The Minnesota Gophers volleyball team dropped its second match of conference play on Saturday night (23-25, 25-22, 11-25, 18-25) as USC exacted a measure of revenge against the Gophers for the outcome on the football field earlier in the evening.

Minnesota started strong, grabbing an early 5-2 lead. However, it didn't last long. USC went on its own run to jump in front.

From there, it was a close, back-and-forth fight to the finish but, after the Gophers tied it at 23-23, the Trojans scored the final two points to take the first set.

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The Gophers responded in Set 2, staying close the entire frame before ending it on a 6-1 run to even the match at one set apiece.

Unfortunately, it all quickly went downhill from there.

USC jumped out to an 8-2 lead in Set 3. The Gophers briefly got the margin down to five but the Trojans ran away with the set from there, dominating to go up 2-1.

The Gophers did play better in the fourth frame but still couldn't handle the Trojans. Minnesota led 13-10 before USC used an 8-2 surge to take control and a 6-1 run to close it out.

USC out-blocked the Gophers 13-6 and outdug Minnesota 58-36 while using a balanced attack to take down the Maroon and Gold.

Lydia Grote led the Gophers with 16 kills while Melani Shaffmaster had 33 assists.

The Gophers, now 9-5 (2-2 in Big Ten play), will next play on Friday when Indiana comes to town. That match is set to start at 6:30 p.m.