Sara Hughes Wins AVP Hermosa Beach Open with Summer Ross

HERMOSA BEACH, Calif. – USC beach volleyball All-American Sara Hughes partnered with Summer Ross (Pepperdine) to win the AVP (American Volleyball Professionals) Hermosa Beach Open on Sunday, July 29. Hughes and Ross pushed their record in 2018 AVP events to 10-0 to claim their second crown of the summer. The duo also won the New York City Gold Series event on June 10 before spending a month on the FIVB's World Tour. For Hughes, it is her third-career AVP victory.

Hughes' win represents the 49th individual Trojan AVP women's victory and marks the 36th event won by at least one female USC athlete. Between Hughes, and All-Americans Kelly Claes and April Ross, at least one USC player has won 14 of the last 27 AVP events since the 2015 season.

By Sunday morning, the Hermosa Beach Open was all but secured by a pair featuring at least one USC athlete. Each of the top-four seeded pairs were one-half Trojan alumna. Hughes and Summer Ross held the top seed and are also now ranked atop the AVP's Gold Series standings. Seeded second, Claes partnered with Brittany Hochevar (Long Beach State); April Ross and Alix Klineman (Stanford) were seeded third. Fourth-seeded alumna Geena Urango paired with Caitlin Ledoux (Long Beach State).

Hughes-Ross began its run with a 21-18, 21-13 win over Delaney Knudsen (Pepperdine) and Jessica Sykora (Arizona State) in the round of 16. They followed up with a 21-15, 21-19 win in the quarterfinals against Karissa Cook (Hawaii) and Katie Spieler (Hawaii). In the winner's semifinal, Hughes-Ross defeated Ledoux and Urango, 21-17, 21-18. The win set up a meeting with Claes and Hochevar in Sunday's tournament semifinal. There, Hughes-Ross claimed a 21-18, 21-19 win to advance to the championship match. In a match that lasted nearly 90 minutes, Hughes and Ross defeated Klineman-Ross in three sets, 19-21, 21-19, 17-15.

Klineman-Ross finished in the runner-up position after having claimed victory at the Austin Open in May. Ledoux and Urango were just a step away from the final, after having made an appearance in the title match at the San Francisco Open.

In addition to the four Women of Troy, a full group of Trojans—nine more in total—also participated in the Hermosa Open. All-American Allie Wheeler partnered with Nicole Branagh (Minnesota) and fought through the contender's bracket before falling to Ledoux-Urango for a fifth-place finish. Falyn Fonoimoana and Alexa Strange each won matches with different partners out of the qualifier and finished tied for 13th. Senior Terese Cannon paired with Jace Pardon (Florida State) and finished in 15th. Sophomores Sammy Slater, Haley Hallgren, and Maja Kaiser, junior Joy Dennis, and recent-grad Jenna Belton each also played in the qualifier.

On the men's side, USC was represented by seven Trojans. Brothers Maddison and Riley McKibbin took a 13th-place finish. Lucas Yoder paired with Eric Beranek for a 15th-place finish while Andy Benesh took 17th with Cole Friers. Aaron Dyer and Chris Orenic formed another all-Trojan pair and Brooks Billings teamed Chris Icaza to play in the qualifier.

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

Jenna Belton

Terese Cannon

Kelly Claes

Joy Dennis

Haley Hallgren

Sara Hughes

Maja Kaiser

Sammy Slater

Allie Wheeler