USC Beach Volleyball Set to Defend NCAA Titles on Gulf Shores Sand

GULF SHORES, Ala. – The back-to-back defending NCAA champion USC beach volleyball team (28-5) makes its seventh appearance in the NCAA Championship and is the third seed as play begins on Gulf Place Beach this Friday (May 5). The Women of Troy meet 14th-seeded Sun Belt champion Georgia State (20-16) at 3 p.m. CT (1 p.m. PT) in the round of 16. This is the first year the NCAA will employ a single-elimination 16-team bracket. Should the Trojans advance to the quarterfinal, they face sixth-seed Loyola Marymount (28-8) or 11-seed Hawai'i (27-8).

THIS WEEK
2023 NCAA BEACH VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Gulf Place • Gulf Shores, Ala.
LIVE TV/STREAM: ESPNU/ESPN2/ESPN/ESPN+

MATCH #34 • Friday, May 5 • 3 p.m. CT (1 p.m. PT)
[3] No. 3 USC (28-5) vs. [14] No. 13 Georgia State (20-16)
NCAA Championship • Round of 16
TOURNAMENT BRACKET: NCAA.com

SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 5-0 (1.000)
STREAK: Won 5 • LAST 10: 5-0
LAST MEETING: W 4-1 (Apr. 1, 2023 • Manhattan Beach)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: GeorgiaStateSports.com

BARE E-SAND-SHELLS • TL;DR

USC is the back-to-back defending NCAA champion and owns five national titles including the first NCAA crown in 2016 (AVCA '15, NCAA '17, '21, '22).
USC has also won four Pac-12 championships (2016, '17, '19, '22).
USC is 101-15 (.871) under fourth-year head coach Dain Blanton.
The Trojans are ranked No. 3 in the AVCA and CBVB polls. It is the 99th time (of 99) USC is ranked by the AVCA; its 98th time in the top 5. The Trojans have also been ranked No. 1 a record 41 times.
The Women of Troy are 23-4 all-time in NCAA tournament duals and hold a 30-8 all-time mark on Gulf Shores sand.
In individual matches, Trojan pairs are 73-27 in the NCAA tournament and USC's top pair is 22-0 all-time in NCAA duals.
USC became the first school to reach the 300-win mark with its victory over Loyola Marymount on April 14. The Trojans are 306-53 all-time.
USC has had nine double-digit win streaks all-time including a 14-dual streak that ended on April 15. The 14-match win streak ranks fifth in program history.
Twin seniors Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse rank third among pairs in school history with 87 total wins. The sisters have played 103 matches together, which also ranks third in program history. They need just four wins to catch second place in school history (Nicolette Martin and Allie Wheeler; 2014-16).
The Trojans' junior duo of Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple are 25-1 this spring and have dropped just four sets in their 26 matches together.
USC has celebrated 14 AVCA All-Americans (28 certificates). Two-time All-American Megan Kraft returns to the lineup for her junior season this spring.
Five USC freshman have seen action in dual matches: Delaney Karl, Bailey Showalter, Mabyn Thomas, Gabby Walker, and Madison White.

LAST TIME OUT: USC went 2-2 to finish in third place at the Pac-12 Championship tournament. Delaynie Maple and Megan Kraft were chosen to the all-tournament team after going 3-0 at the top court. The Trojans took out Arizona in the first round, but fell to California, 3-2, in the winner's bracket semifinal. USC claimed a 3-1 win over Washington in the contender's bracket but came up against top-seeded UCLA in its second contender's match. The Bruins eliminated the Trojans on a tight 3-0 finish despite USC being on the verge of taking two matches down the stretch. The win over the Wildcats was the 100th-career victory for fourth-year head coach Dain Blanton.

THE CHAMP IS HERE: USC is the back-to-back defending NCAA champion ('21, '22). The Trojans captured the program's fourth NCAA title and fifth national crown in 2022. USC won the final AVCA championship in 2015 and owns the first two NCAA titles (2016, '17). The Women of Troy have also claimed four of the six Pac-12 championships (2016, '17, '19, '22).

USC'S NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY: USC has played in the national collegiate tournament all but once since the program began in 2012. It 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 broke through to win 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 as USC went 34-2 to capture the first-ever NCAA title with back-to-back wins over top-seeded Florida State. 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 2018 and finished as the runner-up to UCLA in the 2019 NCAA championship. 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 secure the program's fourth national crown. In 2022, the Trojans went 37-1 and won 36 in a row to lock up back-to-back national championships; the team's fifth overall title.

IN THE LONG RUN: The Trojans' 46-dual win streak (March 5, 2022-March 12, 2023) was the program's second-longest and marked the eighth time that USC put together a double-digit win streak. The school record is 62 consecutive wins, which also spanned two seasons from March 11, 2016, to April 27, 2017. USC's 14-dual win streak this season was the ninth all-time double-digit win streak.

POLL POSITION: USC opened the 2023 season ranked fourth in the AVCA Coaches Top 20 preseason poll. The Women of Troy have been ranked in every AVCA poll for a total of 99 weeks. USC has also been ranked in the top five of the poll 98 times. The Trojans held that top-five distinction for 63 consecutive weeks from its inception until March 2, 2020. USC first seized the No. 1 ranking in both the AVCA and Volleyball Magazine polls on March 23, 2015, following a victory over then No. 1-ranked Hawai'i on the road and held the ranking for the rest of 2015. USC has been ranked No. 1 in 41 AVCA polls, the most all-time. The Trojans, Pepperdine, Hawai'i, UCLA, LSU, Florida State, and TCU are the only seven teams ever to hold the top spot in the poll. USC is 134-14 all-time when ranked No. 1.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Delaney Karl

Megan Kraft

Delaynie Maple

Audrey Nourse

Nicole Nourse

Bailey Showalter

Mabyn Thomas

Gabby Walker

Madison White