USC Women's Volleyball Tops UC Irvine in Exhibition Action

Saturday, August 15

Irvine, Calif.

12:00 p.m. PT

USC

UC Irvine

USC women's volleyball outside hitter Quinn Loper attacks the ball during a spring match at San Diego

Photo by: Kim Ly

USC Women's Volleyball Tops UC Irvine in Exhibition Action

August 15, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

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The Trojans collected a four-set win over the Anteaters in the first of two preseason contests

IRVINE, Calif. – The 20th-ranked USC women's volleyball team defeated UC Irvine, 3-1 (25-17, 25-23, 22-25, 25-19), in an exhibition match at Bren Events Center on Saturday, Aug. 15.

KEY PLAYERS

RS Jr. OH London Wijay hit .429 and totaled eight kills (2e, 14att) to go with two digs, a service ace, and a block.
Jr. MB Mia Tvrdy led all players with 11.5 points earned on a team-high nine kills (3e, 15att) with .400 hitting. She also tied for team-high honors in blocks with four (one solo).
RS Jr. MB Leah Ford racked eight kills without an error on 15 attempts to hit .533 and had a pair of digs.
RS Sr. OH Adonia Faumuina scored eight kills (2e, 18att, .333) to go with five digs and three assists.
So. OPP Abigail Mullen added six kills (0e, 13att) with .462 hitting and had five digs, two blocks, and a service ace.
So. LIB Taylor Deckert led the team with 13 digs and added five assists, a service ace, and a kill.
Jr. S Lilli Etter got the start and played in the first two sets to dish out 25 assists to go with five digs, a block, and an ace.
Among Trojan newcomers, Fr. OH Layli Ostovar had six kills and four digs; Fr. S Elena Baic had 10 assists and eight digs in one set of action; Fr. OH Riley Malloy scored on eight kills and had six digs and two blocks; Fr. MB Addison Coady picked up three kills and had four blocks; and Fr. S Milly McGee dished out 11 assists to go with five blocks in one set.
For the Anteaters, Memphis Burnett led all players with 11 kills and added five digs while hitting .345 (1e, 29att). Abby Pekrul and Brianna Brewer each had six kills apiece. Taylor Boice and Isabella Romero each had five kills. Tatawan Vongfak led UC Irvine with 12 digs and added four assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Trojans turned in a .290 hitting performance (61k, 21e, 138att) to outpace UCI's .157 (40k, 19e, 134att). USC also had more assists (56-36), digs (59-50), blocks (8.5-6.0), and service aces (5-3) than the Anteaters.
USC never trailed in the opening frame and rolled to a 25-17 win despite a late UCI comeback bid. The Trojans outscored the Anteaters, 21.0 to 8.0, and collected 18 of those points on kills (3e, 31att) to log a .484 hitting rate. Faumuina tagged five balls for kills including the set-clincher while Tvrdy and Wijay each added four kills apiece. Etter dished out 14 of her assists in the frame and picked up three digs.
The teams were far more even in the second frame, but USC prevailed with a 25-23 win to go up, 2-0, in the match. Ford, Mullen, and Wijay each had four kills as the Trojans hit .333 with 14 kills (5e, 27att) and held UCI to .111 (10k, 7e, 27att). Etter added 11 more assists while Deckert led the floor defense with three digs.
USC led the third by as many as three points and held a lead as late as 15-14 but UCI came up with a 25-22 win. Ostovar, Malloy, Coady, and RS Fr. OH Quinn Loper each had three kills. McGee handed out 11 assists and Deckert dug up eight UCI attacks, but the Anteaters held off the Trojans' late push.
The fourth set had six ties and five lead changes, but the last belonged to the Trojans who walked away with a 25-19 win to close the match. Malloy led the way with five kills while Tvrdy returned to add four more kills to her line. Baic saw her first action and had 10 assists and eight digs in the frame to lift USC to a .268 hitting rate (16k, 5e, 41att).

UP NEXT

The Women of Troy host an exhibition match against Loyola Marymount at Galen Center on Wednesday (Aug. 19). The Trojans and the Lions will play at 6 p.m. PT in USC's final preseason contest. The Trojans will play their first four regular-season matches away from home and begin with No. 12 Arizona State and No. 13 Creighton at the State Farm Showcase in Sioux Falls, S.D., Aug. 29-30.

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.