news-engine

Women’s volleyball splits State Farm Showcase matches USC swept its first match against Arizona State but lost the second to Creighton University. USC swept its first match against Arizona State but lost the second to Creighton University. The long-awaited season debut for USC women’s volleyball finally commenced Saturday, and it was done in sweeping style — literally. A straight-set win against No. 7 Arizona State (2-1) marked not only a major upset for No. 15 USC (1-1), but also provided momentum going forward against No. 10 Creighton University (2-1) the following day. While it looked to be enough at the start, it ultimately would not carry over as the Bluejays took down the Trojans in four sets on Sunday. Even with the second match loss, USC went home with a ranked victory and two games of over 40 kills and 40 assists, a good sign for the rest of the season. Ultimately, the road trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for the State Farm Showcase can be considered a success as the Trojans showed their potential against top-ranked squads. A Trojan season-opening sweep against ASU USC’s first win of the year was a complete team effort. The Trojans averaged a .301 hitting percentage across the three sets, including an incredible .384 hitting percentage in the first two. USC won the match 25-23, 25-21, 25-22 for its first sweep of the 2026 season. Much of the success on the court came from redshirt junior outside hitter London Wijay and sophomore opposite hitter Abigail Mullen. The duo each had double-digit kills and at least five digs and 14 points in the sweep. Wijay, arguably USC’s top player this year, kickstarted a rally in the third set, which ended with five straight points to officially secure the win. USC was down 22-20, but her kill lit a flame underneath Head Coach Brad Keller’s squad as the team fought back to win the set and secure the sweep in comeback fashion. She added a game-high five blocks in pursuit of another incredible season after last year’s, when she was an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention. If Wijay isn’t the Trojans’ best player, then Mullen certainly makes a case for that title. Mullen earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and was named the Trojan Invitational Most Outstanding Player as part of a highly successful freshman season. She looks to replicate her first-year success in her sophomore season, which she has already started to do. Mullen has complemented Wijay and redshirt senior outside hitter Adonia Faumuina perfectly. Mullen’s 6-foot-3 stature elevates her above the other two, which helped her record 10 kills and block four shots in Saturday’s win. USC loses in four sets to Creighton With one upset already secured, the next battle was against perhaps an even better squad. While Creighton was ranked one spot below ASU at the time, it had already defeated No. 14 Purdue (0-1) on Friday, posing as a major threat in women’s volleyball in 2026. The Bluejays continued to assert their dominance this season with a 23-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-19 win over USC. While the Trojans kept the match close and even won the first set, they were overpowered with three unanswered set wins in what ended up being a very successful weekend for Creighton. The first set was dominated by USC, as it totaled seven more kills than Creighton — 18 to 11. After that, however, it was all Bluejays, and the Trojans’ hitting percentage of just .188 in the last three sets highlighted their struggles. Despite the loss, Wijay and Mullen were just as locked in as the day before, with 13 kills and at least two blocks each. The two look to be a force of nature this season alongside Faumuina, who had nine kills and three blocks. Another player with a strong opening to the match was junior setter Lilli Etter. After recording 36 assists in the game against the Sun Devils, Etter upped it to 40 against Creighton, seemingly securing her spot in the starting lineup for good. Two successful years at Boise State University have led her to a top-ranked Trojan squad, where she will look to have a big impact each night, just as she did in the State Farm Showcase matches. With the weekend officially behind USC, it next faces a tough matchup against No. 9 Texas (2-2) in the first-ever Big Ten/SEC Volleyball Challenge Week. The Trojans will travel to the Lone Star State in an attempt to bring home their first win over the Longhorns since the 2007 NCAA Regional final in December of that year. USC will face Texas in one of the Challenge Week inaugural matches on Wednesday at Gregory Gymnasium at 6 p.m. We are the only independent newspaper here at USC, run at every level by students. That means we aren’t tied down by any other interests but those of readers like you: the students, faculty, staff and South Central residents that together make up the USC community. Independence is a double-edged sword: We have a unique lens into the University’s actions and policies, and can hold powerful figures accountable when others cannot. But that also means our budget is severely limited. We’re already spread thin as we compensate the writers, photographers, artists, designers and editors whose incredible work you see in our paper; as we work to revamp and expand our digital presence, we now have additional staff making podcasts, videos, webpages, our first ever magazine and social media content, who are at risk of being unable to receive the support they deserve. We are therefore indebted to readers like you, who, by supporting us, help keep our paper independent, free and widely accessible. Please consider supporting us. Even $1 goes a long way in supporting our work; if you are able, you can also support us with monthly, or even annual, donations. Thank you. This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. Accept settingsDo Not AcceptWe may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer. These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site. We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain. We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings. These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience. If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here: We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page. Google Webfont Settings: Google Map Settings: Google reCaptcha Settings: Vimeo and Youtube video embeds: The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them: