Nine Trojans to Compete at Beach Volleyball World Championships

LOS ANGELES – Nine Trojans (seven women and two men) will take the sand for the 2023 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Tlaxcala, Mexico, from Oct. 6-15. Among the illustrious group of USC beach volleyball stars are eight alumni—including two men's volleyball alum—and current Trojan three-time All-American Megan Kraft (San Diego, Calif.).

Ranked third in the world and also seeded third among a field of 48 women's pairs, USC All-Americans Kelly Cheng (Fullerton, Calif.) and Sara Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif.) will don the red, white, and blue for the United States; coached by USC's associate head coach Gustavo Rocha. The pair won gold at the Tepic Elite 16 event in March and claimed AVP titles in Huntington Beach and New Orleans.

All-American Trojan Julia Scoles (Mooresville, N.C.) and partner Betsi Flint (Loyola Marymount) hold the 15th seed. The duo won the AVP's coveted Gold Series Manhattan Beach Open championship in August. Seeded 16th, a second all-USC pair made up of All-American Terese Cannon (Pittsford, N.Y.) and current Trojan senior Kraft pairs for just their second tournament together. The two teamed up for the first time at the Paris Elite 16 event less than two weeks ago. Kraft was previously paired with Emily Stockman (Wichita State) and won the title of Queen of the Court in Hamburg in May. Cannon and her former partner Sarah Sponcil (UCLA) earned third place at the AVP Huntington Beach Open in May.

Four-time USC All-American Tina Graudina (Jurmala, Latvia) and partner Anastasija Samoilova represent Latvia. The pair won their third-career continental title at the Luxembourg Queen of the Court event in July and are seeded 18th in the World Championship field.

Seeded 38th, Trojan All-American Hailey Harward (Phoenix, Ariz.) partners with Alix Klineman (Stanford) after teaming up for the first time several weeks ago at the Paris Elite 16 event. Harward previously played partnered with Kelley Kolinske (Pepperdine) and won the AVP Tour Series Denver Open in July. Klineman was the longtime partner of USC All-American April Ross and won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Games.

On the men's side USC alum Andy Benesh (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) and partner Miles Partain (UCLA) are seeded third in the tournament. The pair is currently ranked fourth in the world and won gold at the 2022 FIVB Dubai stop and in Gstaad in 2023. Benesh-Partain also won AVP titles in Huntington Beach and Atlanta this summer. Fellow men's volleyball alum Tri Bourne (Honolulu, Hawai'i) and partner Chaim Schalk are seeded 19th. Bourne claimed three AVP crowns in 2022 and won the New Orleans championship with Chalk in April.

The Tlaxcala championships are the 14th edition of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships. 48 men's and 48 women's pairs will play a total of 216 matches to determine two champions. The 48 teams in each field will play in 12 pools of four seeded teams. Every team plays the three other pairs in its pool and will be ranked within their pools according to the total number of match points won.

The top two pairs from each pool, and the four best third-ranked teams (ranked by match points, then by set ratio, then by rally point ratio, and then by tournament seeding), will advance automatically to the single-elimination tournament. The eight remaining third-ranked teams in each pool will play a four-match lucky-loser round. The single-elimination tournament will start with a round of 32 and be played down to third-place and gold-medal matches. Both the men's and women's world champions will earn an automatic berth for their native country's federation in the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

The U.S. women have won the world championship four times but not since 2009 when USC All-Americans April Ross (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Jennifer Kessy (San Clemente, Calif.) won in Norway. Prior to that, former USC beach assistant coach Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings won three straight world titles in 2003, 2005, and 2007. On the men's side, USA's Phil Dalhausser and Todd Rogers won the world championship in 2007. USC head coach Dain Blanton partnered with Kent Steffes to represent the U.S. in 1997 and finished with bronze medals in Los Angeles.

Fans can follow all the action on VBTV, the official live streaming platform of Volleyball World. The app provides volleyball fans access to more volleyball content than they could ever want with live events, highlights, replays, and original content.

Under fifth-year head coach Dain Blanton, the USC beach volleyball team captured its third straight NCAA Championship (fifth NCAA title and sixth national title) in 2023. The Women of Troy finished the year ranked No. 1 and had an overall record of 32-5. USC added two more AVCA All-Americans to its history books with the third selection for Megan Kraft and the first-career honor for Delaynie Maple. Kraft was named the Pac-12's Player of the Year while she and Maple earned Pac-12 Pair of the Year laurels. Both were named to the Pac-12 All-Conference Team and were joined by Madison Shields and Madison White. Blanton finished his fourth season with a 105-15 career record and Gustavo Rocha was chosen as the AVCA National Assistant Coach of the Year.

For more information on the USC beach volleyball team, a complete schedule, and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/beach. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow the team on Instagram and on X @USCBeach.

The 12th-ranked USC men's volleyball team concluded the 2023 season with a 10-16 overall record and went 3-9 in MPSF matches to finish in sixth place. USC faced Stanford in the opening round of the MPSF tournament but was eliminated by the Cardinal in four sets. In its history, the USC men's volleyball program has captured four NCAA championships while appearing in 15 NCAA tournaments and has produced 21 Olympians, 34 first-team All-Americans, and seven College Players of the Year.

For more information on the USC men's volleyball team, please visit USCTrojans.com/MVB. Fans of the Trojans can follow @USCmensvolley on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

Players Mentioned

Tina Graudina

Hailey Harward

Megan Kraft

Delaynie Maple

Julia Scoles

Madison White