No. 5 USC Men's Volleyball Resumes MPSF Play with No. 1 UCLA

Tuesday, March 3

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:00 p.m. PT

USC

UCLA

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USC men's volleyball players Andrew Chapin and Dillon Klein celebrate a point during a match against UC Irvine at Galen Center

Photo by: Kim Ly

No. 5 USC Men's Volleyball Resumes MPSF Play with No. 1 UCLA

March 02, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

#USCMVB Notebook (March 2)2026 USC Schedule Buy Tickets Live Like Braun

The Trojans will have waited 18 days between matches when they take the floor against crosstown rival UCLA on Tuesday night

LOS ANGELES – Fifth-ranked USC (8-1, 1-0 MPSF) returns to action after 18 days between matches and will resume conference play with a two-match series against crosstown rival and No. 1-ranked UCLA (14-0, 3-0). The teams will meet at Galen Center on Tuesday (March 3) at 7 p.m. PT and be shown live nationally on Big Ten Network and then meet against on Friday (March 6) at Pauley Pavilion for another 7 p.m. start on Big Ten Plus.

THIS WEEK
No. 5 USC (8-1, 1-0 MPSF) vs. No. 1 UCLA (14-0, 3-0 MPSF)

MATCH #10 • Tuesday, March 3 • 7 p.m. PT
Galen Center • Los Angeles, Calif.
TV: B1G Network (Paul Sunderland & Rich Lambourne)

MATCH #11 • Friday, March 6 • 7 p.m. PT
Pauley Pavilion • Los Angeles, Calif.
TV/STREAM: B1G+

SERIES RECORD: USC trails, 47-108 (.303)
LAST MEETING: W 3-0 (April 19, 2025 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Won1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 1-9
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UCLABruins.com

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

USC is led by 11th-year head coach Jeff Nygaard, a three-time Olympian in indoor and beach volleyball and a two-time NCAA champion.
The Trojans are ranked fifth in the AVCA Coaches Poll; the program's 511th appearance in the national poll.
USC's last meeting with UCLA resulted in a 3-0 sweep of the Bruins on April 19, 2025. The win ended a 10-match losing streak to UCLA.
The last time the Trojans defeated a No. 1-ranked team, USC swept top-ranked Long Beach State on March 23, 2019.
Two former Bruins will suit up with the Trojans this week. MB Thiago Zamprogno and OH Kahale Clini each played two seasons for UCLA before transferring to USC. HC Jeff Nygaard won two NCAA titles with UCLA as a player.
The Trojans are 6-1 at Galen Center. Last year, USC won 11 home matches and will play 16 times at home in 2026. In fact, the Trojans play in Southern California for all but two regular-season matches (at BYU, April 10-11).
Klein and Jr. LIB Brad Pan were each chosen for Molten/MPSF Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week honors respectively the last time the Trojans were in action. It was the seventh-career selection for Klein and the first for Pan. It was also the sixth time since 2022 that Trojans have swept the awards.
USC returns five players in 2026 that were recognized by the AVCA All-America committee in 2025 including first-team choice OH Dillon Klein and second-team MB Parker Tomkinson. S Caleb Blanchette, OH Sterling Foley, and LIB Johnny Dykstra each received All-America honorable mention.

LAST TIME OUT: The Trojans were last in action for two matches against then fifth-ranked UC Irvine on Feb. 11 and 13. USC came back after trailing by two sets to claim a five-set win on the road and moved to 8-0 for the second straight year, but the Anteaters got even with a four-set win at Galen Center two days later. Dillon Klein turned in a double-double with 24 kills and 10 digs in the road win and was chosen for his seventh MPSF player of the week award. Noah Roberts and Sterling Foley each racked 14 kills in the win and Parker Tomkinson collected eight blocks. At home, Klein put up 23 more kills, while Foley had the double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs. Tyler Robinson had a career-high 10 kills and Cooper Keane set a new career mark with 12 kills but the Anteaters won a narrow four-set decision.

LIVE LIKE BRAUN: The USC-UCLA series has pitted the two Southern California teams against each other 155 times. This week, the rivalry becomes secondary as the teams join to bring awareness to the Live Like Braun Foundation. The foundation celebrates the enduring spirit and legacy of Braun Levi, a Loyola High School senior who was tragically killed by an alleged drunk driver. Several players on both sides of the net have deep connections with Levi and the Levi family as former Loyola athletes including USC setter Andrew Chapin and outside hitters Dillon Klein and Cooper Keane. The teams will wear gold Live Like Braun warmup shirts at both Galen Center on Tuesday and Pauley Pavilion on Friday.

POLL POSITION: The Trojans ranked No. 5 in the AVCA Preseason Poll. USC ranks fifth in the March 2 poll for the Trojans' 511th time in the coaches poll. Last season, the Trojans reached fifth on Feb. 3 to mark their highest position since they were also ranked No. 5 in 2022 (April 18). On March 10, 2025, USC's spot at No. 5 marked the 200th time the Trojans had been ranked in the poll's top five; now 216 times. The Trojans reached the top three (March 24, 2025) for the first time in over 10 years and were previously ranked as high as third on Feb. 16, 2015.

EXTENDED: 11th-year head coach Jeff Nygaard had his contract extended through the 2028 season. He is the longest-tenured coach in program history and has collected 131 wins at USC. In 2025, he led the Trojans to their highest ranking in over a decade.

THE LONELIEST NUMBER: The last time USC defeated a No. 1-ranked opponent, it swept top-ranked Long Beach State (25-21, 25-21, 25-17) on Saturday, March 23, 2019. The Trojans—ranked 11th at the time—hosted an undefeated defending NCAA champion LBSU in USC's North Gym and handed the 49ers their first loss of the season (19-1). In the match, Ryan Moss (14), Jack Wyett (13), and Gianluca Grasso (10) all reached double-digit kills and lifted USC to a .493 hitting percentage, which was the highest by a Long Beach State opponent that spring.

POW-WOW: Seven Trojans have won MPSF/Molten Player of the Week honors. OH Dillon Klein was named Offensive Player of the Week for the first USC award of 2026 on Feb. 2 and has been tabbed for weekly honors seven times in his career. He was chosen for offensive and defensive honors a total of three times in 2025. MB Wesley Smith was chosen for his second-career Defensive Player of the Week award on Feb. 9. LIB Brad Pan earned the Defensive Player of the Week award on Feb. 16; the first of his career. He was also chosen for the same honor as a freshman in 2024. Among others who won awards last season are MB Parker Tomkinson (twice), LIB Johnny Dykstra, S Caleb Blanchette, and OH Sterling Foley. Klein has collected six-career weekly honors; five offensive and one defensive. USC has swept the weekly awards six times since March 7, 2022.

1K DK: OH Dillon Klein has reached double-digit kills in 70 of 87 career matches and reached the 20-kill mark 11 times. He reached 1,000 career kills on April 17, 2025, in a match at UCLA and now has 1,197 career kills and counting.

UPPER CLASS: Through nine matches, OH Dillon Klein ranks second in the MPSF for points per set (5.03 pps, 3rd in the NCAA) and kills per set at 4.34 kps (2nd in the NCAA). Through three matches he was the NCAA leader in hitting percentage but is now second in the MPSF and is ninth in the nation at .418.

2K GOLD: S Caleb Blanchette crossed the 2,000-assist mark in his career in the Trojans' season opener against St. Thomas Aquinas (Jan. 10). He dished out 28 assists in a 3-0 win over the Spartans and is now up to 2,331-career assists. In 2025, he led the MPSF—ranked fourth in the NCAA—in assists (10.61 aps) and equaled his career-high (61) twice.

BLOCKHEADS: MB Wesley Smith and MB Parker Tomkinson are amongst the top blockers in the MPSF. Smith's 1.27 blocks per set leads the conference (6th in the NCAA) while Tomkinson averages 1.18 blocks per set but is not ranked due to minimum sets played for individual statistical rankings.