She found both at USC, and the partnership has worked out well for both parties.
AS USC prepares for visits from the Oregons — No. 17 Oregon comes to the Galen Center and Oregon State is in Los Angeles on Sunay — Fields leads the Pac-12 in kills per set (4.89), seventh in the nation, and total kills (308) while hitting a formidable .311.
The 6-foot-2 product of Missouri City, Texas, also has 30 blocks, is averaging 1.75 digs per set and has 11 aces.
The Trojans (13-4 overall, 5-1 atop the Pac-12) are riding a four-match winning streak and are well on their way to a vast improvement on last season’s marks of 15-15, 10-10.
“We have a common goal in mind, and I think we understand that we’re the underdog right now,” said Fields, a three-time all-Big 12 first-team selection and 2021 VolleyballMag.com fourth-team All-American “We’re really trying to be there for one another and play for each other. I think that’s the biggest thing we’ve been doing. We’re going to announce who USC volleyball is.”
This week Fields was named the AVCA national player of the week. In USC’s victory at Arizona, she had 22 kills, hit .333 and had 13 digs and two blocks, one solo. Two days later at Arizona State, Fields had 27 more kills, hit .429, and had an ace, a solo block and 12 digs.
A new culture, battling through the pandemic
The trajectory of USC is decidedly on the upswing after two seasons of running in place.
Third-year coach Brad Keller was hired just days before the pandemic shut down the world in March 2020. He spent the better part of his first season seeing his players on Zoom before they were able to reconvene in person for what he called a “fake” season.
The Trojans went 7-8.
For the “real” 2021 season, without much depth returning, Keller was forced to piecemeal a roster using a lot of grad transfers who would see the program through the fall.
“It’s not like they were able to be together for very long,” he said. “It felt like they had a spring season and then fall was like, we threw them together at the last minute and all these different kinds of styles … It’s hard to get a team to jell when you’re teaching an old dog new tricks.”
That short-lived collection of players managed to finish .500. But Keller said the pedestrian record belied what that group was able to…
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