On a night when the Pac-10's Arizona, Washington State, and even No. 4 Washington all were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament, the USC women's volleyball team (22-9) was out-of-position, made unforced errors, and was being blanked 7-0 by Oklahoma (18-12) to open their first round game.

But instead of getting frustrated and quitting, something Trojans coach Mick Haley said might have happened with last season's team, the 2009 version stayed composed.

"Every team goes through some lows," sophomore outside hitter Alex Jupiter said, "but you just have to work and keep fighting."

Jupiter slams a kill across court to finally get the Trojans on the board. 7-1.

"At some point, it's just going to come back." Jupiter gets another kill off a blocker. 9-4.

"They are going to hit a low. You just have to be patient." Kendall Bateman sets up Jupiter again. Her spike splits the blockers and finds the hardwood between the Sooners' defenders. 10-6

Oklahoma regains the serve, but that's exactly when the patience paid off. Trailing by five points, USC took advantage of Oklahoma's errors and got key plays by senior Jessica Gysin and middle blocker Audrey Eichler.

Gysin notches a pair of kills sandwiched by a big block. 11-9.

Eichler records her own kill, and after another Jupiter kill, Eichler stuffs Brianne Barker. All of a sudden, the Women of Troy were not only back in the game, but led 12-11 causing Oklahoma coach Santiago Restrepo to call a timeout.

Haley said he was proud of the team's attitude and resiliency.

"We didn't panic when they got ahead. We stayed with it and were consistent," said Haley.

The two teams battled to a 20-20 tie in the first set, but USC scored five of the final six points, including a Geena Urango service ace and a Gysin kill from the back line to close the set.

The Sooners held leads in each of the final two sets as well before the perseverant Trojans rallied.

In the second set, Oklahoma quickly led 6-2 and held the four-point advantage as late as 19-15, but it was Gysin and Jupiter with three consecutive kills that helped tie the set 20-20.

The set was within reach for both teams as it went back-and-forth until it was tied 24-24. Oklahoma sophomore Caitlin Higgins went for a kill on the left side, but the set left her too far from the net to be effective, allowing the combination of Lauren Williams and Kimmee Roleder to send Higgins shot right back for a Trojans' point.

Francie Ekwerekwu's following attempt went wide giving USC a 26-24 set victory and a commanding two set lead, which they turned into a sweep after rallying a third time -- from a 18-15 deficit this time. Behind four of Jupiter's match-high 23 kills, the Women of Troy scored 10 of the final 12 points to bury the Sooners 25-20 in the final set.

The Trojans got better every set hitting .311 in the final set after only .208 in the opening set. They were led by Lauren Williams's .714 hitting percentage on a 10-kill night. Gysin recorded a double-double with a 10-kill, 10-dig performance while Bateman boosted her nation's best assists per set average with 49 assists to go along with her 12 digs and three blocks.

For the Sooners, Suzy Boulavsky and Ekwerekwu both tallied 10 kills in the losing effort.

The win, combined with Hawaii's sweep of New Mexico (25-22, 25-19, 25-21), sets up a rematch from last season's second round of the NCAA Tournament when Hawaii beat the Trojans in straight sets.

"We're going to get challenged tomorrow night," Haley said. "I think Hawaii is an excellent team because the things they do well, they do really well."

Haley and the Trojans will have to find a way to neutralize Hawaii's key outside hitter, Kanani Danielson, if they want to avenge last season's loss with an upset of the Rainbow Wahine (29-2), who are ranked No. 3 in the AVCA Coaches Poll. Danielson had a match-high 17 kills in the first round and averages over four kills per set.

The game is scheduled to begin Saturday at 7 p.m. Pacific and is being broadcast live on a video webcast on usctrojans.com, as well as on KSCR 1640-AM (kscr.org).