PITTSBURGH – The eighth-seeded 25th-ranked USC women's volleyball team (19-12) swept UMBC (17-8) in three sets (25-18, 25-10, 25-12) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Petersen Events Center on Friday, Dec. 1. The Women of Troy improved to 34-5 in NCAA first round matches and advance to meet the winner of a match between fourth-ranked Pittsburgh and Coppin State in the second round set for a 7 p.m. ET first serve on Saturday, Dec. 2.
 
KEY PLAYERS

• Sr. OH Skylar Fields led the Trojans with 10 kills (1e, 22att) and hit .409 to go with four digs and two blocks. It was her 58th time in double-digit kills as a Trojan. She now has 1,194 kills at USC and 2,120 in her career.
• Fr. OH London Wijay logged a match-high 13 digs and added six kills (2e, 18att, .222) and a block. It was Wijay's ninth match in double-digit digs for the Women of Troy.
• So. MB Tyrah Ariail put up six kills (0e, 8att) and hit .750 to go with four blocks and had one of five Trojan service aces.
• Jr. S Mia Tuaniga put up 38 assists to set USC to its second match over .400 hitting (.420) with six digs, and four blocks.
• Sr. MB Lindsey Miller had six kills (0e, 11att) to hit .545 and recorded four blocks.
• Gr. OPP Kalyah Williams also had six kills (0e, 13att) for a .462 hitting rate and tallied three blocks.
• So. LIB Gala Trubint put up 11 digs with a service ace and recorded her 47th-career match in double-digit digs.
• Gr. DS Ellie Snook recorded six digs and served a pair of aces.
• For the Retrievers, Mia Bilusic led with six kills. Julija Grubisic Cabo had five kills and Kamani Conteh posted four kills. Aysia Miller led UMBC with nine digs and Hannah Howard added eight digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• USC out-hit UMBC, .420 to .043, and had more kills (42-20), aces (5-3), digs (45-32) and blocks (10-2). It was the 12th time this season that the Trojans have posted double-digit blocks in a match.
• The Retrievers led briefly at 5-3, but the Trojans forced the only lead change of the opening set at 9-8 on a bad UMBC set. USC never trailed and opened a four-point lead at 21-17 on a kill by Williams before closing out a 25-18 win on a kill from Wijay. Fields and Ariail each had four kills apiece in set one. Williams had two kills and Trubint led the Trojans with five digs; Snook came up with four digs.
• UMBC took the first point of the second set, but the Trojans ripped through a 7-0 run to seize the lead for good. USC had six blocks and Wijay dug up eight balls to help hold the Retrievers to a negative .083 hitting percentage. In the end, the Trojans got four kills from Fields and three from Miller to pull away for a 15-point win, 25-10, to lead, 2-0, in the match.
• The Trojans scored the first four points of set three and never looked back en route to a 25-12 win to wrap up the sweep. USC had 17 kills (1e, 29att) to hit .552 in the set and got kills from eight different players including four from Katelyn Smith and three more from Wijay. Trubint dug up five balls and Tuaniga had four digs to go with 15 assists.

UP NEXT

• The Women of Troy move into the second round for the 34th time in program history and will await the winner of a match between Coppin State (27-4) and fourth-ranked site host Pittsburgh (25-4). USC will face either the Eagles or the Panthers at 7 p.m. ET (4 p.m. PT) at Petersen Events Center on Saturday, Dec. 2. The match will be shown on ESPN+.

MATCH NOTES

• USC improves to 3-0 all-time against UMBC and beats the Retrievers away from home for the first time.
• The Women of Troy go to 2-1 all-time in the state of Pennsylvania.
• The Trojans recorded double-digit blocks for the 12th time this season.
• USC goes to 129-42 (.754) all-time in postseason matches with an 83-35 (.703) record in the NCAA tournament.
• The Trojans improved to 34 -5 in NCAA tournament first-round matches.

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, and Instagram.