No. 10 Men’s Volleyball Falls Just Short at No. 12 USC, 3-2

Thursday, January 2

Los Angeles, Calif.

10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT

Princeton University

0-2,0-0EIVA

#12 USC

1-0,0-0MPSF

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Princeton	22	25	23	25	10	2
Southern California	25	18	25	22	15	3

Photo by: Beverly Schaefer

No. 10 Men’s Volleyball Falls Just Short at No. 12 USC, 3-2

January 03, 2020 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score

LOS ANGELES – The No. 10 Princeton University men's volleyball team battled valiantly Thursday night inside the Galen Center, but came up just short 3-2 (25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-10) to the No. 12 University of Southern California in a match that featured a dominant performance by senior George Huhmann.

Huhmann led the match in kills with 23 and had a .318 hitting percentage along with five digs, three service aces and two blocks. Senior Parker Dixon added eight kills while junior Joe Kelly handed out a team-high 43 assists and also led Princeton in digs with nine.

The opening set saw Princeton use an early 3-0 run led off by a Trojan service error and also featuring a kill by Dixon and a service ace by senior Greg Luck to take a 6-3 lead, but the set would descend into a back-and-forth battle. With the score knotted 14-14, a 5-0 Tiger run that featured a USC ball handling error along with a double block by Luck and sophomore Jerod Nelsen, a kill by Huhmann, a kill by Nelsen and a double block by Luck and Huhmann gave the Tigers a 19-14 advantage. USC managed to halt the Tigers' momentum and eventually took a 21-20 lead then set, 25-22.

With assistance from a pair of early 3-0 runs, Princeton was able to race out to a 12-6 lead in the second set. A USC service error followed a Nelsen gave the Tigers a 14-7 advantage and from there they did not look back. A ball handling error by the Trojans helped Princeton get ahead 20-12 and the Tigers would hold on for the 25-18 victory in the second set.

Thanks to a pair of Huhmann kills along with freshman Alexander Mrkalj kill, the Tigers took an early 3-1 lead over the Trojans. USC showed resilience and bounced back to take a 5-3 advantage and while there would be 13 ties from that point on, USC would prevail in in a close third set, 25-23.

The early stages of the fourth set were played to a stalemate, but with the USC up 6-5 a kill by Luck followed by a double block by Luck and Kelly along with a Trojan attacking error saw Princeton surge ahead 8-6. The set played out as a close battle and with Princeton up 22-21 a Huhmann kill and Trojan attacking error gave the Tigers set point at 24-21. Fittingly, it was Huhmann who delivered the kill on set point as the Tigers came out on top 25-22.

A pair of errors by USC saw the Tigers take an early 3-2 lead in the fifth set, but the Trojans were able to knot the score at 4-4 then take the lead. From there they did not look back, taking the fifth and final set 15-10.

Up Next
Princeton will host the No. 2 University of California, Los Angeles (1-0) inside Dillon Gymnasium on Monday, January 6 at 2 p.m.