NCAA women's volleyball tournament: Stanford and USC move onto second round

It's was big day of action in women's volleyball for the Pac-12 as four conference teams opened up their pursuit of a national title on the first day of the NCAA women's volleyball tournament Thursday. Stanford and USC were able to move onto tomorrow's second round action while Arizona State and Oregon saw their seasons come to an end in the opening round.

[Related: 2015 NCAA women's volleyball tournament bracket (NCAA.com)]

USC punched their ticket to the second round by defeating Cleveland State 3-1 Thursday in Los Angeles. The top-seeded Trojans were tied with the Vikings after two sets, but pulled away in the final two sets to grab the victory in front of their home crowd. The Trojans advance to the second round where they will face San Diego on Friday in the Galen Center.

Stanford took care of business in the first round defeating New Mexico State 3-0 Thursday at home in Palo Alto, Calif. The eighth-seeded Cardinal controlled each set and were particularly dominating in the second set as they beat the Aggies 25-13. The Cardinal move onto the second round where they will meet Loyola Marymount on Friday at home again in Palo Alto.

Oregon gave Wisconsin all they could handle at home in Madison in the first round, but fell 3-1 Thursday. The Ducks dropped the first set 25-18 and fell behind early in the second, but rallied to take the second set 25-21. The Ducks fought hard in the third and fourth sets but couldn't overcome the sixth-seeded Badgers in either set.

Arizona State continued to struggle without star Macey Gardner as they fell to Florida State 3-0 on Thursday in Gainesville, Fla. The Sun Devils were 15-0 and ranked No. 5 nationally before Gardner was lost for the season with a knee injury in October. They won just four matches the rest of the way and had their season ended by the Seminoles in the first round.