LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Inside a loud Galen Center to kickoff the Trojan Invitational, hosts USC used the home crowd to its advantage to earn the three-set victory over UC Davis.
The Aggies suffer their second consecutive defeat and fall to 3-4 on the season.
Olivia Utterback led UC Davis offensively yet again as the only Aggie to reach double-digits with her 10 kills.
Amara Aimufua hit .368 on her eight-kill night while
Megan Lenn and
Ally Chandler slammed down six kills apiece.
Julia Ng recorded 13 digs on the defensive end, a game-high.
Set 1
An emphatic kill from Aimufua gave the Aggies the first point of the game, giving her team some early momentum. In her first start of the year,
Shkhinah Tindsley came through with a kill to her night started. It was neck-and-neck early in the opening set until USC rattled off six consecutive points to take a commanding 12-5 lead in front of its home crowd.
The Aggies clawed within two when
Reese Diersbock knocked down three consecutive kills, but the hosts would pull away down the stretch to take the first frame 25-19. USC notched four blocks and two aces which proved to be the difference in the set.
Utterback impressed in the opening set with four kills at a .300 clip while picking up five digs to start her night.
Set 2
UC Davis battled back from an early deficit to level the score at 8-8 in the second set. However, a 7-1 scoring run from USC would allow the Trojans to feed off the energy inside their own gym, forcing a timeout from the Aggies' bench.
UC Davis would once again whittle the lead to three, but the Trojans managed to grab the second set by the same score as the first, 25-19.
Set 3
Using aces from Lenn and
Mia Starr, the Aggies regrouped and opened up a 7-3 lead to start off the third set and force a USC timeout. The stop in play would allow the Trojans to regroup and shave the lead to just one point (10-9). Another rally from the hosts made the score 20-16 in favor of USC, but back-to-back kills from Aimufua followed by a big kill from Utterback closed the gap to just one.
The Aggies would not go away as Ng responded with an ace to reply to another USC scoring run to make it 23-all. The wild back-and-forth set would go to deuce, but USC pulled it out 26-24 to earn the win in its home opener.
Up Next
The Ags continue the Trojan Invitational tomorrow afternoon when they take on 2022 national semifinalists San Diego. First serve is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
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