Sept. 16, 2005

LOS ANGELES -- Senior Bibiana Candelas (Torreón, Mexico/Colegio Ponceño) registered a career-high 23 kills Friday as the No. 12/16 USC Women of Troy defeated the Pepperdine Waves, 3-0 (30-24, 30-25, 30-26), at the Lyon Center. USC has now won 13 straight matches against Pepperdine.

Candelas controlled the tempo for USC (4-4) in the first two games, recording eight kills in each game. She had a team-high .465 percentage (23-3-43) for the match while senior outside hitter Staci Venski added 11 kills.

Junior Sophia Milo led Pepperdine (3-4) with 13 kills on the evening.

USC forced Pepperdine into 33 attacking errors as the Waves hit .000 (12-12-39) in game one and .019 (13-12-53) in game two. The Women of Troy had 14 blocks in the match, including 10 solo blocks (three by freshman Kelli Tennant).

In the first game, USC cruised to an early lead. At 24-16, the Waves mounted a mini comeback until Candelas used a tip to stop the rally.

The Women of Troy jumped out to another early lead in the second game, but Pepperdine rallied from a 14-7 lead. The Waves scored eight consecutive points, including back-to-back solo blocks by Milo. A Pepperdine service error stopped the streak and USC then overtook the lead with an 8-1 run later in the game. Katelyn Bishop used a kill to finish the game win for the Women of Troy.

The lead changed hands in the third game, but USC snapped a 22-22 tie with five straight points en route to the sweep.

USC will open Pac-10 Conference play next weekend at Stanford on Friday (Sept. 23) at 7 p.m. and California on Saturday (Sept. 24) at 7 p.m. Friday's game at Stanford will be broadcast on a delayed basis on FOX Sports Net.

PEP	24-25-26
USC	30-30-30
Records: Pepperdine (3-4), USC (4-4)
Kills: Sophia Milo 13 (Pepperdine), Bibiana Candelas 23 (USC)
Team Attack:
	PEP	USC
1	.000	.222
2	.019	.170
3	.234	.341
Totals	.086	.241