USC dispatches Belmont Abbey to set up match with Hawaii

Southern California coach Jeff Nygaard made a point of saying his team’s only focus after learning of their NCAA Tournament selection on Sunday was on first-round opponent Belmont Abbey.

Once the Trojans finished off the Crusaders in straight sets, 25-18, 25-20, 25-21, on Friday night in front of a crowd of 2,903 at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, he didn’t wait long before entering the green room with players Dillon Klein and Sterling Foley.

After a quick opening statement on the win, the questions started coming one after the other. How are the Trojans (20-7) feeling about playing the host Rainbow Warriors (27-5) in a setting that will threaten the record for the largest crowd to watch a men’s volleyball match in the NCAA Tournament?

“We’re definitely aware of what (Hawaii is) capable of doing and who they are playing and who is hot and all of that good stuff,” Nygaard said. “Now we can turn our attention to that. So we’re going to game plan, do all that good stuff and preparation for a great match (today).”

Less than 700 tickets were able for tonight’s match as of the first serve of the Trojans’ victory over the Crusaders (20-6), who made their fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament but have yet to win a set.

Senior outside hitter Klein had 11 kills to lead USC and Cooper Keane added 10. The Trojans hit .417 and won despite 17 service errors.

Zach Puentes had a match-high 12 kills for Belmont Abbey.

Klein, who made the AVCA All-America first team last season as a junior, torched Hawaii for 21 kills and hit .588 in the last meeting between the schools when the Trojans won the 2025 Outrigger Invitational.

Five of the nine players USC used against the Crusaders played in that match, when the Trojans won in four sets to hand UH its second loss in its first 21 matches.

Klein felt that experience will have no bearing on today’s result.

“That was last year,” he said. “It was loud. There was a lot of green everywhere, but other than that, it’s a rectangle with a net and a ball, so looking forward to playing some more volleyball (today).”

USC, which is making its 16th NCAA appearance, has won four national titles, but none since 1990.

The Trojans finished third in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation during the regular season behind UCLA and Pepperdine, two teams that beat UH at the Stan this season.

USC, which was swept twice by Pepperdine in the regular season, knocked off the Waves in five sets to advance to the final of the MPSF Tournament before losing to the Bruins.

The Trojans lost to Pepperdine in the semifinals of the MPSF tournament last season, which knocked them out of appearing in what was a nine-team NCAA Tournament with two at-large selections that went to the Waves and eventual national champion Long Beach State.

“We’ve put in a lot of hard work starting from the last ball that dropped last year,” Klein said. “We’ve got 19 other guys on this team that really care about this program that are willing to give their best effort every single day. We’ve put our mind to winning matches like this all year, We’ve visualized it and we’re kind of reaping the rewards right now and we’re definitely excited to play the match (today).”