Jan. 19, 2001

Box Score

LOS ANGELES-Junior All-American opposite hitter Brook Billings had a match-high 15 kills and senior teammate Eli Fairfield added 13 kills while hitting .429 to lead the No. 4-ranked USC men's volleyball team to a 30-21, 30-21, 31-29 win over UC San Diego in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Friday (Jan. 19) in the USC North Gym.

The Trojans improved to 2-0 overall and in MPSF play, while the Tritons fell to 0-2 and 0-2.

USC has won its last 18 matches in the North Gym dating to the 1999 season.

In game 3, USC trailed 27-23 but pulled to within 29-28 before scoring the final 3 points on a Billings kill, a Triton hitting error and Fairfield's match-ending kill.

Senior outside hitter Trevor Julian had a match-best 4 aces for Troy.

For UCSD, senior outside hitter Zack Hite and junior outside hitter Griffin Cogorno each had 8 kills, while senior opposite hitter Donald Chen had 5 blocks.

The Trojans outhit the Tritons, .291 to .079. Troy also more aces, 10 to 2.

USC next week plays a home-and-home MPSF series with UC Irvine, hosting the Anteaters at home on Tuesday (Jan. 23) and then traveling to Irvine on Friday (Jan. 26). Both matches begin at 7 p.m.