No. 4 USC Men's Volleyball Walks Down No. 5 UC Irvine in Reverse Sweep

Wednesday, February 11

Irvine, Calif.

6:00 p.m. PT

USC

8-0,1-0MPSF

UC Irvine

11-1,0-0Big West

Southern California

UC Irvine

USC men's volleyball plays at Galen Center

Photo by: Kevin Kim

No. 4 USC Men's Volleyball Walks Down No. 5 UC Irvine in Reverse Sweep

February 11, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

The Trojans handed the fifth-ranked Anteaters their first loss of the season in a five-set thriller

IRVINE, Calif. – The fourth-ranked USC men's volleyball team (8-0) came back from down two sets to claim a five-set win (24-26, 22-25, 25-16, 25-19, 18-16) over No. 5 UC Irvine (11-1) to hand the Anteaters their first loss on Wednesday, Feb. 11, at the Bren Events Center. The win makes the Trojans 8-0 for the second straight season.

KEY PLAYERS

Sr. OH Dillon Klein led all players with 27 points earned on 23 kills (8e, 50att, .320), to go with six blocks and 10 digs for his fourth-career double-double. He notched his 69th-career match in double-digit kills and his 10th with 20 or more.
Redshirt Jr. OPP Noah Roberts reached double-digit kills for the fifth time this season and totaled 14 kills (5e) on 35 attacks to go with five digs, four blocks, and a service ace.
So. OH Sterling Foley also had 14 kills (4e) on 24 swings to hit .417 with three blocks (two solo), seven digs, and an ace.
So. MB Parker Tomkinson led all players with eight blocks and eight kills (1e, 14att, .500) for 12.0 points.
Jr. S Caleb Blanchette put up 57 assists and set the Trojans to .326 hitting to go 10 digs for his second double-double of the season and the seventh of his career.
On defense, Jr. LIB Brad Pan put up a career-high seven digs.
So. MB Tyler Robinson played the three sets the Trojans won and finished with six kills (2e, 9att) to hit .444 with two blocks.
For the Anteaters, William D'Arcy led with 17 kills and had seven digs with four blocks (one solo). Andrej Jokanovic had 16 kills with 12 digs for a UCI double-double. Micah Goss scored 14 kills and led the UCI block with five.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Trojans out-hit the Anteaters, .326 to .221, and totaled more kills (66-62), assists (62-60), digs (48-40), and blocks (14-10). UC Irvine had a 3-2 edge in service aces but served more errors than the Trojans, 17-13.
In a first set that the Trojans led by as many as five points, UCI battled back to force a sixth tie at 21-all. The Anteaters then had to come back from down 24-22 and did it by scoring the last four points in a 26-24 win. USC hit .345 in the opening frame and got five kills from Foley, four from Roberts, and three from Klein, but committed two of its three hitting errors during the most critical stretch of the set. UC Irvine racked up 20 kills and needed every last point to hit .333 (7e) on 39 swings. D'Arcy collected seven of his kills in the first set while Jokanovic had four.
The Anteaters led from wire-to-wire to take a 2-0 lead with a 25-22 win in the second set. Down nine points at 23-14, the Trojans mounted an incredible 8-0 run that included five blocks—four by Klein and Tomkinson—and a service ace from Foley to close within a point at 23-22. The burst wasn't enough to turn the tables as the 'Eaters secured the win on a pair of Trojan errors. Klein had six kills of USC's 10 kills in the second set and was part of four of the Trojans' six blocks. USC's late net defense helped keep UCI under .200 hitting with 12 kills (6e, .188) on 32 swings.
After five ties through the first 10 rallies of set three, the Trojans pulled away for a dominant 25-16 win with .650 hitting (14k, 1e) on 20 swings. USC put together three more blocks to help hold the Anteaters to a .071 attack rate with 10 kills (8e) on 28 attempts. Foley and Klein each had three kills while Tomkinson had two. Robinson checked in for the first time and closed the frame with three kills on three swings and had a block.
The Trojans led wire-to-wire for a 25-19 win in the fourth to send the match to a fifth set. USC led by as many as seven points and held off every Anteater charge. Klein and Roberts each tagged six balls for kills as part of the Trojans' .375 hitting percentage with 18 kills (6e) on 32 attacks. UC Irvine finished with 10 kills and hit .233 (3e) on 30 attempts in set four. Tomkinson had three kills and Foley added a pair.
USC hit .304 in the fifth and collected 11 kills (4e) on 23 attacks to fight through 10 ties for an 18-16 win. Klein racked up six more kills while Foley added three and Robinson had two. The Trojans led by as many as three several times but never trailed despite needing their fifth match point to get the job done. Blanchette had three digs and quarterbacked the USC offense to the win.

UP NEXT

USC and UCI meet for a rematch at Galen Center on Friday (Feb. 13) at 7 p.m. and will be shown live on Big Ten Plus.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 44-38 all-time against UC Irvine and avenged a pair of losses to the Anteaters from last year.
The Trojans played just their second road match of the season.
USC is 8-0 to start a season for the second straight year.
The Trojans were without several players due to illness including starting MB Wesley Smith, OH Kale Cochran, OH Cooper Keane, MB Nick Waldron, and technical coordinator Jimmy Kim.

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, TikTok, and Instagram.