USC Volleyball Defeats Hawkeyes in Five-Set Thriller

The USC women's volleyball team (9-10, 3-6 Big Ten) knocked out  Iowa (12-11, 1-8) in a five-set thriller (25-20, 25-22, 16-25, 28-30, 15-9) on Thursday, Oct. 22, in Coralville, Iowa. 

The Trojans improved to 3-0 all-time against the Hawkeyes, including two wins on the road. USC is also 6-2 all-time in the state of Iowa. 

It was the Trojans’ third five-set match of the season and first win. The Women of Troy are now 161-114 all-time in five-set matches including 68-56 on the road and 49-44 against Big Ten opponents.

The Trojans trailed the Hawkeyes 6-2 in the final set. The Hawkeyes continued to lead 9-6 before the Trojans went on a 9-0 run to win the set 15-9 and clinch the match.

The Trojans won the match by hitting .338 over Iowa's .297 and had a slight edge in kills (68-67), assists (64-60), and blocks (8-6). The Women of Troy also had four different players reached double-digit kills in the same match for the first time this season.  

Abigail Mullen led all USC scorers with 20 points with 16 kills for her 12th double-digit night. London Wijay was right behind her with 19.5 points on a match-high 17 kills with two service aces. Both Mullen and Wijay turned in double-digit points for the 15th time in their respective careers.

Mia Tvrdy recorded a season-high 13 kills and Milly McGee led the Trojans with a career-high 51 assists along with five digs and a block.

Taylor Deckert recorded 16 digs and Leah Ford added four blocks to support the Trojans defensive effort. 

The Hawkeyes were led by Hannah Whittingstall, who recorded 16 kills and hit .609 with three blocks. Ksenjia Tomic added 14 kills to go with seven digs for Iowa while Peyton Young added 12 kills and Hallie Steponaitis chipped in 10 kills. Jenna Meitzler led the Hawkeyes with 48 assists while posting 11 digs for a double-double. 

The Trojans improved to 9-10 on the season but will have to bear the No. 1 team in the country to move up to .500. The Trojans went 6-4 in the non-conference slate to start the season with wins over former Pac-12 rivals Oregon State, Arizona and Arizona State. 

The Women of Troy will travel to Lincoln, Neb., to take on the undefeated Cornhuskers (20-0, 9-0 Big Ten) on Saturday, Oct. 24. The titanic matchup will be nationally televised on the Big Ten Network.