PROVO, Utah -- Opening night was a much better time for Penn State to be facing Southern California.

The Nittany Lions' defense of their 2008 men's volleyball national c hampionship started -- and ended -- with a match against the Trojans. This time, USC came out ahead with a 3-1 (27-30, 30-26,30-26, 30-24) victory last night in the national semifinals at Brigham Young University

USC (21-10) will face UC-Irvine, a 3-0 winner against Ohio State in the second semifinal, tomorrow night.

Penn State, which defeated USC in the season opener January 8 in Hawaii, finished 27-4.

The Nittany Lions entered the semifinals with a 12-match winning streak, all by 3-0 count, but the Trojans were definitely the team peaking at the right time.

USC made a strong run through the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament by beating top-ranked UC-Irvine and Pepperdine to earn a berth in the final four. USC never trailed in the final two sets and the offense was able to win most of the long rallies crucial to keeping momentum.

"They hit .484 as a team and that's pretty ridiculous," Penn State senior Max Holt said. "They picked us apart and we couldn't do anything about it. They wanted it more."

And when Penn State seemed to be on the verge on making comeback after comeback, service errors came into play.

Penn State's 21 service errors were the most since a 3-2 loss at BYU March 13. The altitude, though, wasn't a factor according to junior opposite hitter Will Price.

"That stuff just gets into your head," Price said. "It might make a foot or two of difference, but I think we settled down and weren't as tentative as the match went out. Twenty-one service errors, though, that's rough."

The Nittany Lions forged a 13-13 tie in the fourth set, but USC went on a 7-2 run to regain control. In the third game, Penn State trailed by seven before cutting it to 25-24.

Troy Murphy led USC with 24 kills.

"There were times we couldn't block an intersection with a car tonight," Penn State coach Mark Pavilk said. "[USC setter] Riley [McKibbin] was putting the ball where they needed and Tony was teeing off. Murphy's a beast and he proved it tonight."

Penn State had its usual balanced attack, with Price leading four players in double-figure kills with 17. Redshirt freshman Joe Sunder from Greensburg had 14 kills, Max Holt 13 and Max Lipsitz 11. Setter Edgardo Goas posted 60 assists.