USC Women's Volleyball Drops Five-Set Fight to Michigan State

Sunday, October 4

Los Angeles, Calif.

2:00 p.m. PT

USC

7-7,1-3Big Ten

Michigan State

13-1,3-1Big Ten

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Michigan St.	18	25	24	25	15	3
Southern California	25	14	26	18	11	2

Highlights

USC women's volleyball setter Milly McGee sets the ball during a match against Michigan State at Galen Center

Photo by: Bryce Dechert

USC Women's Volleyball Drops Five-Set Fight to Michigan State

October 04, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

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Three Trojans reached double-digit kills in a loss to the Spartans

LOS ANGELES – The USC women's volleyball team (7-7, 1-3 Big Ten) was defeated in five sets (18-25, 25-14, 24-26, 25-18, 15-11) by Michigan State (13-1, 3-1) at Galen Center on Sunday, Oct. 4. The match was both teams' first as part of the Big Ten Discover Volleyball Challenge, a five-match in-season challenge featuring league matches played on weekends through Nov. 1.

KEY PLAYERS

So. OPP Abigail Mullen led the Trojans with 16.0 points on 11 kills, three service aces, and four blocks, to go with five digs.
RS Jr. OH London Wijay scored 13.0 points earned on 12 kills (2e, 46att, .217) and two blocks. She also added nine digs and two assists.
Jr. MB Mia Tvrdy contributed 13.5 points on 10 kills (1e, 17att) to hit .529 with six blocks (one solo), and three digs.
RS Sr. OH Adonia Faumuina totaled nine kills with two blocks and two digs.
RS Jr. MB Leah Ford had 11.5 points on seven kills (3e, 14att) to log a .286 hit rate with six blocks (one solo), and an ace.
Fr. S Milly McGee dished out 33 assists and had three blocks, two digs, and a service ace.
So. LIB Taylor Deckert led the team with 15 digs and added five assists.
For the Spartans, Karolina Staniszewka led with 17 kills (4e, 31att, .419) in just three sets of action. She also had eight digs and a service ace. Malayah Long put up 65 assists to go with nine digs, three kills, and a service ace. Zora Hardison totaled 16 kills and had two digs. Alanna Bankston had 14 kills and 10 digs for the double-double, and Carmen Waye put up 13 kills with three blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Michigan State outhit USC, .333 to .236, and totaled more kills (78-50), assists (71-43), and digs (63-45). The Trojans recorded double-digit blocks for the seventh time this season with 12.5 over the Spartans' 5.0 and had the advantage from the service line by a 19-10 point differential with a 6-4 edge in service aces.
The Trojans rolled away with a 25-18 win behind .320 hitting and were led by Wijay's six-kill performance. The opening frame had just one tie and USC led by as many as nine points at 12-3. The Women of Troy put up four blocks and had a 12-10 edge in digs to hold the Spartans to a .059 hitting rate with 11 kills (9e) on 34 attacks. USC served three aces in the first set as Mullen, Paisley Douglas, and McGee each had one with McGee's good to end the set.
In a complete reversal, Michigan State evened the match with a 25-14 win in set two. The Spartans hit .607 and collected 18 kills with just one error on 28 attempts. Andrews and Bankston each had five kills apiece to lead Michigan State while the Trojans had four from Faumuina and three from Mullen. USC totaled nine kills with four errors on 32 swings to finish with a .156 attack percentage.
In a set it led by as many as seven points (15-8), the Trojans needed to fight off a late charge from the Spartans to win, 26-24, for a 2-1 lead in the match. USC totaled 14 kills (3e) on 37 attacks to hit .297, but Michigan State put on another offensive display with 19 kills and just six errors on 40 attempts to hit .325 despite four USC blocks. Tvrdy had five of the Trojans' kills while Mullen and Wijay had three apiece. Mullen also served a critical ace and scored on a block.
Tied at eight in the fourth, Michigan State used a 9-1 run to go ahead for good and finished off a 25-18 win to force set five. The Spartans racked up 19 more kills (4e, 36att) and hit .417. USC had three blocks, served an ace, and tallied nine kills (4e) on 27 attacks to hit .185 on the losing end. Staniszewska did most of the MSU damage with seven kills on her own while Hardison contributed four. USC was led by three from Mullen who also had the only Trojan ace.
USC led in the fifth, 5-2, but Michigan State went on a run to wrestle away the lead and went up for good, 10-9, on a kill from Staniszewska. The Trojans put up a triple block on Staniszewska to get within two points at 13-11, but Staniszewska fired back with consecutive kills to close out the 15-11 win for the Spartans. Michigan State had 12 kills to earn all but three of its 15 points and hit .333 (4e, 24att) over USC's .217 performance with seven kills (2e, 23att).

UP NEXT

USC returns to the Midwest and takes on No. 10 Purdue (8-5, 1-3 Big Ten) on Friday night (Oct. 9) at 8:30 p.m. ET (5:30 p.m. PT) at Holloway Gymnasium in West Lafayette, Ind. The Trojans then meet No. 15 Indiana (10-3, 3-1) on Sunday (Oct. 11) at 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT) at Wilkinson Hall in Bloomington, Ind. Both matches will be shown live on Big Ten Network.

MATCH NOTES

USC falls to 8-3 all-time against Michigan State and to 1-2 when it plays the Spartans at home. MSU becomes just the ninth team ever to win multiple matches against the Trojans at Galen Center.
The Trojans go to 235-68 (.776) all-time at Galen Center.
USC reached double-digit blocks for the seventh time this season and totaled 12.5 in the match.
The Women of Troy played their first five-setter of the season; in their 14th match. The last time it took as many matches for USC to play a five-set contest was in 2015; also the Trojans' 14th match that year.
USC moves to 160-113 all-time in five-set matches with a 69-43 record in home five-setters. Against Michigan State specifically, the Trojans go to 0-3 in five-set matches (2009 away, 2024 and 2026 at home). All three of the Spartans' all-time wins against USC have come in five-set finishes.
The Trojans played their first match in the 2026 Big Ten Discover Volleyball Challenge. Their next will be USC's road match at Indiana set for 2 p.m. ET (11 a.m. PT) at Wilkinson Hall in Bloomington, Ind., on Sunday (Oct. 11).
For the second consecutive match, USC head coach Brad Keller was absent from the sideline due to illness. Associate head coach Megan Moenoa served as USC's acting head coach.

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.