Feb. 8, 1997

USC Men's Volleyball Defeats No. 11 Pacific, 3-1

LOS ANGELES -- The unranked USC men's volleyball team finished off the week with its third straight win over a ranked opponent, beating No. 11 Pacific, 8-15, 15-9, 15-9, 15-12, at the Lyon Center on Saturday night in front of 278.

Earlier this week, USC beat No. 2 Brigham Young, 10-15, 15-13, 12-15, 15-11, 15-10, on Tuesday, and No. 1 Stanford, 5-15, 15-8, 15-8, 15-13, on Friday.

USC improved to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Pacific fell to 5-2, 2-2.

Senior swing hitter Chris Guigliano had a team-high 21 kills and 14 digs for the Trojans. Senior middle blocker Eric Seiffert had 19 kills, junior swing hitter Beau Bianchi had 16 kills and a .536 hitting percentage and freshman setter Donald Suxho had 76 assists and 14 digs.

The Tigers were led by senior outside hitter Greg Wakeham's match-high 32 kills and senior outside hitter Sam Crosson's 17 kills and 17 digs.

The Trojans started the match just as they did in their last 2 wins -- by losing Game 1. After USC tied it at 7-7, Pacific ran off 8 of the final 9 points in Game 1. USC took Game 2 with the help of a 7-0 run that gave the Trojans a 12-5 lead.

Game 3 was tight throughout. USC pulled ahead after a 10-10 tie with 4 straight points, 3 of which came on blocks. The Trojans got out to a 9-3 lead in Game 4, then saw the Tigers cut it to 9-7. USC came back with 5 straight points to stave off the Tiger run, and then closed out the match.