head coach Brad Keller. It also marked the program's best start to a season since 2015 when the Trojans started 22-0. Fr. OPP Abigail Mullen, Fr. S Reese Messer, and redshirt So. OH London Wijay were each named to the all-tournament team. Mullen was chosen as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

KEY PLAYERS

Redshirt So. OH London Wijay shared match-high honors with nine kills (3e, 22att) and .273 hitting to go with three digs, a pair of service aces, and a block for a match-high 11.5 points.
Fr. OPP Abigail Mullen recorded seven kills to go with 12 digs, three blocks, and a service ace.
Fr. S Reese Messer dished out 25 assists and had five digs, two blocks, and two kills.
Fr. LIB Taylor Deckert totaled 11 digs and Sr. DS Gala Trubint put up nine digs.
Redshirt So. MB Leah Ford led all players with six blocks (one solo) and had four kills (0e) on 11 swings to hit .364.
Senior MB Rylie McGinest racked up six kills (1e, 15att) and hit .333 to go with three blocks (two solo).
Redshirt Fr. OH Brooklyn Tealer put up seven kills (3e, 15att, .267) and had a pair of digs and a solo block.
For the Bluejays, Ava Martin led with nine kills, Jaya Johnson had seven, and Destiny Ndam-Simpson had six. Saige Damrow and Annalea Maeder each had 12 digs. Maeder also put up 26 assists for a double-double.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC reached double-digit blocks for the fourth time in five matches (10.0) and had a 46-44 edge in digs to hold Creighton to a .096 hitting percentage (36k, 25e, 114att). The Trojans hit .235 with 35 kills (12e) on 98 swings.
After trailing the Bluejays for most of the opening set, USC went ahead, 20-19, when Wijay sent an overpassed ball to the floor for the point. Creighton responded with a 4-0 run to take a 23-20 lead only for the Women of Troy to counter with a 5-0 run to win the set, 25-23. Mullen and Wijay each collected three kills in the first set as USC hit .171 with 11 kills on 35 swings. The Bluejays also had 11 kills but had eight errors on 37 attacks to hit .081.
The spitting image of the end of set one, the Trojans used another 5-0 run to close out a 25-22 win to go on top, 2-0. The Trojans scored on nine kills but used five blocks—Including one to seal the set—to hold the Bluejays down at .043 hitting despite Creighton's 14 kills (12e, 47att). Both teams played lock-down floor defense, but the Bluejays had a 21-18 edge in the frame. For the Trojans, Trubint led with five digs while Deckert added four.
The Women of Troy hit .500 in the third set with 15 kills (2e) on just 36 swings to run away with a 25-16 win. Wijay and Tealer each provided four kills apiece while McGinest had three to go with one of her two solo blocks. Ford came up with two kills and two blocks; and Mullen had five digs in a strong defensive effort. The set was tied six times through 12 rallies, but a kill by Tealer ignited a 3-0 run and handed the lead to USC for good. That lead ballooned to eight points for the first time at 17-9 when Tealer crushed another ball to the ground. Creighton never got any closer than seven points as McGinest kills registered USC's 22nd, 24th, and 25th points to close out the win.

UP NEXT

USC returns to Gersten Pavilion on the campus of Loyola Marymount for the LMU Invitational next week. The Trojans take on BYU (6-0) on Thursday (Sept. 11) at 6 p.m. PT and Western Michigan (1-5) on Friday (Sept. 12) at 3:30 p.m. Neither match will be streamed but links for live stats are available at USCTrojans.com.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 7-4 all-time against Creighton and snapped a four-match streak of losses to the Bluejays. The Trojans had last beaten Creighton in 2018.
The Trojans moved to 5-0 under Brad Keller for the first time.
USC's 5-0 start is its best since 2015 when the program started 22-0. That Trojan squad earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and advanced to the regional final to finish with a 33-3 overall record.
The Trojans picked up their second 3-0 sweep of the season, the program's 623rd all-time.
USC reached double-digit blocks (10.0) for the fourth time. The Trojans had double-digit blocks 20 times in 2024.
The Women of Troy moved to 4-0 at home this season and to 220-60 all-time in the arena (since 2006).

2025 TROJAN INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
USC - Abigail Mullen, OPP / Most Outstanding Player
USC - Reese Messer, S
USC - London Wijay, OH
Creighton - Ava Martin, OH
Creighton - Kiara Reinhardt, MB
UCSB - Eva Travis, OH

2025 TROJAN INVITATIONAL FINAL STANDINGS

USC / 3-0
Creighton / 2-1
UC Santa Barbara / 1-2
San Diego / 0-3

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.