The team with the nation’s longest active winning streak is coming to USC.
USC as part of unveiling its 2024 regular season schedule on Monday announced it will have a home non-conference match against Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 13.
Lincoln Memorial finished last season on a nation-best 19-match winning streak and dropped a combined three sets during the streak. The Railsplitters also were ranked No. 4 in the Division II National Coaches Poll and won the IVA championship for the fifth consecutive season.
Among the starters returning includes middle attacker Matthew Gentry. The 2023 IVA Co-Offensive Player of the Year was third in the nation with a .486 attack percentage and in the nation’s top 20 averaging 0.43 aces per game.
USC ended the 2023 season in sixth place in the MPSF and lost in the conference tournament quarterfinals.
Freshman All-American outside attacker Dillon Klein highlights the USC returning starters. Klein last season was in the nation’s top 25 averaging 3.60 kills per game and spent the offseason playing for the United States in the FIVB U21 World Championship.
This will be the second all-time meeting between the Trojans and Railsplitters. USC swept Lincoln Memorial at the Off the Block Grow the Game Challenge in 2019.
USC 2024 regular season schedule
Jan. 5 vs. Fort Valley State
Jan. 6 vs. Morehouse
Jan. 11 vs. Harvard
Jan. 13 vs. Lincoln Memorial
Jan. 19 vs. Ball State (in Austin, Texas)
Jan. 20 vs. Ohio State (in Austin, Texas)
Jan. 24 vs. CSUN
Jan. 25 vs. Central State
Jan. 31 at UC San Diego
Feb. 2 vs. UC San Diego
Feb. 7 at UC Irvine
Feb. 10 vs. UC Irvine
Feb. 14 at Concordia
Feb. 16 vs. Concordia
Feb. 23 at Grand Canyon
Feb. 24 at Grand Canyon
Feb. 29 vs. UCLA
March 2 at UCLA
March 6 vs. Penn State
March 8 vs. Ohio State
March 14 at Pepperdine
March 30 vs. Pepperdine
April 5 vs. BYU
April 6 vs. BYU
April 12 at Stanford
April 13 at Stanford