Bustamante and Graudina Named Pac-12 Pair of the Week

SAN FRANCISCO – The All-American USC beach volleyball pair of senior Abril Bustamante (Redondo Beach, Calif.) and sophomore Tina Graudina (Jurmala, Latvia) was named Pac-12 Pair of the Week for the week of Feb. 25-March 3, the conference announced on Tuesday, March 5.

It is USC's first award of the 2019 season and marks the 14th time that a Trojan duo has received the conference's Pair of the Week honor. Bustamante and Graudina were previously named Pair of the Week on March 27 of 2018 and now become only the second USC duo ever to receive multiple awards. The other was Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes, which received the honor five times: three times in 2016 and twice in 2017.

For Graudina, it is her second-career honor, but Bustamante racks up her fourth-career Pair of the Week award. Last season, she was partnered with senior Terese Cannon to win it once (Feb. 27) and also won the award in 2016 (Mar. 28) while partnered with Jenna Belton at the No. 4 position.

Bustamante and Graudina went 5-0 at the top court for the Women of Troy as No. 2-ranked USC opened the year with a 4-1 mark in duals. The tandem started with a 21-17, 21-13 win over No. 13-ranked Loyola Marymount's Reka Orsi Toth and Savannah Slattery and then took down No. 1 UCLA's duo of twins Megan and Nicole McNamara, 21-16, 21-18.

At the Pac-12 South Invitational, USC earned three 5-0 sweeps and got help from Bustamante-Graudina, which earned a 21-15, 21-10 win over No. 14 Arizona's Olivia Hallaran and Madison Rigdon; a 21-13, 22-20 win over No. 12 Stanford's Charlie Ekstrom and Sunny Villapando; and a 21-14, 21-14 victory over Oregon's Brooke Nuneviller and Lindsey Vander Weide.

The No. 2-ranked Trojans take their three-match winning streak into a six-dual week. First, USC hosts No. 4 Florida State (8-1) and No. 15 Stetson (3-1) for duals on Thursday (March 7) at Merle Norman Stadium. Then, the Trojans hit the beach for the East Meets West Invitational at the Manhattan Beach Pier on Saturday and Sunday (March 9-10). There, USC takes on No. 9 Florida International (4-0), No. 19 TCU (5-3), No. 6 LSU (6-2), and has a second meeting with the 4th-ranked Seminoles.

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, and Instagram.

ALL-TIME USC PAC-12 BEACH VOLLEYBALL PAIRS OF THE WEEK

2016 (6)
Nicolette Martin and Allie Wheeler – No. 3 (Mar. 8)
Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes – No. 1 (Mar. 21)
Jenna Belton and Abril Bustamante – No. 4 (Mar. 28)
Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes – No. 1 (Apr. 11)
Sophie Bukovec and Alexa Strange – No. 2 (Apr. 18)
Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes – No. 1 (Apr. 25)

2017 (5)
Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes – No. 1 (Mar. 7)
Jenna Belton and Jo Kremer – No. 5 (Mar. 21)
Terese Cannon and Nicolette Martin – No. 3 (Mar. 28)
Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes – No. 1 (Apr. 4)
Sophie Bukovec and Allie Wheeler – No. 2 (Apr. 25)

2018 (2)
Abril Bustamante and Terese Cannon – No. 1 (Feb. 27)
Abril Bustamante and Tina Graudina – No. 1 (Mar. 27)

2019 (1)
Abril Bustamante and Tina Graudina – No. 1 (Mar. 4)

Players Mentioned

Jenna Belton

Abril Bustamante

Terese Cannon

Tina Graudina

Jo Kremer