For the first time since Oct. 1, the Cougs volleyball team is back on the road. Ready to make history, WSU searches for just its sixth-ever win against USC on their home court Friday night, sitting at 5-30 all-time against the Trojans on the road.
No. 4 WSU Volleyball (17-2, 7-1 Pac-12) looks primed to do it as they have looked like a dominant team compared to the middling USC Trojans (11-7, 5-3). Although holding a bad road record, overall, the Cougs have a 19-51 record against USC, ready to take in their 20th program win.
In the last five meetings between the two programs, WSU is 4-1, and since 2016, the Cougs are 6-4 against USC, proving head coach Jen Greeny as seemingly figured out the Trojans attack in recent years.
WSU is riding a two-match sweep streak against Utah and Colorado. In their last five wins, they have only dropped a single set, which happened when they took on then-No. 6 Oregon on the road Oct. 1.
The Trojans are losers of three of four, getting taken down in five sets against Arizona State, beating Arizona in five before losing two straight to No. 3 Stanford and California.
Winning their first four Pac-12 matches before their recent rough patch, USC has taken care of business against the teams they should but have lacked getting an upset over a team ahead of them in the rankings.
After their third straight week being named the No. 4 team in the nation, the Cougs officially broke the program record for the longest streak at that ranking, their highest ever. It is also the 36th week in program history they find themselves in the top 10 and the 185th time they’ve appeared in the top 25.
Their ranking is in large part to their record-breaking core, which finds themselves inching closer to several program and national records. Pia Timmer is 18 aces away and 336.5 points away from becoming the WSU all-time leader in both categories. Magda Jehlárová is 69 blocks away from becoming the Pac-12 career leader and 64 away from becoming the NCAA leader in the rally-scoring era.
The record chase and WSU volleyball will return at 7 p.m. Friday in Los Angeles at the Galen Center.
