No. 19 USC Women's Volleyball Grabs Straight-Set Win Over Gauchos

Sunday, September 20

Los Angeles, Calif.

2:00 p.m. PT

USC

6-4,0-0Big Ten

UC Santa Barbara

4-7,0-0Big West

Team	1	2	3	Final F
UC Santa Barbara	11	27	23	0
Southern California	25	29	25	3

Highlights Press Conference

Photo by: William Fosnot

No. 19 USC Women's Volleyball Grabs Straight-Set Win Over Gauchos

September 20, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Highlights Press Conference

MB Mia Tvrdy had 16 blocks—the most by a Trojan in more than 40 years—to lead USC to a 3-0 win over UCSB

LOS ANGELES – The 19th-ranked USC women's volleyball team (6-4) led by an astonishing 16-block performance by Jr. MB Mia Tvrdy collected a 3-0 win (25-11, 29-27, 25-23) over UC Santa Barbara (4-7) at Galen Center on Sunday, Sept. 20. As a team, the Women of Troy put up 20.5 blocks to collect their fourth sweep of the season.

KEY PLAYERS

Jr. MB Mia Tvrdy scored 14.5 points and set the seventh highest mark for blocks in a single match by a Trojan with 16 (one solo). She also had six kills and a career-high four digs. Her 16 blocks are the second highest by a USC player in the rally-scoring era (18 by Emily Adams, Sept. 25, 2004; 30-point era) and is the highest in a three-set match in the 25-point era. It is the most in a match since Leslie Devereaux had 17 twice in 1985 (once in three sets against Cal Poly and the other in a five-set match against UCSB). Furthermore, Tvrdy's block total ties for the second most by a Big Ten player and ties for the third-best performance by a conference player; the most since 2022 (Raven Colvin of Purdue).
So. OPP Abigail Mullen posted her second double-double of the season (10th career) with a match-high 13 kills (7e, 30att, .200) and 10 digs. She also had four blocks to total 15.0 points.
Fr. OH Riley Malloy knocked down seven kills (2e, 21att) and hit .238 to go with nine blocks and four service aces. Malloy also had four digs—all career numbers for the first-year pin.
RS Jr. London Wijay had six kills, four digs, and two blocks.
Fr. MB Taliyah Hanks posted four blocks (one solo) and had four kills.
So. LIB Taylor Deckert led the Trojans with 11 digs and had four assists.
Jr. S Lilli Etter put up 16 assists to go with five digs, two blocks and a kill. Fr. S Milly McGee had 13 assists to go with five digs, two blocks, and a kill.
For the Gauchos, Auburn Tomkinson led with 11 kills and added five digs. Emma McDermott put up seven kills and had three digs. Ava Zamora dished out 10 assists and had nine digs. Danica Rach put up eight digs, six kills, and two blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC outhit UCSB, .204 to .051 and had more kills (38-36), service aces (5-1), and blocks (20.5-6.0) than the Gauchos. It was the highest single-match block total by a team under Brad Keller and the most since USC had 21.0 in a match against Arizona State in 2019. Both teams had 35 assists each and UCSB had the edge in digs, 52-44.
The Trojans ran away with a dominant 25-11 win in the opening frame behind .308 hitting. USC logged 11 kills with three apiece from Wijay and Tvrdy. Malloy had a kill but served up three aces during an 8-1 run that put the Trojans completely out of reach. USC racked 4.5 blocks to hold the Gauchos to a negative .185 hitting rate (4k, 9e) on 27 swings. The Trojans also had a 14-11 edge in digs led by four from Deckert and three by Etter.
In a set it trailed by as many as five points, USC fought through 17 ties and grabbed the last of four lead changes to close out a 29-27 win for a 2-0 lead in the match. The Trojans racked seven blocks to hold UCSB to .163 hitting with 17 kills (9e) on 49 attacks but hit just a shade better at .173 with 17 kills (8e) on 52 attempts. USC used a 4-1 run to pull into a 20-all tie but UCSB had set point first at 24-23 on a 3-1 run made up of Tomkinson kills. The Gauchos fought off four set points before Tvrdy had a kill and a block for the Trojans' 28th and 29th points.
USC went gangbusters in the third with nine blocks led by eight from Tvrdy and seven by Malloy. Mullen scored four kills and Malloy added three to lift the Trojans to a 25-23 win. USC led by as many as four points but were pulled into the set's fifth tie at 15-all. The Gauchos went ahead three times before the Trojans scored three in a row to go up, 21-19. UCSB closed within a single point at 24-23, but USC held on to seal the win and the sweep.

UP NEXT

USC opens conference play on the road and will start with Northwestern (7-4) on Thursday (Sept. 24) when the Trojans and Wildcats meet at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill., for a 7 p.m. CT (5 p.m. PT) match. From there, USC heads to Champaign, Ill., to take on Illinois (8-3) at Huff Hall on Saturday (Sept. 26) at 7 p.m. CT (5 p.m. PT). Both matches will be shown live on Big Ten Plus streams. USC is 36-14 in all-time conference openers and is 15-9 when it opens league play on the road. In last year's Big Ten opener, the Trojans went five sets at Penn State before falling to the Nittany Lions.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 31-9 all-time against UC Santa Barbara and has won eight straight over the Gauchos.
The Trojans moved to 4-2 in three-set matches this season.
USC goes to 4-2 in home matches and to 235-66 all-time at Galen Center.
The Women of Troy reached double-digit blocks for the fourth time this season and totaled a season-high 20.5 blocks. It is USC's highest match total since the Trojans had 21.0 blocks at Arizona State on Nov. 27, 2019; a five-set win.

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.