No. 10 USC Men’s Volleyball Falls to No. 2 Grand Canyon

PHOENIX – The 10th-ranked USC men’s volleyball team (10-5, 2-1 MPSF) fell to No. 2 Grand Canyon (12-0, 3-0) in four sets (21-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-15) at Global Credit Union Arena on Friday, Feb. 23.
 
KEY PLAYERS

• So. OH Dillon Klein reached double-digit kills for the 32nd time in his career and finished with a team-best 16.5 points collected on 15 kills (5e, 40att, .250) to go with six digs and three blocks.
• Fr. S Caleb Blanchette put up 33 assists with five digs and two blocks.
• Fr. MB Wesley Smith had 10 kills (0e, 14att) and hit .714 with three blocks (two solo).
• So. OH Riley Haine scored 11 kills (3e, 22att) with .364 hitting and had five digs.
• Sr. MB Kyle Paulson hit .467 and had seven kills (0e) on 15 swings with three blocks and three service aces.
• Jr. L Austin Stuard reached double-digit digs for the fifth time and finished with 10 and four assists.
• For the Antelopes, Cameron Thorne and Jackson Hickman each had 14 kills apiece to power the offense. Thorne had six blocks and Hickman had four. Nicholas Slight had 46 assists with eight digs and a block. Karter Rogers put up 11 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• USC took the first set, 25-21, behind .516 hitting and had 18 kills (2e) on 31 swings. Smith collected six of his kills in the opening frame while Haine contributed five kills and Klein had four. GCU hit .393 with 14 kills and had eight digs.
• The Trojans had 4.5 blocks in set two but hit only…