Men's Volleyball
    No. 6 USC Men's Volleyball Sweeps Hope International
    Trojans resume MPSF play next weekend in Bay Area.
    Cristian Rivera
    Cristian Rivera

    Feb. 16, 2012

    Final Stats

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    Maddison McKibbin had 11 kills and 6 digs and Steven Mochalski added 10 kills with 6 digs to lead the No. 6-ranked USC men's volleyball team to a 25-20, 25-22, 25-21 sweep over Hope International, the NAIA's No. 7 ranked team, in a non-conference match on Thursday (Feb. 16) in USC's Galen Center.

    USC improved to 7-4 overall, while Hope International dropped to 2-4.

    McKibbin, getting his first start of the season after missing USC's first 9 matches with a sprained ankle, hit .348. The Trojans started 4 young players who have yet to see much action in their careers: freshman outside hitter Cristian Rivera (5 kills, 5 digs), freshman middle blocker Chris Lischke (5 blocks), sophomore setter Chris Trefzger (25 assists, 7 blocks) and sophomore libero J.B. Green (7 digs).

    For Hope International, Thomas Cervetti had 12 kills and 6 digs, Dominique Blonski had 11 kills and Henry Valiente had 7 digs.

    USC hit .280 to the Royals' .150 and the Trojans had more blocks (14.5 to 5.0) and aces (4 to 1).

    Troy scored 4 consecutive points to open a 16-12 lead in the first set and the Royals could never catch up. With the score tied at 22-22 in the second set, USC used a Steven Shandrick kill followed by a Trefzger solo block and then a Hope International hitting error to close out the set. The Trojans went on a 7-0 run in the third set to build a 13-9 lead and were never threatened the rest of the way.

    USC resumes Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play next week when it visits No. 12 Pacific on Feb. 24 and No. 4 Stanford on Feb. 25.