When the Men of Troy are led by a man named Troy, it can only mean the night will belong to the Southern California volleyball team.

USC dominated the middle and then Hawai'i for a 30-25, 30-27, 30-23 victory in the Outrigger Hotels Invitational last night.

Both teams now are 1-1.

Outside hitter Murphy Troy slammed 19 kills, sizzled four aces and conjured 14 digs to boost the Trojans.

"He's a big boy," setter Riley McKibbin said. "He's 6-8, and something like 240. He's like a tight end. It's nice to have him on the outside when you have a bad pass. You can throw it out to him, and he can just crank it."

But Troy was most proud of his defense.

"That's pretty cool," he said, when told of his dig total. "I've been trying to focus on my defense. The more digs I can get, the better."

The teams were familiar foes. They split two exhibition matches in November, and scouted each other in Thursday's first night of the round robin tournament.

This time, the Trojans decided to go with an inside-out strategy. The plan was to feed quick sets to middles Austin Zahn and Hunter Current.

Zahn, in particular, welcomed the opportunity to face UH middle Matt "Dragon" Rawson. They attended rival high schools in Southern California. Rawson did not play in the November matches while recuperating from surgery on his right (swinging) shoulder.

"I really came out with that extra motivation to really want to dominate this game as much as possible," said Zahn, who had 10 loud kills and six blocks. "I came out, felt good, and things were clicking."

The thing was, Rawson also has partially torn ligaments in his left shoulder. He aggravated the injury early in Set 2, and was removed. He did not play again.

"Once Dragon went out, we had a little less experience in the middle," UH outside hitter Joshua Walker said.

With Zahn and Current feasting on quick sets, the Warrior middles could not commit too early to doubling the pin hitters.

And that made a happy-homecoming present for McKibbin, a Punahou School graduate.

"Austin Zahn went off," McKibbin said. "He was easy to set. He hit really well. That opened up the outside."

Troy, who hits what is considered to be a "heavy" shot, launched fast-sinking spikes. Sean Dennis, the opposite attacker who hits mostly from the right side, provided 12 kills and hit .409.

"The entire credit goes to the middles," Troy said. "They were dominating. Riley did a good job of spreading the ball around. As pin hitters, we have a lot of one-on-one matchups that we took advantage of. When everyone is on, it just makes the game that much more fun."

The Warriors were less than amused. Their best serves could not rattle libero Luke Morris, who successfully passed 24 times without a receiver error.

"That really allowed Riley to run the offense," USC coach Bill Ferguson said. "It allowed him to pick and choose what he could do."

UH middle blocker Steven Grgas said: "With a middle that quick, it throws the dynamics off. ... It wasn't a good blocking day for all us."

Still, the Warriors managed to rally in Set 2, with Michael China's ace providing a 23-20 lead.

During a rally on the next play, a Trojan hit a shot that struck the antenna. The line judge waved his flag, indicating the ball was out of bounds, but did not stop play. Neither did the referee. The Trojans won the rally, then scored three consecutive points to take a 24-23 lead.

"We got an unlucky break," UH setter Sean Carney. "We can't let it get to us. As a young team, we have to make sure we weather that, and realize mistakes are going to be made. We have to move on. I think it's a good lesson to be learned."

After the match, UH head coach Mike Wilton remained hopeful.

"We had our moments," he said. "I'm disappointed, but it's not grim. It's going to be OK."

In yesterday's opening match, opposite hitter Ryan Sweitzer slammed a match-high 15 kills to power Penn State to a 30-27, 30-24, 30-19 sweep of Ohio State.

The Nittany Lions (2-0) meet the Warriors tonight. The Buckeyes are 0-2.

The double-max middle — Max Lipsitz and Max Holt — also constructed an imposing block, as well as contributed to the offense. Lipsitz had 12 kills in 19 swings and hit .579. Holt had three aces, all in Set 3, giving him 10 in the first matches of this round robin.

And the Lions' offense found direction from second-year freshman Edgardo Goas.

Goas spent his redshirt season learning from Luke Murray, who steered the Lions to the 2008 national championship.

"I'm trying to run the offense like he did," Goas said.