Men's Volleyball
    No. 1 BYU Men's Volleyball Defeats USC
    Trojans next host UCLA on Monday
    Bill Ferguson
    Bill Ferguson

    Feb. 16, 2013

    Box Score

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    Taylor Sander had 23 kills while hitting .543 and he added 10 digs to lead the top-ranked BYU men's volleyball team to a 25-18, 17-25, 25-22, 25-18 victory over No. 10 USC in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Saturday (Feb. 16) at USC's Galen Center.

    The Cougars improved to 9-3 overall and 8-2 in the MPSF, while the Trojans are now 3-6 overall and in the MPSF.

    BYU outhit (.342 to .254) and outblocked (9.0 to 5.5) USC, but the Trojans served 7 aces (6 were by Micah Christenson, who also had a match-leading 12 digs).

    Tanner Jansen led USC with 18 kills (hittinng .351) and he also had 9 digs, while Cristian Rivera had 11 kills and Robert Feathers had 9 kills while hitting .467 and he added 5 blocks.

    In addition to Sander for BYU, Russ Lavaja had 11 kills (hitting .588) and Michael Hatch had 5 blocks.

    BYU jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead in the first set and built on it throughout the set while hitting .467. USC went on a 7-point scoring spurt to open up a 10-3 lead in the second set (Christenson served on the last 6 of those points, with 2 aces) and the Trojans were never threatened while hitting .346 to BYU's .083. The Cougars led 19-13 in the third set before USC scored 5 consecutive points (again, with Christenson serving on the final 4 points, with 2 aces) to pull with 19-18, but BYU then regained control of the set. A 3-0 run gave the Cougars a 7-5 edge in the fourth set and they steadily pulled away from USC while hitting .464.

    USC next hosts crosstown rival No. 7 UCLA in an 8 p.m. MPSF match on Monday (Feb. 18) in the Galen Center. The match, USC's third in a 5-day span, will be shown live on Pac-12 Networks.