No. 23 USC Women's Volleyball Opens Big Ten Play in Illinois

Thursday, September 24

Evanston, Ill.

7:00 p.m. / 5:00 p.m. PT

USC

Northwestern

USC women's volleyball outside hitter London Wijay goes up to attack a ball out of the back row during a match at Galen Center

Photo by: Kevin Kim

No. 23 USC Women's Volleyball Opens Big Ten Play in Illinois

September 21, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

#USCWVB Notebook (Sept. 21)2026 USC Schedule

The Trojans will take on Northwestern on Thursday and Illinois on Saturday

LOS ANGELES – No. 23 USC women's volleyball (6-4, 0-0 Big Ten) opens Big Ten play on the road and begins with a match at Northwestern (7-4, 0-0) on Thursday (Sept. 24) at Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, and then visits Illinois (8-3, 0-0) to play on Saturday (Sept. 26) at Huff Hall in Champaign. Both matches have 7 p.m. CT (5 p.m. PT) start times and both will be shown on Big Ten Plus.

THIS WEEK

MATCH #11 • Thursday, Sept. 24 • 7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT
No. 23 USC (6-4, 0-0) at Northwestern (7-4, 0-0)
Welsh-Ryan Arena • Evanston, Ill.
SERIES RECORD: USC leads, 3-0 (1.000)
LAST MEETING: W 3-1 (Nov. 6, 2025 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Won 3 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 3-0
TV: B1G+
OPPONENT WEBSITE: NUSports.com

MATCH #12 • Saturday, Sept. 26 • 7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT
No. 23 USC (6-4, 0-0) at Illinois (8-3, 0-0)
Huff Hall • Champaign, Ill.
SERIES RECORD: Tied, 4-4 (.500)
LAST MEETING: W 3-0 (Nov. 22, 2025 • Galen Center)
STREAK: Won 1 • LAST 10 MEETINGS: 4-4
TV: B1G+ (Scott Beatty, Laura Benton, and Sofia Boddy)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: FightingIllini.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 116-68 (.630) as the Trojans' head coach.
The Women of Troy are ranked No. 23 in the AVCA Coaches Poll. It is the 563rd time USC is ranked in the weekly poll.
USC is 36-14 in conference openers (3-3 under Keller) including 15-9 when it opens league play on the road. The Trojans are 1-1 in Big Ten openers: a win over Ohio State (2024) and a loss at Penn State (2025); both in five sets.
The Trojans are 4-3 all-time in the Prairie State including a 1-0 mark in Evanston and 1-2 in the city of Champaign.
Third-year Northwestern head coach Tim Nollan was formerly an assistant coach at USC (2003, '08-15) and Wildcats assistant coach Jeff Liu previously served as the Trojans' technical coordinator (2015-17).
USC leads the Big Ten in blocks (3.04 bps) and ranks sixth in the NCAA. The Trojans have put up double-digit blocks in four matches this season.
Jr. MB Mia Tvrdy was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week after tying the league record for blocks in a match (16) in a win over UCSB.
Tvrdy ranks second in the Big Ten for blocks (1.56 bps, ninth in the NCAA) while RS Jr. MB Leah Ford (1.26 bps) ranks ninth.
So. OPP Abigail Mullen is USC's leading scorer at 4.05 points per set and ranks 11th in the Big Ten. Her 3.39 kills per set rank 14th.
RS Jr. OH London Wijay averages 3.06 kills per set (22nd in the Big Ten).

LAST TIME OUT: USC went two-for-three for the second weekend in a row and sandwiched a tough loss between a pair of strong home wins. The Trojans claimed a four-set win over UC Davis but were bit by the injury bug and fell to Pepperdine without starting MB Leah Ford and starting OPP Abigail Mullen. With a third different starting lineup in as many days, USC bounced back to collect a sweep of UC Santa Barbara to conclude the weekend. Mullen returned to produce her second double-double of the season in the win over the Gauchos, but her steady performance was overshadowed by first-year OH Riley Malloy's breakout as she logged nine blocks, seven kills, and four service aces to lead the Trojans with 15.5 points. Even Malloy's big night lived under a larger shadow as MB Mia Tvrdy tallied 16 blocks in the three-setter to equal the Big Ten's rally-scoring era record (in one fewer set), set USC's 25-point era record and rank second in the Trojans' rally-scoring era record books; and reach seventh in USC's all-time records including sideout scoring matches.

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 563 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).

LEAGUE LEADER: USC is 36-14 all-time in conference openers, which includes a 15-9 mark in league openers played on the road. Under Brad Keller, the Trojans are 3-3 and are 1-1 in Big Ten openers; a home win over Ohio State in 2024 and a road loss to Penn State in 2025. Including its final year as members of the Pac-12, each of USC's last three conference openers has gone five sets.

ILLINOISES: The Trojans are 4-3 all-time in the state of Illinois. USC's four wins are over Notre Dame (1987), American (2004), Northern Illinois (2013), and Northwestern (2024). Each of its losses were to Illinois, once in Chicago and twice in Champaign. The Women of Troy are 1-0 in Evanston and 1-2 in Champaign.

FROM THE CAT-ACOMBS: Third-year Northwestern head coach Tim Nollan spent nine years on staff at USC (2003, '08-15) under Hall of Fame head coach Mick Haley. During his time at Troy, the Trojans went to the NCAA national semifinal twice (2010, '11) and advanced to regional championship matches three other times (2012, '13, '15). Third-year Wildcat assistant coach Jeff Liu also has ties to USC with three seasons on the bench as Haley's technical coordinator (2015-17).

BLOCKHEADS: USC leads the Big Ten in blocks (3.04 bps) and has reached double-digit blocks in four contests this fall including a season-high 20.5 in a win over UC Santa Barbara (Sept. 20). The Trojans concluded 2025 as the league's leaders with 2.76 blocks per set.

BUILDING BLOCKS: MB Mia Tvrdy went off for 16 blocks in three sets in a win over UC Santa Barbara on Sept. 20. The otherworldly performance tied the Big Ten's rally-scoring era record set in 2022 (Raven Colvin, Purdue) and was the highest by a USC player in the 25-point era; the most since All-American MB Emily Adams produced 18 blocks during the 30-point era in a five-set match against Washington in 2004. The 16 blocks now sit alone in seventh all-time in the USC record books among totals set during the sideout scoring era, which includes 17 by Leslie Devereaux who had the next highest total more than 40 years ago (Oct. 25, 1985) during a four-set match against none other than UCSB.

HALF-CENTURY HOMECOMING: 2026 marks the 50th anniversary of USC's 1976 AIAW Championship team. The Women of Troy will celebrate and recognize that team during their Alumni Night match against Penn State on Oct. 17 at Galen Center. The 1976 Trojans were the first to receive scholarships and went 34-1 overall with an 8-0 mark in the Western Collegiate Athletic Association (WCAA). USC—coached by Hall of Fame head coach Chuck Erbe with Sherry Calvert as his assistant—defeated UCLA, 2-1, in the championship match in Austin, Texas, to claim the program's first national crown. That squad featured the talents of All-Americans Debbie Landreth, Debbie Green, Terry Place, and Paula Dittmer-Goodwin as well as Lori Jepsen, Julie Morgan, and Lindy Vivas.

B1G POW WOW: Following an astounding 16-block performance, MB Mia Tvrdy earned the first Big Ten weekly award won by a Trojan in 2026 and was named the Defensive Player of the Week of the first time in her career. Five different Trojans garnered a total of 11 Big Ten conference weekly awards in 2025. Since joining the league in 2024, Trojans have earned Big Ten weekly awards 16 times.

B1G AND SMALL: Only two Big Ten teams hold winning records against the Trojans. Wisconsin is 6-4 against USC and Penn State is 4-2 against the Women of Troy. In fact, USC has not lost to four different conference foes: Iowa (2-0), Michigan (3-0), Northwestern (3-0), and Rutgers (2-0).