LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Arizona outhit and outblocked the 17th-ranked USC on Sunday afternoon at the Galen Center, but the Trojans won the fourth and fifth sets to come from behind and down the Wildcats in a five-set thriller in L.A. (25-20, 23-25, 24-26, 25-22, 15-11).
 
UA hit .287 in the five-setter, better than the Trojans' .273. The Cats, who were 9-0 on the season when outhitting their opponent, dropped their first match of 2017 when posting a better hitting percentage than their opponent. The Wildcats also outblocked their counterpart, 12-8. McKenzie Jacobson, who had a season-high five blocks on Friday at UCLA, bettered that with six to lead the team on Sunday.
 
Juniors Kendra Dahlke and Tyler Spriggs both posted a match-high 16 kills. The two of them hit well over their season averages; Spriggs hit a team-best .367 and Dahlke hit .268. Elizabeth Shelton added nine kills on .346 hitting and Jacobson had eight on .316 hitting.
 
Arizona's offense enjoyed one of its best matches of the year behind setter Julia Patterson, who had 52 assists, her most in nearly a month.
 
Makenna Martin had 15 digs to lead the way.
 
Arizona was terrific in many facets of the game. Serving was not one of them. Arizona had two aces and a season-high 23 service errors. UA had more than 10 service errors in just two matches all season entering Sunday. Meanwhile, USC had six aces.
 
The Wildcats dropped to 9-14, 3-11 Pac-12 while USC improved to 18-7, 10-4 Pac-12.
 
The Trojans broke away late in what was a very competitive first set, scoring seven of the final nine points to take the opener, 25-20. Tyler Spriggs had four kills in the first set.
 
The Wildcats hit over .500 in the second set and evened up the match with a 25-23 victory.
 
USC led most of the third set, including 23-20, but Arizona scored six of the final seven points to steal the set, 26-24.
 
In another very tight set in the fourth, Arizona held a 21-20 advantage before the Trojans came back to win the frame, 25-22.
 
The Trojans won the fifth set, 15-11, to win the match.
 
Up Next: Arizona returns home to face Oregon State (Thursday) and Oregon (Sunday) this upcoming week at McKale Center.
 
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