No. 10 BYU men’s volleyball will host No. 4 USC on Friday and Saturday nights at the Smith Fieldhouse, with significant Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) standings implications late in the regular season, according to an April 9 announcement.
The matches are crucial for BYU as they represent the team’s final home games of the regular season before heading on the road to face No. 1 UCLA and then participating in the MPSF Tournament, which will also be held at BYU’s Smith Fieldhouse. The Cougars currently sit in fourth place in the MPSF, tied with Stanford, and two wins this weekend would move them into a tie with USC for third place.
Saturday’s match will also serve as Senior Night for four players—Jackson Fife, Cole Hauser, Tyler Herget, and Trent Moser—who will be honored for their contributions during their final regular-season home appearances.
Head coach Shawn Olmstead recently surpassed Carl McGown for most wins by a head coach in program history with his 206th victory over his eleven seasons at BYU. The Cougars have maintained a top-10 national ranking throughout this season despite some losses that saw them drop from as high as No. 7 back to No. 10.
Key contributors include senior outside hitter Trent Moser, who leads offensively with an average of 3.18 kills per set and achieved a career-high of 22 kills against Stanford earlier this year; senior setter Tyler Herget is averaging over ten assists per set—second-best in conference play—and ranks sixth all-time at BYU with more than 2,500 career assists; AJ Cottle leads defensively with just over one block per set as BYU ranks eleventh nationally in blocks per set.
USC enters these matches on an eight-game win streak and holds a record of sixteen wins and three losses overall but has played only four road games so far this season outside California—with Provo being their only such trip scheduled beyond state lines. Dillon Klein stands out among Trojans’ players ranking second nationally for both kills (4.20 per set) and points (4.97 per set), while Wesley Smith leads conference blocking stats.
BYU leads the all-time series against USC by fifty-one wins to twenty-nine but has lost its last four meetings against them.
Both contests can be streamed live on Big Ten Plus; Saturday’s game will also air nationally via Big Ten Network.
