USC Women's Volleyball Takes on No. 8 Badgers and No. 21 Gophers

Friday, October 30

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 p.m. PT

USC

Wisconsin

Tickets From $10

USC women's volleyball outside hitter Adonia Faumuina attacks the ball during a match at Galen Center

Photo by: William Fosnot

October 28, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

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The Trojans welcome a pair of ranked Big Ten opponents as they look to secure their first home conference victory

LOS ANGELES – USC (9-11, 3-7 Big Ten) seeks its first home Big Ten victories when it hosts No. 8 Wisconsin (14-6, 8-2) and No. 21 Minnesota (12-6, 6-4) at Galen Center this weekend. The two ranked foes represent the Trojans' ninth and 10th of the season. With just seven regular-season matches remaining on the schedule, the Women of Troy look to solidify a spot in the inaugural Big Ten tournament set to be played Nov. 20-25 in Fishers, Ind.

THIS WEEK

MATCH #21 • Friday, Oct. 30 • 7 p.m. PT
USC (9-11, 3-7) vs. No. 8 Wisconsin (14-6, 8-2)
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
SERIES RECORD: USC trails, 4-6 (.400)
LAST MEETING: W 3-1 (Oct. 19, 2025 • Madison, Wis.)
STREAK: Won 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 4-6
TV/STREAM: B1G+ (Aidan Pham & Makena Arteaga)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UWBadgers.com

MATCH #22 • Sunday, Nov. 1 • 1 p.m. PT
USC (9-11, 3-7) vs. No. 21 Minnesota (12-6, 6-4)
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 6-2-1 (.667)
LAST MEETING: W 3-2 (Nov. 1, 2025 • Minneapolis, Minn.)
STREAK: Won 4 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 6-2-1
TV/STREAM: B1G+ (Aidan Pham & Makena Arteaga)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: GopherSports.com

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

USC is led by fourth-year associate head coach Megan Moenoa who was named the Trojans' interim head coach on Oct. 5, 2026.
The USC-Minnesota match is part of the Big Ten Discover Volleyball Challenge, which takes place during the month of October (and into November). B1G matches played on weekends (Saturday/Sunday) are counted towards the in-season challenge's standings. USC is 1-3 in challenge matches.
The Women of Troy face their ninth and 10th ranked opponents (2-6) with wins over No. 12 Arizona State and No. 15 Indiana.
USC is 235-70 (.770) all-time at Galen Center. The Trojans are 4-6 at home this season but are 0-4 in home Big Ten contests.
The Trojans rank second in the Big Ten in blocks (2.68 bps) and rank 23rd in the NCAA. USC has put up double-digit blocks in nine matches this season.
RS Jr. MB Leah Ford ranks seventh in the Big Ten for blocks (1.23 bps) and Jr. MB Mia Tvrdy (1.23 bps) ranks eighth in the league.
So. OPP Abigail Mullen is USC's leading scorer at 3.65 points per set. RS Jr. OH London Wijay averages 3.43 pps for second on the team.

LAST TIME OUT: The Women of Troy went the distance to defeat Iowa in Coralville, Iowa, as four Trojans reached double-digit kills in the win led by 17 from London Wijay and 16 each from Abigail Mullen and Adonia Faumuina. Taylor Deckert led all player with 16 digs while Milly McGee dished out a career-best 51 assists in the win. Down, 9-6, in the decisive fifth set, USC used an incredible 9-0 run to seal a 15-9 victory; their first five-set win in three tries this fall. USC ended up with a road split as it fell to No. 1-ranked Nebraska in straight sets two nights later. The undefeated Huskers improved to 21-0 with a 10-0 mark in the Big Ten with the win.

BIG TEN DISCOVER VOLLEYBALL CHALLENGE: The Trojans—along with the other 17 Big Ten teams—are participating in the conference's Discover Volleyball Challengeduring the month of October. In its second year, the in-season challenge begins Oct. 3 and runs through Nov. 1. Weekend (Saturday/Sunday) conference matches will count toward the standings with each team playing five designated challenge matches throughout the month. The winner will be determined by the highest win total across the five matches with tiebreak procedures in the event two or more teams have the same win total. Last season, USC was 4-1 in challenge matches while both Nebraska and Purdue went 5-0 with the Cornhuskers taking home the trophy after tiebreakers were applied. Through one match, the Trojans are 1-3 in this year's challenge.

BLOCKHEADS: USC ranks second in the Big Ten in blocks (2.68 bps) and is 23rd in the NCAA. The Trojans have reached double-digit blocks in nine contests this fall including a season-high 20.5 in a win over UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 20). The Trojans concluded 2025 as the league's leaders with 2.76 blocks per set.

CORLE-GEND: The Trojans recently hired legendary Stanford coach Denise Corlett to serve in an interim role as the program's first Director of Player Development. Corlett is a former U.S. National Team player, a nine-time NCAA champion assistant coach, and one of volleyball's most respected minds. She spent 31 years at Stanford as an interim head coach, an associate head coach and an assistant coach, for which she was chosen twice as the AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year (2010, '12). Stanford went 875-146 (.857) during her association with the program and won an unprecedented nine NCAA championships and 18 Pac-12 crowns. Corlett coached in 14 NCAA championship matches and guided 38 players to 93 AVCA All-America awards.

B1G AND SMALL: Only three Big Ten teams hold winning records against the Trojans. Wisconsin is 6-4 against USC, Penn State is 5-2, and Illinois is 5-4 against the Women of Troy. In fact, USC has not lost to three different conference foes: Iowa (3-0), Northwestern (4-0), and Rutgers (2-0).

LONG DISTANCE: USC is 161-114 all-time in five-set matches: 69-44 at home; 68-56 on the road; 24-14 in neutral matches. The Trojans were 6-5 in 11 five-set matches in 2023, which tied a school record previously set in 2019. Against Big Ten opponents, USC is 49-44 all-time in five-set contests.

HOME, SWEET HOME: USC is 235-70 (.770) all-time at Galen Center. The Trojans were 15-4 on home court in 2025. In 2011, USC was 12-1 in home matches and completed 2012 with a 17-1 mark. USC was 19-0 at home in 2007 for the only undefeated season at Galen Center on the way to an appearance in the NCAA national semifinal match. The Trojans are 21-5 all-time at Galen Center in NCAA tournament matches. The five losses were to Hawai'i (2008 and 2009), San Diego (2018), and Cal Poly (2025) each time in the second round; and to Washington in the 2013 NCAA Regional Final.