No. 7 BYU hits the road for matches at No. 2 USC

PROVO, Utah – No. 7 BYU men’s volleyball hits the road this week for a pair of conference matches at No. 2 USC.

USC

• The Cougars (8-2, 7-1 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) face off against the Trojans (8-1, 7-1 MPSF) Thursday and Friday night at 7 p.m. PST at the Galen Center.
• BYU and USC are tied for first place in the league, each with just one loss in conference play. The Cougars fell at USCB while the Trojans lost their first match of the season last week at Hawaii.
• The two teams met three times a season ago, with BYU picking up all three wins – a five-set victory on the road and two sweeps at home (including an MPSF tournament quarterfinals victory).
• The Cougars lead the overall series 33-11, but are just 12-7 when playing at USC.
• The Trojans were picked to finish third in the conference this season after an eighth-place finish a year ago.

• USC is led by Christopher Orenic’s 3.20 kills per set, Micah Christenson’s 10.75 assist average, 1.89 digs per set from Brooks Varni and a 1.04 block average from Andy Benesh.

BYU won both matches last week against Cal Baptist – on Friday in four sets before getting a sweep on Saturday – to extend its record home-winning streak to 32-straight matches.

VIDEO/STATS

Both matches this week will be streamed live on pac-12.com. Links to live stats and video feeds can be found on the BYU men’s volleyball schedule page.