USC Serves Notice; Pepperdine Wins

GOLETA — Give the USC women’s volleyball team an A.

For ace.

The Trojans’ first point and their second-to-last one came on aces, and, with nine more in between, USC all but served Michigan State off the court in a 30-17, 30-23, 30-15 sweep of the Spartans in an NCAA west regional semifinal match Thursday night at UC Santa Barbara.

“I thought our team brought their A game,” USC Coach Mick Haley said. “Our serving was exceptional, and I thought we fired on all cylinders.”

The top-seeded Trojans (28-1) started strong and finished not only with the 11 aces, but also an exceptional three-game hitting percentage of .454.

The victory, USC’s ninth in a row since its loss to Stanford on Nov. 2, sends the Trojans into the regional championship match at 7 tonight against ninth-seeded Pepperdine (26-6), a 30-22, 30-23, 25-30, 30-19 winner over UC Santa Barbara (30-3).

USC used its superior depth and strength to sink unseeded Michigan State (21-12) with different players in each game.

“We have so many hitters, you can’t really adapt to it in each game,” said USC outside hitter April Ross, who had a match-high 11 kills. “If we bring our A game, that’s all we have to do.”

In Pepperdine’s victory, Katie Wilkins had 11 kills and Breegan Mulligan had eight kills and seven digs as the Waves advanced to a regional championship game for the first time.

Pepperdine has won 17 consecutive matches since a three-game loss to USC on Oct. 8.