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A pair EIVA team that traditionally do not play USC are on the Trojans’ schedule for the upcoming season.
USC as part of recently unveiling its 2017 schedule announced it will play home non-conference matches against Harvard and Sacred Heart in March.
The mid-season match will be the first meeting between USC and Sacred Heart in their programs’ histories. In addition, the Trojans are 2-0 all-time against the Crimson with their last victory occurring in 2011.
USC finished last season under first-year head coach Jeff Nygaard in 11th place in the MPSF and missed the postseason for the second time in almost a decade. Outside attackers Lucas Yoder and Christopher Orenic, though, enter their senior seasons after representing the United States at the beach volleyball World University Championships during the off-season.
Harvard for the fifth consecutive year qualified for the four-team EIVA Tournament and ended the 2016 season with a loss in the conference semifinals. Among the starters returning for the Crimson this upcoming season includes all-conference setter Marko Kostich and all-conference outside attacker Casey White.
Sacred Heart in the first season under head coach Greg Walker finished in sixth place in the EIVA and missed the 2016 postseason. The Pioneers also return a majority of starters highlighted by All-EIVA opposite Christopher DeLucie and All-EIVA libero Joshua Ayzenberg.
These will be two of the four non-conference matches the Trojans will play against EIVA schools in 2017. USC in the opening week of the season will have a neutral-site match versus Penn State and will play host to George Mason in March.
USC is 29-8 all-time against current schools in the EIVA with all eight losses coming against Penn State.