No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Blocks Down Lions for Four-Set Road Win

Sunday, August 31

Los Angeles, Calif.

1:00 p.m. PT

USC

2-0,0-0Big Ten

Loyola Marymount

0-2,0-0WCC

Southern California

LMU (CA)

USC outside hitter Brooklyn Tealer and middle blocker Leah Ford go up to stop an attack from an LMU player at Gersten Pavilion

Photo by: Jon Kondrath

No. 21 USC Women's Volleyball Blocks Down Lions for Four-Set Road Win

August 31, 2025 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

MB Leah Ford had a double-double with 11 kills and 10 blocks in the Trojans’ first road victory

LOS ANGELES – The No. 21-ranked USC women's volleyball team (2-0) secured a 3-1 win (23-25, 25-14, 25-13, 25-18) over Loyola Marymount (0-2) at Gersten Pavilion on Sunday afternoon (Aug. 31).

KEY PLAYERS

Fr. OPP Abigail Mullen led all players with 19.0 points earned on 14 kills (2e, 25att) as she hit .480 to go with six blocks (two solo) and three digs.
Redshirt So. MB Leah Ford produced her first-career double-double with career highs of 11 kills and 10 blocks (three solo) for a career-best 18.5 points. She is the first USC player to reach double-digit blocks since Lindsey Miller had 11 in a match against Hawai'i on Aug. 31, 2023.
Fr. S Reese Messer put up 41 assists and had 10 digs for her first double-double as she set the Trojans to a .348 hitting percentage (53k, 14e, 112att) and added six kills (0e, 7att, .857) and a block.
Sr. LIB Gala Trubint had 11 digs for her 72nd-career match in double-digit digs to go with five assists and two service aces.
Redshirt So. OH London Wijay had 11 kills (2e, 26att) and hit .346 with three digs and career highs of four blocks and four service aces to total 17.0 points.
Redshirt Fr. OH Brooklyn Tealer started and played in her first collegiate match and finished the day with five kills, three digs, two blocks, a service ace, and an assist.
For the Lions, Sophie Stephenson had 13 kills and four digs. Cecily Bramschreiber had nine kills, eight digs, and a block. Delfina Schuh put up 21 assists with five digs and a pair of kills.

HOW IT HAPPENED

USC registered a .348 hitting percentage over the Lions' .080 and logged 16.0 blocks. LMU had six blocks. The Trojans also had more kills (53-35), more assists (51-31), the edge in digs (39-33), and more service aces (10-5).
The Trojans led set one by seven points, but LMU erased a 14-7 USC advantage with a 10-4 run. The Lions then used an 8-4 burst to close out a 25-23 win to take the opening frame. The Trojans had eight service errors in the first set but still outscored the Lions, 22.5 to 13.0, in the loss. Wijay and Tealer each had four kills apiece to lead the USC attack.
USC never trailed and secured the second set to even the match on a 25-14 win. Despite five more errors from the service line, the Trojans overcame deficiencies with efficiencies on a .565 hitting performance with 13 kills and no errors on just 23 swings. USC also racked up 7.5 blocks to keep the Lions at a .000 hitting rate (9k, 9e, 29att). Mullen entered the match in the second set and led all players with five kills while Wijay added three.
Ford had five kills, Mullen had three, and Wijay added two in the third set to help the Trojans run away with a 25-13 win for a 2-1 lead in the match. As a team, USC hit .409 with 11 kills (2e, 22att) but service pressure resulted in four Trojan aces and kept the LMU attack at a .080 rate (7k, 5e, 25att). USC built an early 10-point lead at 14-4, but the Lions fought back to trim it to six points at 17-11 before Mullen had back-to-back kills to make it 22-11 en route to a Trojan win.
Mullen scored 8.5 points in the fourth set with six kills and three blocks (two solo) as USC sewed up the victory on a 25-18 finish. Even though USC had five-point leads at several early moments, LMU closed to within one at 13-12 and 15-14. Mullen's tip-kill at 19-15 spurred USC to the finish. She later had back-to-back points for a 23-17 lead before Wijay's cross-court kill set the Trojans up with match point. Mullen and Ford combined for the final block and point of the match.

UP NEXT

USC hosts the Trojan Invitational at Galen Center next weekend with two matches each day (Friday-Sunday) Sept. 5-7. The Women of Troy take on UC Santa Barbara on Friday night (Sept. 5), San Diego on Saturday (Sept. 6), and close out the weekend with a match against Creighton on Sunday (Sept. 7) that will be shown live on Big Ten Network. The other USC matches, and neutral location contests on Friday and Sunday will be carried on Big Ten Plus.

MATCH NOTES

USC improved to 11-0 all-time against Loyola Marymount and moved to 3-0 as the road team in the series. The Trojans also played at Gersten Pavilion in 1993 (3-0 win) and in 2017 (3-1 win).
The Trojans go to 2-0 under Brad Keller for the third time (2024, 2022).
USC reached double digit blocks for the first time this season (16.0). The Trojans had double-digit blocks 20 times in 2024.
The Trojans had 10 service aces for their first double-digit aces match of the season. USC had three such matches in 2024 with 10 twice (vs. UCLA, vs. Washington) and a season-high 17 (at Illinois, Nov. 8).

For more information on the USC women's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/WVB. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow @USCWomensVolley on Facebook, X, TikTok, and Instagram.