This year, Batenhorst and Tuaniga joined two of the 16 BIG10 players who joined the 2024 Professional Volleyball Federation draft. Batenhorst, who made history as the first USC volleyball standout to earn the BIG10 Player of the Week moniker, got drafted by the Omaha Supernovas. Meanwhile, Tuaniga will also start her pro volleyball journey in 2025 with the Atlanta Vibe.

Batenhorst’s team hasn’t failed to earn an NCAA title for two decades. However, South Carolina’s volleyball program has earned multiple national titles in the past and continues to produce elite players such as Ally Batenhorst and Mia Tuaniga. So in light of the 2024 squad’s significant achievement, here’s a look at what makes this decades-old program truly unique.

Home Venue: Galen Centre and Merle Norman Stadium

USC volleyball’s uniqueness starts right inside their university campus with their home stadium, Galen Center. There’s nothing special about having the home stadium inside the university campus; venues such as the Bob Devaney Sports Center inside the Nebraska campus are among the most famous college volleyball venues in the nation. However, what makes USC unique is that they have two.

Yes, you read that right. USC has two home venues for its volleyball programs. The first and older one is Galen Center, which opened its doors to USC volleyball fans as the men’s and women’s home ground in 2006. However, the other one, opened seven years later right across Galen Center, is the Merle Norman Stadium, solely dedicated to the university’s beach volleyball team.

Built with “generous donations” from Jack and Helen Nethercutt and John and Melinda Muller, Merle Norman Stadium is named after Nethercutt’s great aunt, Merle Nethercutt Norman. Jack Nethercutt, who serves as the Chairman for Merle Norman Cosmetics, has a deep love for USC’s volleyball program. His daughter Erica Nethercutt even played for the Women of Troy in 2013.

Besides donations by the Nethercutts and Muller, “an anonymous donor” also contributed to the construction of the beach volleyball ground. Surrounded by palm trees, the Merle Norman Stadium’s court contains sand from the U.S. Olympic Training Center. Meanwhile, Galen Center is USC’s state-of-the-art indoor volleyball stadium capable of hosting NCAA games with crowds of up to 10,258.

The official home for USC volleyball men’s and women’s squads contained not one, not two, but four practice grounds with several facilities to benefit the players. With dedicated locker rooms for the home and visiting teams, a weight room, and a medical training room, the 255,000-square-foot arena is the culmination of a dream.

“A place where students, alumni, friends, and community members could gather together to share the Trojan spirit,” reads the official USC volleyball website dedicated to the venue. However, one can’t talk about USC’s volleyball program without mentioning its accolades.

Records and Achievements

The USC women’s volleyball program took its first steps under legendary coach Chuck Erbe in 1976. With Erbe’s pioneering vision, the USC volleyball clinched its first national title in the very first year of its inception. The girls under Erbe repeated the feat the following year in 1977, becoming AIAW National Champions consecutively. 1977 was also the year the program earned its first perfect season, 38 wins and no defeats.

Chuck Erbe would go on to solidify his position as the most successful coach in USC volleyball history after winning the national title two more times in 1980 and 1981. And while you may consider this period as USC’s golden years, the team also won two NCAA titles in 2002 and 2003 under former U.S. women’s Olympic team head coach Mick Haley.

However, USC hasn’t won another national title since Haley led the team to an undefeated season in 2003. However, the Women of Troy have continued to make headlines. Trojans have been named first-team All-Americans 48 times. They’ve also been part of 24 Olympic rosters. Meanwhile, the fledgling UCS beach volleyball program has already built a legacy in beach volleyball.

USC volleyball won the 2015 AVCA national title two years after the construction of the Merle Norman Stadium. They followed it up by winning four NCAA beach volleyball events in 2016, 2017, 201, and 2022. Now, after looking at the history, we turn the lens to the program’s current coach and roster.

USC volleyball current team and coach

The university’s current NCAA roster consists of:

• #1 Adonia Faumuina, Opposite Hitter
• #2 London Wijay, Outside Hitter
• #4 Megan Verbiest, Libero
• #7 Leah Ford, Middle Blocker
• #9 Allie Hazelwood, Setter
• #10 Lindsey Miller, Middle Blocker
• #12 Favor Anyanwu, Middle Blocker
• #13 Tyrah Ariail, Middle Blocker
• #14 Ally Batenhorst, Outside Hitter
• #15 Dani Thomas-Nathan, Outside Hitter
• #16 Gala Trubint, Libero
• #17 Paisley Douglas, Libero
• #18 Grae Gosnell, Outside Hitter
• #21 Brooklyn Tealer, Outside Hitter
• #22 Rylie McGinest, Middle Blocker
• #23 Madison Pietsch, Opposite Hitter
• #42 Jadyn Livings, Outside Hitter
• #91 Mia Tuaniga, Setter

While seniors Ally Batenhosrt and Mia Tuaniga won’t be part of the coming season, coach Brad Keller will continue to helm the Trojans. Keller, who is in his fifth season, has been the program’s head coach since February 20, 2020. The Trojans have built a winning record of 63-47 under Keller. Interestingly, the college volleyball coach’s connection with USC dates back to 2007.

Before joining the USC women’s program, Keller coached the university’s men’s volleyball program for four seasons. During his final season as the men’s coach in 2011, he helped the Anteaters finish as the season’s #3 ranked team. Now as the coach of the women’s side of USC volleyball, Keller aims to lead the team to an NCAA title.