Trojans down Stanford volleyball team 3-1 – Volleyball news
The men’s volleyball team of University of Southern California (USC) posted a 3-1 (25-22, 25-20, 15-25, 25-20) win over Stanford Cardinal on Saturday, March 31 and improved to an overall record of 18-4 in the season.
The Trojans of USC remained remarkably consistent and took their winning streak to thirteen matches. This is the longest streak in the USC Volleyball Programme history since 1991.
The opposite Tanner Jansen did an impressive job for Trojans. He hit with a blazing .519 hitting percentage and contributed 6 digs and 5 blocks. Likewise, the outside hitter Tony Ciarelli tallied 12 kills and helped Trojans to clinch success in the match.
Robert Feathers received huge applause for his match-high seven blocks that saved crucial points. Besides, he also added 8 kills with a hitting percentage of .889.
Brad Lawson of Cardinal had match-high 16 kills but his impressive performance could help the team. Stanford’s Erik Shoji registered a match-best 13 digs.
The match was opened on a tight note as both teams played sensibly. The Trojans scored first point of the match on an attack error by the Cardinal. However, the Brad Lawson of Stanford delivered a superb kills and created the first tie of scores at 1-1.
Afterwards, the two teams exchanged long rallies and did not miss a single chance to score points. Both team traded leads and remained incredibly close on the scoreboard. The game continued, while the score was tied at 22-all. USC scored the last three points
on a pair of Jansen kills and eventually claimed the first set 25-22.
The second set also had some sort of symmetry with the previous set. The scored remained tied until Trojans went up at 21-18. They kept the momentum going and improved to 2-0 by winning the second set.
The loss of two sets in a row infuriated the Cardinal and they came up with aggressive attacks in third set. They staged a better performance and snatched third set from Trojans, who could only score 15 points.
Nonetheless, the happiness was short-lived for the Cardinal as USC bounced back in the fourth set. They closed fourth set with five points 25-20 and announced match victory.
The winning coach of USC, John Kosty, shared his thoughts about the Stanford team. He stated, “They're a good team, which earned its fourth consecutive victory over Stanford and completed a regular-season sweep. We played well in spurts, but they were the
most consistent team.”
Next up, the Trojans will cross their paths with UC San Diego and UC Irvine in the coming week. Both matches will be hosted by USC. The Stanford team will play its next match against Pacific Tigers on Tuesday, April 3.
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