King University closes road trip with defeat to #11 USC

Warren Davis/Men's Basketball | King University

By Press release submission

Jan 21, 2023

For the fourth time in as many days the King University men's volleyball faced a ranked team as they took on 11th-ranked USC at Long Beach State. Warren Davis led the way for the Tornado with a career-high 12 kills, but USC took the match 3-0.

THE BASICS

FINAL SCORE: #11 USC 3, King 0 (25-16, 25-17, 25-16)

LOCATION: Long Beach, Calif.

RECORDS: King 0-5; USC 4-1

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Set

Davis and Kellan Kennedy started the match with consecutive kills before a block from Mason Martindale, Kennedy and AJ Drooker gave King a 3-1 lead.
Another Kennedy kill gave King a 4-2 lead before the Trojans scored five straight points.
Following back-to-back Tornado points, USC scored four straight points to take an 11-6 lead before the teams traded points.
USC put the set out of reach with a 4-0 run that stretched the lead to 19-11 as the Trojans took the set 25-16.

Second Set

The King offense start hot again, with two kills from Kennedy followed by terminations from Martindale and Drooker that evened the set at four.
A Martindale kill and ace gave King a 6-5 lead before three straight Trojan points.
King later fought back and evened the score at 10 and 11 on kills from Davis and Martindale.
However, USC answered with six straight points to put the set out of reach.
The teams then traded points until the Trojans took the set 25-17.

Third Set

A Martindale kill gave King a 3-2 lead before USC Scored eight of the next nine points, including five straight to take a 10-4 advantage.
The Tornado couldn't recover as the teams traded points for the remainder of the set as USC took the frame 25-16 and the match 3-0.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Davis led the Tornado with a match-high 12 kills and .333 attack percentage.
Martindale followed with nine kills while Drooker and Kennedy added four kills each.
Jack Sarnowski handed out 25 assists and added five digs and three blocks.
Gabriel Cabanzon chipped in with five digs.

FOR THE FOES

Dillon Klein led USC with 11 kills, five blocks and three digs.
Kevin Kobrine added 10 kills.
Nate Tennant posted 36 assists while Simon Galls led the defense with seven digs to go along with nine kills.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE