This post was updated April 4 at 9:38 p.m.

After eight straight road matchups, Pauley Pavilion will greet the Bruins once more.

And there’s no one better to rile up a blue and gold crowd than the Trojans.

Off the back of four straight away wins, No. 2 UCLA men’s volleyball (23-2, 8-0 MPSF) returns home to take on No. 12 USC (8-13, 1-7) on Thursday night. The matchup represents the first of a conference doubleheader in which the two will face off again at the Galen Center on Saturday.

Currently undefeated both in MPSF play and at Pauley Pavilion, UCLA will play host to a USC squad that has only claimed one of eight conference matchups. But fueled by the crosstown rivalry simmering in the matchup, the Bruins aren’t expecting the Trojans to go down easy, according to junior Ethan Champlin.

“They haven’t had the greatest season so far, but it seems that every year USC has their best games against UCLA,” the outside hitter said. “That’s fully what we’re expecting. We’re not expecting it to be easy. We’re expecting it to be a little bit of a dogfight, which is kind of what the crowd wants.”

The same contest last year proved one of the Bruins’ six regular season five-set endeavors of 2022. Furthermore, that match’s second-leading scorer in Kevin Kobrine has switched sides of the net. The opposite Second Team All-American is now pursuing graduate studies fewer than 15 miles away from Westwood.

[Related: Men’s volleyball triumphs over Trojans in 5th set to pull off series sweep]

Despite being familiar with members of both the roster and the coaching staff, Champlin said he takes the match like any other.

“I prepare mentally pretty much the same for every game,” Champlin said. “That’s what everybody should want from a player, honestly, just to treat every game as the same whether it’s the best team or the worst team.”

Although the players may treat the matchup like any other, the fans have shown how much they appreciate the crosstown rivalry, posting a crowd of over 4,000 in 2022 and over 3,000 in 2019.

To sophomore outside hitter/opposite Ido David, it’s the Pauley Pavilion feeling that matters.

“I’m super excited and stoked to be back in Pauley and just play with the home crowd and fans and families,” David said. “It’s tough to travel so much, and everything would be in a different city against a different team with a different crowd … They are against you.”

With David echoing Champlin’s sentiment of approaching every game with the same mentality, coach John Speraw – who played in his fair share of rivalry games during his four years donning the blue and gold – recognized the thrill that comes with the UCLA-USC matchup.

Speraw added that he remembers a player running into USC’s band at the Galen Center to dig out a ball even decades later.

“It’s part of what being a Bruin is about,” Speraw said. “What makes it fun to be a Bruin is to have an opportunity to step on the court and play against ‘SC and be part of not only the tradition of volleyball but the tradition of all of our sports.”