USC Men's Volleyball Sweeps Vanguard to Move into MPSF Semifinal

Wednesday, April 22

Provo, Utah

1:30 p.m. MT / 12:30 p.m. PT

USC

18-6,9-5MPSFMVB

Vanguard

12-14,8-6MPSFMVB

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Vanguard	19	13	21	0
Southern California	25	25	25	3

USC men's volleyball outside hitter Dillon Klein goes up to serve in a match against Vanguard at Smith Fieldhouse in Provo, Utah

USC Men's Volleyball Sweeps Vanguard to Move into MPSF Semifinal

April 22, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

The Trojans claimed a straight-set win over the Lions behind 12 kills from Sterling Foley and 10 from Dillon Klein

PROVO, Utah – The third-seeded USC men's volleyball team (18-6) swept sixth-seeded Vanguard (12-14) in straight sets (25-19, 25-13, 25-21) in the quarterfinals of the MPSF tournament at Smith Fieldhouse on Wednesday, April 22. The Trojans will face No. 2-seeded Pepperdine (23-5) in the semifinals on Thursday (April 23) at 5 p.m. MT (4 p.m. PT). It will be USC's third match against the Waves in eight days and will be shown live on Big Ten Plus.

KEY PLAYERS

So. OH Sterling Foley led all players with 12 kills (4e, 22att) and hit .364 to go with a service ace for 13.0 points. It was his eighth match in double-digit kills and 13th with double-digit points.
Sr. OH Dillon Klein reached double digits for the 81st time in his career and finished with 10 kills (2e, 16att) and .500 hitting to go with a pair of service aces and a block.
Fr. OPP Cooper Keane tallied nine kills (3e, 15att) with .400 hitting and added an ace, four digs, and a solo block.
Jr. S Caleb Blanchette put up 32 assists to go with three digs and a kill and set USC to .477 hitting (40k, 9e, 65att).
So. LIB Johnny Dykstra led all players with five digs and had one assist.
For the Lions, Grant Veldman had eight kills with .429 hitting and led his team with four digs. Braddock Duckworth, Logan Freemon, and Micah Sybesma each had five kills apiece. Sybesma led Vanguard with two blocks while he and Veldman each had a pair of service aces.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC hit .477 and had 40 kills (9e) on just 65 swings. It was the 19th time USC has hit over .300, the 11th over .350, and the fifth time the Trojans have hit north of .450 this season. Vanguard had 30 kills (13e) on 69 attacks to register a .246 hitting percentage. The Trojans out-dug the Lions, 19-10, but VU had more blocks (3-2) and both teams had four aces each.
The Trojans came out swinging and collected 15 kills (3e) on 23 swings to log a .522 hitting percentage en route to a 25-19 win in the first set. Vanguard stayed toe-to-toe with USC and had a pair of aces and the only block of the frame, but a few rallies made the difference in the final score as the Lions hit .304 with 12 kills (5e) on the same 23 attacks.
Vanguard committed six service errors and managed just five kills (5e) on 19 attempts (.000 hitting) in a 25-13 loss that put the Lions on their heels. USC remained consistent and registered 12 kills (2e) on 18 attacks to hit .556 but had the big edge in floor defense with a 7-2 advantage in digs and got aces from Klein and Foley in the win. Foley and Keane each led the way on offense with four kills apiece.
In the tightest set, the Trojans weathered 17 ties and five lead changes to win, 25-21, to seal the sweep. Klein had five kills on six attacks while Foley added four more. In as even a set as they come, each team had a service ace and each team had a block, but the Trojans had eight digs to Vanguard's six including four from Dykstra alone. When the dust had settled, both teams had 13 kills and USC hit .375 just a hair over Vanguard's .370 to close out the win.

UP NEXT

The Trojans move into the MPSF semifinals for the third straight year and will face second-seeded and fourth-ranked Pepperdine (23-5) on Thursday (April 23) in a 5 p.m. MT (4 p.m. PT) match that will be shown live on Big Ten Plus. USC fell to the Waves in the conference championship match in 2025 and dropped a pair of 3-0 decisions to Pepperdine last weekend to conclude the regular season.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 5-0 all-time against Vanguard.
The Trojans moved to 18-21 all-time in MPSF tournament matches.
USC played its first neutral site match of the season and improved to 5-3 away from home (1-0 in neutral matches).

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.