No. 15 USC Women's Volleyball Tackles No. 9 Texas and San Diego

Wednesday, September 2

Austin, Texas

8:00 p.m. CT / 6:00 p.m. PT

USC

Texas

USC women's volleyball lines up to wait to receive serve during a match against Creighton at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, SD

Photo by: Brianna Sheu

No. 15 USC Women's Volleyball Tackles No. 9 Texas and San Diego

September 01, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

#USCWVB Notebook (Sept. 1)2026 USC Schedule Buy Tickets for Home Matches

The Trojans remain on the road for week two and will face a top-10 Longhorns squad and the Toreros

AUSTIN, Texas – The 15th-ranked USC women's volleyball team (1-1) stays on the road for its next two matches and will take on No. 9 Texas (2-2) as part of Big Ten/SEC Challenge Week. The Women of Troy lock horns with the Longhorns at Gregory Gymnasium on Wednesday (Sept. 2) at 8 p.m. CT (6 p.m. PT) and will be shown live on ESPN2. USC will play its first match in Southern California on Sunday (Sept. 6) when it heads down the interstate to meet San Diego (2-1) at Jenny Craig Pavilion for a 2 p.m. Sunday-matinee. The match is part of the Toreros' Jack Talmadge Volleyball Classic.

THIS WEEK
MATCH #3 • Wednesday, Sept. 2 • 8 p.m. CT / 6 p.m. PT
No. 15 USC (1-1) at No. 9 Texas (2-2)
B1G/SEC Challenge Week
Gregory Gymnasium • Austin, Texas
SERIES RECORD: USC trails, 6-5 (.455)
LAST MEETING: L 3-0 (Dec. 6, 2024 • Austin, Texas)
STREAK: Lost 4 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 4-6
TV: ESPN2 (Eric Frede & Holly McPeak)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: TexasSports.com

MATCH #4 • Sunday, Sept. 6 • 2 p.m. PT
No. 15 USC (1-1) at San Diego (2-1)
Jack Talmadge Volleyball Classic
Jenny Craig Pavilion • San Diego, Calif.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 14-4 (.778)
LAST MEETING: W 3-2 (Sept. 6, 2025 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Won 2 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 6-4
TV/STREAM: ESPN+
OPPONENT WEBSITE: USDToreros.com

FIRST SERVE (TL;DR)

USC is led by seventh-year head coach Brad Keller who has the unique experience of having coached both men's and women's programs at both USC and UCLA. Overall, Keller is 111-65 (.631) as the Trojans' head coach.
The Trojans are 33-9 all-time in the Lone Star State (2-3 under Keller). Specifically in the city of Austin, USC is 12-3. All three losses were to the Longhorns, twice in the NCAA tournament (2012, '24).
The Women of Troy moved up five spots in the AVCA Coaches Poll and are ranked 15th this week. It is USC's 560th time ranked in the weekly poll.
USC begins its season against three consecutive ranked opponents for the first time in program history (No. 12 ASU, No. 13 Creighton, No. 9 Texas).
The Trojans play their first four matches away from home. USC's fourth match of the season will be in Southern California, but down in San Diego.
Two Women of Troy hail from the state of Texas: Fr. OH Riley Malloy and Jr. MB Leah Ford. Malloy is from Austin and attended Austin HS.
Redshirt Sr. OH Adonia Faumuina is the only senior on the USC roster. She was chosen to the All-Big Ten Preseason Team for the second time in 2026.
Redshirt Jr. MB Leah Ford was the Big Ten's leader in blocks in 2025 (1.35 bps). She put up eight blocks in seven sets of action last week (1.14 bps).
Redshirt Jr. OH London Wijay is USC's leading scorer at 4.43 points per set and ranks seventh in the Big Ten. Her 3.86 kills per set rank eighth.
Jr. S Lilli Etter had 76 assists in her first two matches as a Trojan to rank fourth in the Big Ten at 10.86 assists per set. She is also fourth in aces (0.71 saps).
Jr. MB Mia Tvrdy (1.43 bps) ranks fifth in the Big Ten for blocks.
So. LIB Taylor Deckert (3.57 dps) ranks eighth in the Big Ten for digs.
So. OPP Abigail Mullen is second on the team in kills (3.29 kps).

LAST TIME OUT: USC opened its season with a 3-0 sweep of No. 12 Arizona State in the State Farm Showcase in Sioux Falls, S.D., but fell to No. 13 Creighton in its second match at the InterSport event. The Trojans' sweep of the Sun Devils marked the program's first 3-0 win over a ranked foe in a season opener since 2004 when USC took down No. 12 Georgia Tech. The win also moved the Trojans to 41-10 all-time in season openers. London Wijay led USC in scoring in both contests while Taylor Deckert had the match-high in digs against both the Sun Devils and the Bluejays.

TEXAS TREK: USC is 33-9 all-time in matches played in the state of Texas. The Trojans last played in the Lone Star State in the first and second rounds of the 2024 NCAA tournament where they defeated UT Arlington in the first round (3-0) but fell to third-seeded host Texas (0-3) in the second round. When facing teams from Texas schools, USC is 42-10 all-time, which includes a 5-6 record against Texas. The Trojans have made six trips to Texas for postseason competition where they are 13-4. USC won the 1976 AIAW in Austin with eight wins in the tournament and then won the 2003 NCAA crown with two wins in Dallas. In 2011, USC fell in the NCAA national semifinal in San Antonio and then was eliminated in the Austin regional final of 2012. The Trojans also traveled to Texas for the first and second rounds in 2019 where they fell to top-seeded Baylor.

AVCA POLL POSITION: The Trojans opened the 2026 season ranked No. 20 in the AVCA coaches' poll—one spot higher than USC stood in the 2025 preseason poll. Overall, USC has appeared in the coaches' poll 560 times, which ranks sixth all-time. The Women of Troy have held a spot among the poll's top 10 teams 317 times, which ranks eighth all-time, and the Trojans have held the No. 1 ranking 47 times for seventh all-time. Since 1982—the year of the poll's inception—USC has appeared in the final poll 36 of 43 times with 18 finishes in the top 10; 12 in the top five, and twice as the No. 1-ranked team (2002, '03).