Sara Hughes Wins AVP Gold Series NYC Open with Summer Ross

NEW YORK – USC beach volleyball All-American Sara Hughes teamed with partner Summer Ross (Washington/Pepperdine) to win the 2018 AVP Gold Series New York City Open on Sunday, June 10.

The win is Hughes' second-career AVP (Association of Volleyball Professionals) crown. She won her other title with USC All-American Kelly Claes at the 2017 AVP Chicago event. It is also the second AVP crown won by a Trojan woman this summer. Indoor All-American April Ross claimed the Austin championship with Alix Klineman (Stanford) on May 20 for her 30th AVP title.

In a hard-fought title match, Hughes and Ross defeated the fifth-seeded duo of Nicole Branagh (Minnesota) and Brandie Wilkerson (York Univ., Canada), 21-14, 21-19. To get there, Hughes faced off with her former partner and knocked Claes and partner Brittany Hochevar (Long Beach State) out of the tournament with a 21-16, 21-13 win in the semifinals.

As the top-seeded pair, Hughes and Ross opened the tournament with a 21-15, 21-15 win over 16th-seeded Delaney Knudsen (Pepperdine) and Jessica Sykora in the first round. In the second round, they took down Ali McColloch (Long Beach State/UCLA) and Trojan alumna Geena Urango in straight sets, 21-15, 21-13. The duo then took down Branagh and Wilkerson for the first time, 21-18, 21-18, to advance to the winner's semifinal.

Klineman and Ross fell in three sets, 12-21, 23-21, 15-12, to Branagh and Wilkerson in the other semifinal. Claes and Ross each finished in a third-place tie while Urango tied for seventh place overall.

Six other Trojans competed in the qualifier event. Senior Terese Cannon paired with Corinne Quiggle (Pepperdine) to win a pair of matches. Sophomores Haley Hallgren and Sammy Slater also won two matches in the qualifier and in the process knocked out former USC All-American Allie Wheeler and her partner Bre Moreland (Cal State Fullerton) who held the fourth seed in the qualifier bracket. All-American Alexa Strange and former indoor player Falyn Fonoimoana paired to win one match in the qualifier before falling to Cannon and Quiggle.

The next AVP event on the eight-city summer tour is Seattle, set for competition June 21-24 on the shores of Lake Sammamish. For more information and results, visit AVP.com and follow @AVPBeach on Twitter.

This past spring, the Women of Troy (27-14) finished as the runner-up at the Pac-12 Championship and were chosen as one of two at-large selections into the 2018 NCAA Championship. The Trojans advanced to the Saturday final at the championship and finished in fourth place. Seventh-year head coach Anna Collier collected her 170th victory this season.

For more information on the three-time national champion USC beach volleyball team and a complete schedule, please visit USCTrojans.com and follow @USCBeach on Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, Instagram, and Snapchat.

Players Mentioned

Terese Cannon

Kelly Claes

Haley Hallgren

Sara Hughes

Sammy Slater

Allie Wheeler