USC Beach Volleyball Defends NCAA Crowns as Third Seed

INDIANAPOLIS – The five-time national champion USC beach volleyball team (28-5) received one of eight at-large berths into the 2023 NCAA Championship and will begin defense of its back-to-back championships as the third seed in a round of 16 meeting with Sun Belt Conference champion 14th-seed Georgia State (20-16), the NCAA's selection committee announced on Sunday, April 30.

The Women of Troy make their seventh appearance in the NCAA championship and will meet the Panthers on Friday (May 5) at 1 p.m. PT (3 p.m. CT) at Gulf Beach Place in Gulf Shores, Ala. The dual will be shown live on ESPNU.

All eight NCAA round-of-16 matchups will appear on ESPNU and ESPN+, with individual court coverage available on ESPN+. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds (May 6) will be shown on ESPN2, and the championship dual will air at 9 a.m. PT on Sunday, May 7, on ESPN.

Should USC advance to the quarterfinal stage, the Trojans will meet the winner of the 6-11 dual between sixth-seeded West Coast Conference champion Loyola Marymount (28-8) and Big West runner-up Hawai'i (27-8). The quarterfinal dual would be played on Saturday (May 6) at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. locally).

The Women of Troy had win streaks of 10 and 14 duals this spring and advanced to the contender's bracket semifinal of the Pac-12 Championship last weekend. USC is led by fourth-year head coach Dain Blanton who collected his 100th-career victory over the weekend in the Trojans' win over Arizona in the Pac-12 tournament.

The Trojans are one of four Pac-12 teams in the NCAA championship field. Conference champion UCLA (37-3) holds the top seed. Eighth-seeded California (28-9) and 10th-seeded Stanford (28-12) also make appearances in the tournament.

Two USC pairs reached the 25-win mark this spring. The Trojans' No. 1 duo of juniors Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple are 25-1 and enter the national tournament on a 15-match win streak. The incredible tandem has dropped just four sets this spring. Twin seniors Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse are 25-6 overall and are the third-winningest pair in program history at 87 wins. They are four victories from matching the second-highest total in USC history: 91 wins held by Nicolette Martin and Allie Wheeler (2014-16). The Trojans' duo of graduate Madison Shields and freshman Madison White also eclipsed the 20-win mark and arrive in Gulf Shores with a 21-7 record this season.

USC has played in the national tournament in all but one year since the program began in 2012. The Trojans made appearances in the AVCA championship in 2013 and 2014 but went 2-2 each year as Pepperdine and Long Beach State claimed national titles. Under head coach Anna Collier, the Trojans secured their first national crown in 2015; a title accompanied by an unblemished 28-0 record.

In 2016, the NCAA sponsored its first beach volleyball championship in the sport as USC went 34-2 to capture the first-ever NCAA title. The Trojans won 32 in a row to open 2017 and finished the year with their second consecutive NCAA title; and third straight national championship. USC was 2-2 in the NCAA championship in 2018 and then returned as the top seed in 2019 before falling to UCLA in the championship dual. While there was no 2020 championship due to the COVID-19 world pandemic, the Women of Troy returned to form in 2021 and went 30-4 overall under head coach Dain Blanton to deliver the program's fourth national crown and collected a fifth championship in 2022 with a 37-1 overall mark.

USC holds a 23-4 all-time mark in NCAA tournament duals and is 30-8 all-time on Gulf Shores sand. Individually, Trojan pairs are 73-27 all-time in matches at the national tourney and USC's top pair is undefeated in NCAA duals (22-0). Last year, Women of Troy duos went 15-2 to help USC win its fourth NCAA championship. The Trojans defeated UT Martin in the round of 16 and then dispatched of Florida Atlantic, Florida State, and UCLA to advance to their fifth championship dual. There, USC took out Florida State, 3-1, to secure the crown.

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 Twitter @USCBeach.

Players Mentioned

Megan Kraft

Delaynie Maple

Audrey Nourse

Nicole Nourse

Madison White