Post by Kingsley on Aug 21, 2024 10:53:12 GMT -5
USC Trojans
2023 Record: 19-13
Conference Record: 12-8 (5th) [Pac-12]
NCAA Tournament Placement: Second Round (L, 1-3 at Pittsburgh)
Final AVCA Ranking: 24
Head Coach: Brad Keller (5th season at USC)
Record at USC: 63-47
| Returning Starters | Departures * - 2023 Starter () - Transfer Destination | New Additions () - Transfer Origin |
| Tyrah Ariail - R-JR - 6'1 MB Lindsey Miller - SR+ - 6'4 MB Gala Trubint - JR - 5'8 DS/L Mia Tuaniga - SR - 5'9 S London Wijay - SO - 5'10 OH | Skylar Fields* - 6'2 OH Emily Fitzner - 6'0 S Isabel Fowlkes - SO - 6'2 MB [No longer on roster] Ellie Geoghegan - JR - 5'8 DS/L Katelyn Smith - SR - 6'3 OH/RS (UC Irvine) Ellie Snook* - 5'7 DS/L Kalyah Williams* - 6'0 OH/RS | Favor Anyanwu - FR - 6'2 MB Ally Batenhorst - SR - 6'5 OH (Nebraska) Paisley Douglas - FR - 5'6 DS/L Grae Gosnell - SR+ - 5'11 OH/DS (Indiana) Jadyn Livings - FR - 6'1 OH Brooklyn Tealer - FR - 6'0 OH |
2023 Results:
USC finally showed progress in 2022 after hovering around 0.500 during Head Coach Brad Keller's first two seasons at the helm. The Trojans finished 22-11 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, where they were ousted by Ohio State.
2023 featured a less glamorous start as the Trojans suffered back-to-back losses at Houston and Rice. A win over Southern Miss would be the only triumph in the first two weeks of USC's season. The team's double-dip at Hawai'i was fruitless.
The Trojans beat up UC Davis and Marist to open their home slate at the Galen Center. They then returned to even in the win-loss mark with a victory over San Diego.
USC saved its best non-conference performances for the end. The Women of Troy traveled to West Lafayette to meet future in-conference foes Illinois and Purdue. A five-set battle against Illinois went USC's way, and the Trojans got their first ranked win of the season against the Boilermakers.
Positive momentum kept building as USC opened Pac-12 play with four consecutive victories. This streak was highlighted by a tiebreaker triumph against neighborly rival UCLA.
But, as things started to go well, USC returned to earth with three losses in the next four matches. These defeats all came on the road against Arizona State, Stanford, and Cal. The disparity between home and away performance would become a common theme for USC.
Once USC was back in the Galen Center, the team got its best win of the year against fourth-ranked Washington State in reverse sweep fashion. This was USC's first win over a top-five opponent in five years. A week later, the Women of Troy lost on the road to an average Colorado team.
The Trojans were soon back on the upswing with four consecutive wins, including another ranked home win against Arizona State. USC still had time for one more slump and lost four out of five to end the regular season.
Despite an unpredictable and inconsistent regular season, USC had done enough to secure an NCAA Tournament spot. The Trojans were the No. 2 seed in the Pittsburgh sub-regional. UMBC was a favorable first-round matchup.
For the second year in a row, USC's season ended with a second-round road loss. Pittsburgh, an eventual national semifinalist, put the Trojans down in four.
2023 Lineup:
No one on USC's roster participated in every set of the 2023 season. Several came close, so we'll work with that.
Every conversation on last year's Women of Troy starts with fifth-year outside hitter Skylar Fields. The all-American attacker joined USC after three seasons at Texas. Fields ranked fifth nationally in kills per set in 2022 and somehow one-upped herself the following year. Her final collegiate season was punctuated by 5.14 terminations per set, good enough for second in Division I. Fields's 617 total kills were nearly triple the next-highest total on USC's 2023 squad. She was one attempt shy of 1,500 swings last year.
Fields was a frontcourt left-side hitter but carried a de facto opposite role in the back row. She started the year as the L1 but eventually shifted to L2 as USC's lineup evolved.
The only other Trojan to eclipse 200 total kills was redshirt sophomore middle blocker Tyrah Ariail. The Texas native finally had her breakout season after being limited by multiple significant knee injuries. Ariail tallied 222 kills on a 0.320 clip while mostly playing M2. She also stayed in to serve from this position.
The M1 position was similarly efficient with Lindsey Miller hitting 0.335 from the M1 spot. Miller joined USC in 2022 after two years at Notre Dame and logged 188 kills as the primary starter across from Ariail.
Junior setter Mia Tuaniga was another source of stability in the USC lineup. The homegrown athlete cast aside her Long Beach State roots to join the Trojans in 2021. Tuaniga has been a steady contributor since her freshman year. Her numbers dipped somewhat last year, but nagging injuries played a role in this waning productivity. Setter changes were rare as Tuaniga toughed it out throughout the year.
The libero for most of the year was sophomore Gala Trubint. This was a carryover from last year, as Trubint led USC for much of her debut season. In fact, Trubint's 416 digs last year matched her output from the prior year--albeit in 15 more sets as a sophomore.
Portland State graduate transfer Ellie Snook was the most frequently used DS behind Trubint. The fifth-year defender subbed in for USC's frontcourt opposite and added to her 2,000-plus career digs. Other situational backcourt contributors included sophomore Megan Verbiest and outside hitter Dani Thomas-Nathan, both of whom were left-side hitter subs at some point.
USC's poor passing became a major storyline last year, but blame isn't solely levied on the defensive specialists. It's a group effort.
That covers most of USC's consistent starters, but the team's most volatile positions were the two pin spots not occupied by Fields.
The first player of interest here is fifth-year senior Kalyah Williams, the former Washington State middle blocker who joined the Trojans in 2022. Williams started her 2023 campaign as a left-side hitter, building on what we had already seen the previous year. This stint was brief, however, and Williams moved to the right side before non-conference play ended. Before this shift, USC had a revolving door at opposite with players like Katelyn Smith and Madison Pietsch seeing action.
When Williams moved to the right, USC needed a new left-side hitter across from Fields. Smith, who started the year on the right, got some reps on the left. This didn't last, either. The Trojans found their long-term solution in true freshman London Wijay, who reclassified to the Class of 2023 and joined the team right before the season started. She earned playing time in mid-September and was the starter from late October onward. Wijay was a frequent backcourt participant and finished with 191 kills.
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2024 Projected Lineup:
It's time to achieve some balance.
Fields departs, leaving perhaps the biggest void of all outgoing players in the Big Ten. Her ridiculous scoring volume obviously won't be replaced by one athlete alone. Rather, USC must field a diverse offense with a new identity to keep pace with last year's effort.
Fortunately, Tuaniga is a worthy setter to help accomplish this feat. She has suddenly become a seasoned veteran on the Trojan roster and competed in the NORCECA Final Six over the summer. Tuaniga was named to the preseason all-Big Ten team and will be the focal point of any USC success in 2024.
The other position with ample experience is middle blocker, where Ariail and Miller both return. True freshman signee Favor Anyanwu brings plenty of USA Youth experience, but unseating either starter would be quite an upheaval.
Trubint should retain the libero jersey, but USC loses its No. 2 defender with Snook exhausting her eligibility. The Trojans only list three "true" defensive specialists on its roster with Verbiest being the only returner behind Trubint. True freshman Paisley Douglas is the other DS. A name to watch here is outside hitter Grae Gosnell, the Indiana graduate transfer who mostly carried backcourt roles with the Hoosiers. If USC deploys a DS for either of its left-side hitters, Gosnell could get the nod here.
Let's address those left-side hitters in the post-Fields era. Wijay is back and could conceivably hold her spot at L1. Thomas-Nathan is back in this position group but has seen limited reps in the front row. Gosnell could surprise us all and play at the net.
But the most likely left-side combination seems to be Wijay and Nebraska transfer Ally Batenhorst. The senior was a frequent starter in her three years with Huskers and hit 0.178 over that span. Freshman signees Jadyn Livings and Brooklyn Tealer are the other names here, so the position is generally less experienced than last year. Fields set an impossibly high bar, so USC would be happy with modest year-over-year improvement from Wijay and Batenhorst.
Who plays opposite? Williams is gone. Pietsch could get a second chance after being phased out of the lineup early in 2023. The only other opposite on the roster is redshirt sophomore Adonia Faumuina, the former prep setter-attacker who has played ten sets in her USC career.
The lack of depth on the right opens up the possibility of Livings competing at this position right away. Whoever starts will probably get a DS.
2024 Schedule:
USC's 2024 season starts in Malibu with two matches against Pepperdine.
Then, the Creighton Classic beckons as USC spars with Kansas State and the hosting Bluejays. These first two weeks offer a great opportunity to see where the Trojans stand. We'll see if this start is better than last year's.
The home opener for USC is a rematch of 2023's final contest. Pittsburgh is coming to LA and will clearly pose a challenge as one of the nation's top teams. More home heroics are needed.
Utah State and Ohio are the next teams to visit the Galen Center. LMU, UNLV, and UC Davis will do the same. These invites are dubbed SoCal Cup I and SoCal Cup II.
Trilogy:
| Home + Away | Home | Away |
   |        |        |
2024 Outlook:
Even with USC's up-and-down performances and passing woes, the Trojans still made the second round of last year's tournament. So, do we measure 2024's success by improved consistency or postseason performance?
The coaches slotted USC into seventh in preseason polling, which would probably put the Trojans in the same at-large range as last year. However, a new-look pin lineup offers reason to believe that USC might encounter more of its familiar ebbs and flows.
One of those pins won't be Fields, and that hurts. USC's quest to find some passing becomes even more imperative with Fields no longer looming as the magic eraser. Any "off days" from the Trojans could be harder to overcome.
USC has ample talent to back up its seventh-place billing, but it'll take a total team effort and a little bit of ball control. Tuaniga takes care of the setting. Give her some first contacts to work with, as that might be the dividing line on either side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
