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USC Beach Volleyball Garners Top Seed to Open Pac-12 Championship Run

by usctrojans.com
Apr 23, 2024

LOS ANGELES – The No. 1-ranked USC beach volleyball team (29-4) was chosen as the top seed in the 2024 Pac-12 Championship and will open its run at the conference tournament on Wednesday (April 24) against either eighth-seeded Utah (18-14) or ninth-seeded Oregon (5-23). The Utes and the Ducks will play the first dual of the tournament and the winner will advance to face the Women of Troy in a dual at 3:30 p.m. PT. All duals at the Pac-12 Championship will be shown live on the Pac-12 Networks.
 
USC has won four Pac-12 titles (2016, '17, '19, '22) and held the top seed in three of those championship runs. The Trojans were also the top seed in 2021 but finished as the runner-up to championship host UCLA. The Women of Troy won the 2017 and '19 Pac-12 crowns in the state of Arizona (Tucson) and are 36-1 all-time in the Copper State, which includes an 8-1 record in Pac-12 tournament duals.

THIS WEEK
2024 PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIP
Sun Devil Beach Volleyball Facility • Tempe, Ariz.
WATCH LIVE: Pac-12 Networks
Anne Marie Anderson, Holly McPeak, Daron Sutton, & Nicole Branagh

MATCH #34 • Wednesday, April 24 • 3:30 p.m. PT
[1] No. 1 USC (29-4) vs. [8] Utah (18-14) / [9] Oregon (5-23)

PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022 (4)
PAC-12 TOURNAMENT RECORD: 24-7 (.774)
STREAK: Lost 1 • LAST 10: 7-3
LAST DUAL: L 0-3 vs. UCLA (April 28, 2023 • Stanford, Calif.)
CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE: SunDevils.com / Pac-12.com

BARE E-SAND-SHELLS • TL;DR

  • USC has won the last three NCAA championships and owns six national titles including the first NCAA crown awarded in 2016 (AVCA '15, NCAA '17, '21, '22, '23).
  • The Trojans own four Pac-12 championships (2016, '17, '19, '22).
  • USC is 134-19 (.876) under fifth-year head coach Dain Blanton.
  • The Trojans are ranked No. 1 in the AVCA poll (No. 1, CBVB). It is the 110th time (of 110) USC is ranked by the AVCA; its 109th time among the top 5. The Trojans have also held the No. 1 spot a record 47 times and are 147-17 in duals when they are the top-ranked team.
  • The Women of Troy were chosen as the top seed in the Pac-12 Championship for the fifth time. In four previous tournaments as the No. 1 seed, USC has won the championship three times (2016, '17, '22) but had a runner-up finish in 2021.
  • USC holds a 36-1 all-time record in the state of Arizona, which includes four 5-0 wins collected in Tempe at the Pac-12 South Invitational (March 9-10) and an 8-1 mark in Pac-12 championship duals played in the Copper State.
  • The Women of Troy are 24-7 all-time in duals played at the Pac-12 Championship and have played in all but one championship dual (2023).
  • Senior All-Americans Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple were named the Pac-12 Pair of the Week for the second time in their careers; a first by a USC pair in 2024.
  • The Trojans' senior All-Americans Kraft-Maple are 58-6 all-time and have lost a total of only 18 sets in their 64 matches together.
  • Five different USC pairs have eclipsed the double-digit win mark this season: Kraft-Maple (30-3), Kriz-Seits (20-4), Nourse-Nourse (25-7), Pater-White (12-1), and Radell-Thomas (12-2). Individually, 12 Trojans have reached double-digit wins.
  • Twin graduates Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse rank second among pairs in school history with 116 total wins. The sisters have played more than 139 matches together, which also ranks second in program history. Their 100-plus wins in dual matches are the most by any USC pair in school history.
  • USC has celebrated 15 AVCA All-Americans (30 certificates).

LAST TIME OUT: The Trojans concluded the regular season with a pair of home wins at Merle Norman Stadium to celebrate Senior Day. USC defeated crosstown rival and No. 1-ranked UCLA by a 4-1 count and then took down ninth-ranked Loyola Marymount, 3-2. At the top court, senior All-Americans Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple improved to 30-3 on the season with a pair of straight-set victories. Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse went 2-0 and moved to 25-7 on the season. At the No. 4 position, Ashley Pater and Grace Seits also went 2-0 to improved to 5-0 in their young partnership. USC's two wins pushed the Trojans' home win streak to 26 in a row.
 
TWO GOATS: All-American seniors Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple will assuredly be regarded as two of the greatest collegiate beach volleyball players in the history of the sport at the conclusion of their careers. Maple ranks sixth at USC for all-time wins with 123 and Kraft is tied for ninth with 120 victories (Nicole Nourse). While the pantheon of USC greats includes 10 players with more than 120-career wins, only All-Americans Tina Graudina (122) and Sammy Slater (118) sit among Kraft and Maple; having collected those wins exclusively in duals. While LSU's Kristen Nuss lays claim to being the winningest player in NCAA beach volleyball history with 139 victories (27.8 wins per season with an .869 win percentage) over the course of five seasons, Maple is already at a 30.75 wins per season average (.911 win percentage) while Kraft stands at 30.0 with a .916 win percentage. Let the debate begin.
 
DOUBLE CLUTCH: USC's twin-sister duo of Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse has won 116 matches. The twins are 116-23 all-time and are 22-4 when their match has clinched the outcome of a dual. More specifically, when the score is tied, 2-2, and the twins are playing to decide the victor, Audrey and Nicole are 3-3, which includes a big three-set win in the final match of the 2023 NCAA Championship dual to give USC its third consecutive national championship. The twins' 116 wins in dual matches is the most by a USC pair. Including wins collected in pairs' tournaments, All-Americans Kelly Claes (Cheng) and Sara Hughes hold the school record with a 147-4 mark in their career at Troy but were 99-4 in dual competitions (48-0 in tournaments).
 
DESERT STORM: USC is 36-1 all-time in the state of Arizona. The Trojans collected four of those wins in 5-0 sweeps at the Pac-12 South Invitational in Tempe earlier this spring (March 9-10) and last played in the Copper State in 2022 when they went 7-0 with three wins in that year's South Invitational and four in the Pac-12 Championship hosted by Arizona at Bear Down Beach. USC is 8-1 in Pac-12 Championship duals played in Arizona and has won two of its four league crowns in the state (2017, '22).
 
SEED TO SOW: The Women of Troy were awarded the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Championship for the fifth time in the tournament's eight-year history. Previously, as the No. 1 seed, USC went on to win the league crown in 2016, 2017, and 2022 (3-1). The Trojans also won the Pac-12 championship as the No. 2 seed in 2019 and once finished as the runner-up (when seeded No. 1) to a No. 2-seeded UCLA (2021). All told, USC is 24-7 in duals at the Pac-12 Championship.
 

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