The road to an NCAA title can be lonely.  Most USC teams are shipped away from the heart of the Trojan Family in Southern California to college locales across the map.

Luckily for men's and women's tennis, the teams have each other this year.  Both NCAA Tournaments are being played simultaneously in Athens, GA, which allows the programs to support one and other on off days.

This morning, the Women of Troy were up bright and early to fire up the men.  Saturday, the three-time defending champs will bring the emotion from the stands as the women's team plays for its first Final Four appearance since 2006.

(Photo by Bill Kallenberg)

To make the men feel at home, the women's team belted out a SoCal spell out this morning...

USC men's volleyball head coach Bill Ferguson and his staff are hosting an advanced skill volleyball camp designed for boys between the ages of 14 to 18 seeking to maximize their potential in all areas of the game on July 16-18 at USC's Galen Center.

Click here to register.

This is an advanced skill camp designed for boys between the ages of 14-18 seeking to maximize their potential in all areas of the game. While the camp is open to everyone, one year of club volleyball experience is preferred.

The campers will receive the highest level of instruction working with National Coach of the Year Bill Ferguson and his staff, including two-time National Player of the Year Jeff Nygaard.

No. 1 USC men's tennis swept away Illinois this morning before the Pacific sun had a chance to settle in the sky.  The three-time-defending champion Trojans know they are the marked men coming into the NCAA Tournament, so they avoided a sleepy start despite the 9 a.m. eastern (6 a.m. body time) first serve.

Click here for the full story.

"The other teams are out to get us, so we just kind of stay under the radar as much as we can and go out there and just try and beat people," said senior captain Steve Johnson (pictured below).

Next up: USC will battle Duke in the national quarterfinals on Sunday.  The Trojans defeated the Blue Devils earlier this season.

(Photo by Bill Kallenberg)

The inaugural season of USC sand volleyball came and went in the span of less than two months.  The Women of Troy finished the year 7-4 in dual matches, while the top pairs of Geena Urango/Sara Shaw and Kirby Burnham/Kelly Irvin advance to the national quarterfinals.

At the season-ending banquet, head coach Anna Biller Collier named captain Geena Urango the team MVP. 

(Photo by Pierson Clair)

Now that the boys are back in town, we are putting together a video of the football players' experience in Haiti, which by all accounts was life-changing.

In the meantime, Hope Force International posted a pair of new photo galleries for your perusal.  In all, the team built four houses, delivered supplies to schools and orphanages and touched the lives of the people of Sous Savanne.

Click here to look at the new photo galleries.

(Photo of Nickell Robey by David O'Connor)

USA women's water polo announced the 2012 Olympic team which features USC alums Lauren Wenger, Tumua Anae and Kami Craig.  The defending silver medalists will count on Trojans to make up nearly a quarter of the 13-woman roster.

Click here for the full story.

Wenger and Craig were on the 2008 team, while Anae will experience the Olympics for the first time in London.

Craig, who won back-to-back Peter J. Cutino Awards (top college player), teamed with Anae on USC's 2010 national championship winner. 

(Photo of Craig and Anae by Dianne Bekhazi)

Wenger is the veteran of the trio and renowned for her ability to play every position besides goalkeeper.

USC is expected to have about 30 Olympians competing this summer.  Current goalie Flora Bolonyai will play for her native Hungary, while Sofia Konoukh ('03) will suit up for Russia.

No. 5 USC women's tennis defeated Baylor 4-1 today to advance to the national quarterfinals against No. 4 Stanford on Saturday at Noon ET in Athens, GA.

Click here for the recap.

The Women of Troy lost to Stanford 4-2 in Palo Alto on April 13, but the mark of this Trojan team has been rapid improvement.  As an example, USC played UCLA three times this year losing the first dual match 4-0 then narrowing the margin to 4-3 in the second meeting before conquering the Bruins 6-1 in the latest encounter.

The obvious reason is that Richard Gallien's team features three freshmen among the top five singles players.  No. 1 Zoe Scandalis and No. 3 Sabrina Santamaria fought through three-set comeback wins against Baylor today in their first taste of big time NCAA Tournament competition.

Scandalis, Santamaria and junior Danielle Lao broke down the day with our Darcy Couch.

USC QB Matt Barkley is featured in LA Weekly's People 2012 issue which profiles the most fascinating Angelenos.

In the story, he reveals that the NCAA sanctions put him in the spotlight, and he is the better for it. 

"I was forced to step up and be a vocal leader, which naturally I'm not," Barkley told LA Weekly.  "You can only grow as a person when you're uncomfortable."

Click here to read the story.

(Photo by Kevin Scanlon/LA Weekly)

The USC football players who went to Haiti are back on American soil, which means they are back on Twitter.  Judging by their tweets, the experience was life-changing.  Here is a sampling...

DE Devon Kennard (@DevonKennard42) - "Just got back to America... Words can't describe how the trip to Haiti impacted my life."

C Khaled Holmes (@7kdiddy8) - "What a trip! Great to be back in the USA! So much love for my teammates, everyone involved in the trip and the people of Haiti!"

LB Dion Bailey (@dbailey_18) - "Glad I was blessed with the opportunity to go to Haiti.  Definitely an eye-opening experience."

P Kyle Negrete (@kylenegrete) - "The sum of my Haiti trip captured in one picture.  The most beautiful smile I have ever seen."  Photo below...

In the summer of 2009, D.J. Morgan won the 110m high hurdles at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Italy in 13.28, the fifth fastest time ever for his under-17 age group.  The Taft High School standout seemed predestined for the stardom of his choosing, track or football.

As a senior though, he tore up his knee leaving him steps behind with rehab hurdles to clear.  Morgan's initial efforts were focused on the gridiron where he earned the starting spot for the first two games of 2011, but fumbled the gig to Marc Tyler and then Curtis McNeal.

Heading into his redshirt sophomore season, he has settled behind McNeal in the running back rotation with the hope that his explosiveness will continue to reemerge.  To further that effort, Morgan took to the track this spring as a sprinter.

With growing confidence in his restructured knee, Morgan is back in his old event dashing over hurdles as they come.  In just his second official competition, he placed fifth in the 110m high hurdles at the Pac-12 Championships, which qualifies him for the NCAA Regionals.

From his first event to his second, he shaved 0.27 seconds off his time.  The return of his electric speed should mean more points for USC track and field and football.

(Photo by Kirby Lee)