Post by bigfan on Oct 13, 2006 12:44:56 GMT -5
Stanford spoils Galen opening
The Women of Troy were swept by the Cardinal in the inaugural event of USC's new Galen Center.
Alex Lebow
![](http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper679/stills/u3py8d2d.jpg)
Spoiled debut. Above, outside hitter Jessica Gysin braces for a pass in the Women of Troy's three-game loss to the Stanford Cardinal last night.
The No. 4 USC women's volleyball team was handed their first loss of the season Thursday on the night of the inaugural match at the Galen Center.
The three-game sweep by No. 6 Stanford (30-21, 30-26, 30-28) proved to be a challenging set of games for USC. The Women of Troy had won nine of 17 matches by way of the sweep.
USC could not stifle a strong Cardinal offense. The circumstances of the loss were unfortunate, as the Galen Center debut was toned down with the loss to one of the best teams in the Pacific-10 Conference. Stanford spoiled any hope for an undefeated USC season with the victory in just three games.
The Women of Troy (17-1, 5-1) missed the Lyon Center, where they went 6-0 this season. After the introduction of the starting lineup in a ceremony as exciting as one in a professional arena, the Women of Troy rattled off five straight points to flatten the Cardinal (14-2, 5-1) team.
Junior middle blocker Diane Copenhagen contributed the first two kills, yet USC fell in the opening game. They lost their first game for only the third time this season, but for the first time by more than six points.
The Women of Troy were troubled by the matchups against Cardinal outside hitters Cynthia Barboza and Kristin Richards.
Freshman setter Taylor Carico led USC at the start in game two with three consecutive kills, but the Cardinal again gained the lead.
The Women of Troy tried to avoid the sweep, and took the lead in game three at 17. USC initially failed to counter the Cardinal offensive, but with contributions from Carico the team took the lead in front of 5,000 at the Galen Center.
With the lead, the effort from Carico and junior opposite hitter Asia Kaczor proved insufficient. Senior libero Debora Seilhamer shanked the final Cardinal serve and Stanford completed the sweep with a 30-28 win.
"(USC) coach (Mick) Haley just told us we have to learn from this experience," said redshirt sophomore Jessica Gysin. "We can't get too down on ourselves because we have a big match tomorrow night. We have a hard conference, everyone's going to come out with losses."
Gysin registered five attack errors on just two kills on Thursday. "They played great defense, and I wasn't really putting anything down offensively," Gysin said.
"We have to be patient and not create a lot of errors when we play teams like Stanford and we couldn't do that tonight," Haley said. "We didn't have good performances from some of our people."
Junior middle blocker Marta Siemiatkowska made a brief appearance in the game along with sophomore middle blocker Kelli Tennant, who is still recovering from a shoulder injury. Kaczor was held to just 15 kills, but led the Women of Troy in that statistic.
No. 7 California visits the Galen Center tonight after the No. 3 UCLA Bruins swept the Bears on Thursday night.
The Women of Troy prepare for a similar effort from another Pac-10 powerhouse, in particular outside hitter Angie Pressey. Pressey is second in the Pac-10 with a 5.42 point-per-game average.
"Coach mentioned that we need to come back and be prepared for the next match and forget about this one. We have a lot of great matches ahead of us, its not only this one that determines our season," Carico said.
"When we get down sometimes, it's hard for us to come together and be like, 'You guys, we need to fight and come back,'" Gysin said.
"We'll be fine, it's hard playing in a new place, we're not going to blame it on that, but we're just going move on and look forward to Cal."
The Women of Troy were swept by the Cardinal in the inaugural event of USC's new Galen Center.
Alex Lebow
![](http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper679/stills/u3py8d2d.jpg)
Spoiled debut. Above, outside hitter Jessica Gysin braces for a pass in the Women of Troy's three-game loss to the Stanford Cardinal last night.
The No. 4 USC women's volleyball team was handed their first loss of the season Thursday on the night of the inaugural match at the Galen Center.
The three-game sweep by No. 6 Stanford (30-21, 30-26, 30-28) proved to be a challenging set of games for USC. The Women of Troy had won nine of 17 matches by way of the sweep.
USC could not stifle a strong Cardinal offense. The circumstances of the loss were unfortunate, as the Galen Center debut was toned down with the loss to one of the best teams in the Pacific-10 Conference. Stanford spoiled any hope for an undefeated USC season with the victory in just three games.
The Women of Troy (17-1, 5-1) missed the Lyon Center, where they went 6-0 this season. After the introduction of the starting lineup in a ceremony as exciting as one in a professional arena, the Women of Troy rattled off five straight points to flatten the Cardinal (14-2, 5-1) team.
Junior middle blocker Diane Copenhagen contributed the first two kills, yet USC fell in the opening game. They lost their first game for only the third time this season, but for the first time by more than six points.
The Women of Troy were troubled by the matchups against Cardinal outside hitters Cynthia Barboza and Kristin Richards.
Freshman setter Taylor Carico led USC at the start in game two with three consecutive kills, but the Cardinal again gained the lead.
The Women of Troy tried to avoid the sweep, and took the lead in game three at 17. USC initially failed to counter the Cardinal offensive, but with contributions from Carico the team took the lead in front of 5,000 at the Galen Center.
With the lead, the effort from Carico and junior opposite hitter Asia Kaczor proved insufficient. Senior libero Debora Seilhamer shanked the final Cardinal serve and Stanford completed the sweep with a 30-28 win.
"(USC) coach (Mick) Haley just told us we have to learn from this experience," said redshirt sophomore Jessica Gysin. "We can't get too down on ourselves because we have a big match tomorrow night. We have a hard conference, everyone's going to come out with losses."
Gysin registered five attack errors on just two kills on Thursday. "They played great defense, and I wasn't really putting anything down offensively," Gysin said.
"We have to be patient and not create a lot of errors when we play teams like Stanford and we couldn't do that tonight," Haley said. "We didn't have good performances from some of our people."
Junior middle blocker Marta Siemiatkowska made a brief appearance in the game along with sophomore middle blocker Kelli Tennant, who is still recovering from a shoulder injury. Kaczor was held to just 15 kills, but led the Women of Troy in that statistic.
No. 7 California visits the Galen Center tonight after the No. 3 UCLA Bruins swept the Bears on Thursday night.
The Women of Troy prepare for a similar effort from another Pac-10 powerhouse, in particular outside hitter Angie Pressey. Pressey is second in the Pac-10 with a 5.42 point-per-game average.
"Coach mentioned that we need to come back and be prepared for the next match and forget about this one. We have a lot of great matches ahead of us, its not only this one that determines our season," Carico said.
"When we get down sometimes, it's hard for us to come together and be like, 'You guys, we need to fight and come back,'" Gysin said.
"We'll be fine, it's hard playing in a new place, we're not going to blame it on that, but we're just going move on and look forward to Cal."