Men's volleyball

Match slips away; playoff chances next?

By Ron Ognar
Assistant Sports Editor

The No. 14 USC men's volleyball team let a 2-1 advantage slip away for its second straight match as it was swept by San Diego State in the season series for the first time since 1983.
The 17-15, 9-15, 11-15, 15-10, 15-11 loss probably means the Trojans will need to win both of their final matches against UC San Diego tonight and Long Beach State on Tuesday if they hope to qualify for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation playoffs. Even with two victories, USC will need help from other teams to qualify for one of the two remaining playoff spots.
No. 12 Loyola Marymount, who is 7-10 in conference play, is a full game up on the Trojans (10-14 overall, 6-11 in the MPSF). Since Loyola defeated USC earlier this season, the Lions also hold the tiebreaker advantage.
USC's other main competition comes from UC Santa Barbara, who is 7-9 in the MPSF and 1 1/2 games ahead of the Trojans. USC does hold the tiebreaker advantage since the team defeated the Gauchos on March 25.
In their victory, the Aztecs were led by 6-foot-5 senior outside hitter Matt Hyden. Hyden had a dominating 45-kill, .507-hitting, 10-dig and six-block performance.
Junior middle blocker Tom Hunter had 27 kills and hit .451.
For USC, freshman outside hitter Eli Fairfield led the way with 36 kills, hitting .352.
Middle blocker Omar Rawi had 22 kills, and fellow middle blocker Szilard Kovacs had 21 kills. Kovacs, who's 1.78 blocking average is the seventh best in the nation, also had a match-high 12 blocks.
Sophomore setter Donald Suxho had a match-high 92 assists and 25 digs.
USC was plagued by poor serving. The team had three aces, compared to 16 service errors. Meanwhile, the Aztecs served five aces and nine errors.
For the match, San Diego State hit .367 compared to USC's .332 percentage.
The Trojans did edge the Aztecs in both kills and assists, USC outdug San Diego State 64-55 and had 12 more assists.
***
The Trojans will have two must wins in their attempt to qualify for the playoffs when they travel to UC San Diego for a matchup at 5 p.m. tonight and then to No. 7 Long Beach State on Tuesday.
The Tritons have yet to win a conference match in 16 tries this season and have only three wins overall.
UCSD ranks last in the MPSF in hitting percentage, kill average, assist average and dig average.
USC crushed UCSD on Jan. 31, 15-6, 15-8, 15-5, for its first conference victory of the season.
In the match, USC hit .563 while holding UCSD to a .129 percentage.
Kovacs had 16 kills while hitting .520.
Freshman outside hitter Ryan Thurlow had 14 kills and hit .526.