#22 USC Knocks Off #13 Volleyball For Trojan Invitational Title

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — No. 22 USC defeated No. 13 Creighton Volleyball for the primary time since 2018 in straight units to win the Trojan Invitational on Sunday afternoon on the Galen Center in Los Angeles, Calif. 

Scores of the match in favor of the Women of Troy have been 25-23, 25-22, 25-16. 

Senior Ava Martin led Creighton (3-3) with a match-high tying 9 kills, whereas sophomore Jaya Johnson added seven kills and three blocks. Annalea Maeder contributed one other double-double with 26 assists and a team-high tying 12 digs. AS a crew, Creighton completed the match with 36 kills, two aces, 44 digs and 5 blocks whereas hitting .096 general. 

The Women of Troy have been paced by 9 kills from London Wijay, whereas Abigail Mullen added seven kills and a team-high 12 digs. USC (5-0) closed the match with 35 kills, three aces, 46 digs, 10 blocks on .357 hitting.

USC ended the primary set on a 5-0 run to take the opener, 25-23, in a body that featured seven ties and 4 lead modifications. The Bluejays lead for a lot of the primary set, utilizing kills from seven totally different Bluejays to take a 23-20 lead. CU had a number of possibilities to take a 1-0 lead within the match, solely to be turned again every time because the Women of Troy used a pair of Bluejay assault errors and a Wijay service ace to take the opening set, 25-23.

A back-and-forth second set noticed Creighton fall behind 14-11 early, earlier than scoring eight of the subsequent 11 factors to surge out in entrance 19-17 on a block from Abbey Hayes and Kiara Reinhardt. After USC answered with a 3-0 run to take a 20-19 lead, CU responded with a 3-0 surge of their very own on Sydney Breissinger’s serve to enter the crimson zone with a 23-20 benefit. USC, nonetheless, would rating the ultimate 5 factors of the set to take a 2-0 lead into intermission. 

The Trojans accomplished the sweep with a 25-16 victory within the closeout set. USC constantly earned sideouts to forestall the Bluejays from stringing collectively factors, finally pulling away with a 7-1 run to take a 17-9 lead halfway by the third set, earlier than a trio of kills from Rylie McGinest closed out the victory for the Trojans. USC hit .500 within the remaining set, with Reese Messer dispensing 11 assists. 

Both Martin and Reinhardt earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team for the Bluejays. Led by Trojan Invitational MVP Abigail Mullen, No. 22 USC received the round-robin match with an ideal 3-0 report. 

After three straight weekends on the street, Creighton might be residence every of the subsequent three weeks, starting with the Bluejay Invitational on Friday. Rice takes on Northern Iowa at 4:30 p.m., earlier than Creighton opens the 2025 residence slate in opposition to No. 3 Louisville in an 8 p.m. match that might be televised nationally on FS1. 

2025 TROJAN INVITATIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

USC – Abigail Mullen, OPP / Most Outstanding Player

USC – Reese Messer, S

USC – London Wijay, OH

UCSB – Eva Travis, OH

2025 TROJAN INVITATIONAL FINAL STANDINGS

1. USC / 3-0

2. Creighton / 2-1

3. UC Santa Barbara / 1-2

4. San Diego / 0-3