USC Men’s Volleyball Sweeps Concordia in Quarterfinals of MPSF Tournament

Men’s Volleyball | April 20, 2022

Box Score WESTWOOD, Calif.—Sam Kobrine had 14 kills while hitting .480 to help the No. 2 seeded USC men’s volleyball team sweep Concordia 3-0 (25-19, 25-22, 25-19) in the MPSF Quarterfinal match on Wednesday (Apr. 20) in UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion in Westwood, Calif. 
 
With this victory, the Trojans advance to the Semifinals of the tournament. 
 
USC improves to 22-6 on the 2022 season, while the Eagles dropped to 10-16 overall. 
 
In addition to his 14 kills, Kobrine recorded 5 digs, 4 aces, 1 block and 1 assist. Simon Gallas added on 10 kills of his own (.409) and tallied 5 digs, 3 blocks and 3 assists. Brandon Browning collected 9 kills (.500) and added on 6 digs, 2 blocks and 1 assist
 
For the Eagles, Owen Chun tallied 10 kills hitting .250, while three other Concordia hitters collected 5 kills each. 
 
As a team, USC hit .462 compared to Concordia’s .222. 
 
The Trojans took an early 10-7 lead in the first set to open the match. They maintained control of the set as Hall ran a balanced offense to help USC win 25-19. Sam Kobrine was a dominating force in set one as he collected 7 kills, hitting .636.
 
The Eagles tightened up play on their side of the net and stayed neck-and-neck with the Trojans as the two teams were tied at 14-14. Two aces from Hall and multiple kills at the end of long rallies tipped the momentum to USC’s side of the net. USC continued to push points and won the second set 25-22 to take a 2-0 overall lead in the match. 
 
After starting the set exchanging points back and forth, the Trojans pulled away after USC won an energy-shifting point off a massive block from Paulson and Gallas to take a 12-10 lead. From that moment, USC never lost sight of the finish line. Hall distributed the ball to his hitters all across the net and Kobrine, Gallas and Browning continued to score. USC won the third set 25-19 to take the match. 
 
With this victory, USC advances to the Semifinals of the MPSF Tournament. The Trojans will take on the highest remaining seed in the tournament tomorrow (Thursday) at 7 p.m. PT in UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion in Westwood, Calif. 
 
Tonight (Apr. 20) , No. 3 Pepperdine takes on No. 6 BYU, and No. 4 Grand Canyon faces No. 5 Stanford. The highest remaining seed of these four teams will be USC’s opponent tomorrow night….