Jan. 12, 2003

The USC men's volleyball team opened its 2003 season with a seventh place finish in the UC Santa Barbara Elephant Bar Invitational on Friday and Saturday (Jan. 10-11).

The Trojans (1-2), seeded eighth in the eight-team tournament, opened play with a 30-25, 32-34, 30-27, 30-24 loss to top-seeded UCLA. Troy then lost to No. 4-seed Long Beach State, 30-23, 28-30, 30-27, 27-30, 15-7 before beating No. 3-seed Pacific, 30-26, 28-30, 30-24, 24-30, 15-12.

USC next hosts Pepperdine this Friday (Jan. 17) at 7 p.m. in the Lyon Center in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener.

UC Irvine upset UCLA to win the tourney championship.

The Trojans, under new head coach Turhan Douglas, are looking to rebound from last season's 6-22 mark.