LOS ANGELES -- The Bulldogs continue to show they can compete with Power 5 competition.  

Friday night was the latest example as Yale forced No. 20 USC to five sets in Los Angeles. Despite the loss, the Bulldogs continue to show fight against high-level opponents. 

The scores of the match were 25-23, 21-25, 25-21, 18-25, and 15-11.  

The Bulldogs close out the Trojan Invitational on Saturday with a match against Howard.  The match is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET.

After opening the season with a five-set loss to Oklahoma, and four-set defeats to Oregon State and at Indiana, the Bulldogs pushed the Trojans to the brink. 

Ellis DeJardin led Yale with 14 kills and was one of four Bulldogs to reach double digits.  Team captain Izzy Simqu had 12 kills, while Kathryn Attar and Rebekah Nemeth both had 11. 

Frances Arnautou finished with 48 assists, 10 digs and four blocks.

USC jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the final set before Yale scored four straight and forced a timeout.  Attar began the rally with a kill, Simqu followed with another.

Attar then delivered back to back aces to make it 8-7.   USC scored the next four points and took control. 

Yale played with heart. After dropping the first set, the Bulldogs hit .455 in the second to take the set.  

After battling to a close third-set loss, Yale came back in the fourth with a convincing seven-point victory.  

Villanova outlasted Yale in the first match of the day for the Bulldogs.  The Wildcats improved to 6-1.

The scores of the match were 25-20, 23-25, 25-20 and 29-27.

Nemeth went for a team-high 17 kills and represented one of three Bulldogs with at least 10 kills.  Attar and DeJardin had 10 kills each.

Trailing 2-1 in sets, the Bulldogs pushed the Wildcats to extra points.  Samantha Bray tied the set at 24-24, and Nemeth tied the set two more times with kills before Villanova  notched the last two points of the match.  

The Bulldogs (0-5) responded after dropping the first set and took the next one. Yale hit .484 as a team with 16 kills and only one error in the second set. 

Bray and DeJardin combined on block assists to give Yale a commanding 12-6 lead in the second.  From there, the Bulldogs led the rest of the set. 

Arnautou had 40 assists and three service aces, while Renee Shultz also had three aces.  Yurika Boyd led the team with 16 digs and Maile Somera had 11.