Tomorrow, USC's No. 1 beach volleyball team kicks off what it hopes will be its third straight national title run.Click here for the full preview!
The Trojans enter the tournament having won 96 of their last 99 matches, a mark that includes a 62-match win streak which lasted from March of 2016 until the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament last week. Despite that loss, the Trojans bounced back to earn a spot in the Pac-12 championship match and exact revenge over UCLA, claiming the conference crown for the second straight year and locking up the NCAA Tournament's No. 1 overall seed.
As the No. 1 seed, USC kicks off the tournament against No. 8 seed South Carolina at 9 a.m. CT (7 a.m. PT) in Gulf Shores, AL tomorrow. The Trojans' 34-1 record this season includes a 5-0 sweep of South Carolina in March. The Gamecocks are 23-9 heading into the tournament.
Seniors Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes, who have racked up a 34-1 record on Court 1 this season and were recently named the Pac-12 Pair of the Year, will lead the Trojans into battle in this double elimination tournament.
Last year, the Trojans cruised through the bracket with sweeps of Georgia State and Pepperdine, a 3-1 win over Florida State in the semifinals and a sweep of the Seminoles in the championship match, earning the NCAA Beach Volleyball title in its first year of existence (USC won the AVCA Beach Volleyball title the year before).
Tomorrow's match against the Gamecocks will be live streamed by the NCAA. Should the Trojans win, they'd advance to face the winner of No. 4 Florida State and No. 5 Hawaii at 1 p.m. PT tomorrow. That match will be broadcast on TruTV. The semifinals take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday on TruTV and the championship match will be broadcast Sunday at 11 a.m. on TBS.
