No. 2 USC Beach Volleyball Hits Central Coast for Center of Effort Challenge

LOS ANGELES – The No. 2-ranked USC beach volleyball team (24-3) makes its final regular-season road trip to take on Pepperdine (15-10), No. 7 Long Beach State (21-5), and No. 5 TCU (23-5) at the Center of Effort Challenge hosted by Cal Poly at the Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex in San Luis Obispo, Calif., this weekend (April 12-13). The Women of Troy will also play in a final dual on Saturday afternoon (April 13) with time and opponent dependent on the results of their pool-play matches with the Waves, The Beach, and the Frogs. The Trojans have won four straight duals and have just six regular-season contests left on the schedule before the Pac-12 Championship tournament takes place in Tempe, Ariz., April 24-26. USC owns 19 wins over ranked opponents with 10 against foes in the top 10 and seven over opponents ranked in the AVCA's top five.

THIS WEEK
CENTER OF EFFORT CHALLENGE
Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex • San Luis Obispo, Calif.

MATCH #28 • Friday, April 12 • 10 a.m. PT
No. 2 USC (24-3) vs. Pepperdine (15-10)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 19-13 (.594)
STREAK: Won 7 • LAST 10: 9-1
LAST MEETING: W 4-1 (March 21, 2021 • Malibu, Calif.)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: PepperdineWaves.com

MATCH #29 • Friday, April 12 • 3 p.m. PT
No. 2 USC (24-3) vs. No. 7 Long Beach State (21-5)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 16-5 (.762)
STREAK: Won 15 • LAST 10: 10-0
LAST MEETING: W 5-0 (March 1, 2024 • MNS)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: LongBeachState.com

MATCH #30 • Saturday, April 13 • 9 a.m. PT
No. 2 USC (24-3) vs. No. 5 TCU (23-5)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 8-1 (.889)
STREAK: Won 3 • LAST 10: 8-1
LAST MEETING: W 5-0 (April 29, 2024 • Baton Rouge, La.)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: GoFrogs.com

BARE E-SAND-SHELLS • TL;DR

USC has won the last three NCAA championships and owns six national titles including the first NCAA crown awarded in 2016 (AVCA '15, NCAA '17, '21, '22, '23).
The Trojans have won four Pac-12 championships (2016, '17, '19, '22).
USC is 129-18 (.878) under fifth-year head coach Dain Blanton.
The Trojans are ranked No. 2 in the AVCA poll (No. 2, CBVB). It is the 108th time (of 108) USC is ranked by the AVCA; its 107th time among the top 5. The Trojans have also held the No. 1 spot a record 46 times.
USC is 11-1 all-time in San Luis Obispo.
Five different USC pairs have eclipsed the double-digit win mark this season: Kraft-Maple (25-2), Kriz-Seits (19-4), Nourse-Nourse (20-6), Pater-White (12-1), and Radell-Thomas (11-2). Individually, 12 Trojans have reached double-digit wins.
Twin graduates Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse rank second among pairs in school history with 111 total wins. The sisters have played more than 133 matches together, which also ranks second in program history. Their 100-plus wins in dual matches are the most by any USC pair in school history.
The Trojans' senior All-Americans Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple are 53-5 all-time and have lost a total of only 15 sets in their 55 matches together.
USC has celebrated 15 AVCA All-Americans (30 certificates).

LAST TIME OUT: The Women of Troy went 3-0 on Alki Beach in the Pac-12 North Invitational in Seattle and pushed their win streak to four duals with victories over 12th-ranked Arizona State (4-1), No. 2 Stanford (4-1), and No. 7 California (3-2). USC's No. 4 pair of Ashley Pater and Madison White went 3-0 and reached the double-digit wins mark to land at 12-1 after the weekend's action. The Trojans' fifth pair of Ainsley Radell and Mabyn Thomas went 2-1 and crossed the double-digit threshold to settle at 11-2 on the season when paired. At the top court, All-Americans Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple won their first two matches to push their season-long streak to 20 victories but had the streak ended in the Trojans' dual with the California. Twins Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse continued to push their record wins in duals to 111 with two more on Alki sand. Maddi Kriz and Grace Seits also picked up a pair of wins to move to 19-4 on the season, on the verge of becoming the third USC pair to cross the 20-win mark. The Trojans improved to 6-1 all-time in the state of Washington.

TWO GOATS: All-American seniors Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple will assuredly be regarded as two of the greatest collegiate beach volleyball players in the history of the sport at the conclusion of their careers. Maple ranks tied for eighth at USC for all-time wins with 118 and Kraft is tied for 10th with 115 victories. While the pantheon of USC greats includes seven players with more than 120-career wins, only All-Americans Tina Graudina (122) and Sammy Slater (118) sit ahead of Kraft and Maple; having collected those exclusively in duals. While LSU's Kristen Nuss lays claim to being the winningest player in NCAA beach volleyball history with 139 victories (27.8 wins per season with an .869 win percentage) over the course of five seasons, Maple is already at a 29.5 wins per season average (.915 win percentage) while Kraft stands at 28.75 with a .920 win percentage.

DOUBLE CLUTCH: USC's twin-sister duo of Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse has won 111 matches. The twins are 111-22 all-time and are 22-4 when their match has clinched the outcome of a dual. More specifically, when the score is tied, 2-2, and the twins are playing to decide the victor, Audrey and Nicole are 3-3, which includes a big three-set win in the final match of the 2023 NCAA Championship dual to give USC its third consecutive national championship. The twins' 111 wins in dual matches is the most by a USC pair. Including wins collected in pairs' tournaments, All-Americans Kelly Claes (Cheng) and Sara Hughes hold the school record with a 147-4 mark in their career at Troy but were 99-4 in dual competitions (48-0 in tournaments).

ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS: In a 5-0 sweep of Concordia (March 1), Delaynie Maple and Nicole Nourse each collected their 100th-career victories to move into 12th and 13th respectively in the Trojans' all-time records. One week later, in a 5-0 win over Utah, Audrey Nourse and Megan Kraft each reached 100-career wins to become the 14th and 15th Trojans to join the century club. Previously, the last two Women of Troy to reach the 100-win club were All-Americans Tina Graudina (122 wins) and Sammy Slater (118 wins), both in 2022.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Trojans have played 21 of their 27 duals on the road. USC will take a total of six trips this spring, an eye-popping number considering the team will only play on home sand just four days (eight duals). Including the Pac-12 Championship in Tempe, Ariz., USC has seven trips on its schedule.

CENTURY CITY: While four USC mainstays have already reached the 100-win mark in their careers this spring, two graduate transfers are on the verge of crossing the 100-win plateau as well. Ainsley Radell has a career-record of 98-36 with 82 wins as a member of the California Golden Bears. Maddi Kriz is 95-52 in her career with 73 wins while playing for the Stanford Cardinal. Both are now pursuing master's degrees at USC.

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Players Mentioned

Megan Kraft

Maddi Kriz

Delaynie Maple

Audrey Nourse

Nicole Nourse

Ashley Pater

Ainsley Radell

Grace Seits

Mabyn Thomas

Madison White