No. 1 USC Beach Volleyball Takes Aim at Unprecedented Fourth Straight NCAA Crown

GULF SHORES, Ala. – The three-time defending NCAA champion USC beach volleyball team (33-5) earned the top seed among 17 teams competing in the 2024 NCAA Championship and will face either Atlantic Sun champion North Florida (24-11) or Ohio Valley champion Chattanooga (19-9) in the round of 16. The Women of Troy are scheduled to play in the round of 16 at 11 a.m. CT (9 a.m. PT). All opening- and first-round matches are scheduled to be shown live on ESPNU. Quarterfinals and semifinals (May 4) will be carried live by ESPN2. The championship dual is scheduled for 10 a.m. CT on Sunday (May 5) and will also be shown live on ESPN2.

THIS WEEK
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
Gulf Beach Place • Gulf Shores, Ala.
WATCH LIVE: ESPNU/ESPN2/ESPN

MATCH #39 • Friday, May 3 • 11 a.m. CT/9 a.m. PT
[1] No. 1 USC (33-5) vs. [16] No. 16 North Florida (24-11) or [17] Chattanooga (19-9)

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS: 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023 (5)
NCAA TOURNAMENT RECORD: 27-4 (.871)
STREAK: Won 13 • LAST 10: 10-0
LAST DUAL: W 3-2 vs. UCLA (May 7, 2023 • Gulf Shores, Ala.)
CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE: NCAA.com

BARE E-SAND-SHELLS • TL;DR

USC makes its eighth appearance in the NCAA tournament. The Trojans have 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 won the 2024 Pac-12 title to earn the league's automatic berth into the NCAA tournament and own a total of five Pac-12 championships (2016, '17, '19, '22, '24). USC won both the first (2016) and the final (2024) Pac-12 crowns.
USC is 138-20 (.873) under fifth-year head coach Dain Blanton.
The Trojans are ranked No. 1 in the AVCA poll (No. 1, CBVB). It is the 111th time (of 111) USC is ranked by the AVCA; its 110th time among the top 5. The Trojans have also held the No. 1 spot a record 48 times and are 151-18 in duals when they are the top-ranked team.
USC has won 13 consecutive duals at the NCAA championship and is 27-4 all-time in the tournament. The Trojans are 34-8 all-time in the state of Alabama.
In individual matches, Trojan pairs are 85-32 at the NCAA championship led by a 24-2 mark by USC duos at the No. 1 position.
Senior All-Americans Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple are 61-7 all-time and have lost a total of only 21 sets in their 68 matches together.
Five different USC pairs have eclipsed the double-digit win mark this season: Kraft-Maple (33-4), Kriz-Seits (20-4), Nourse-Nourse (29-7), Pater-White (12-1), and Radell-Thomas (12-2). Individually, 12 Trojans have reached double-digit wins.
Twin graduates Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse rank second among pairs in school history with 120 total wins. The sisters have played more than 143 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.
USC has celebrated 15 AVCA All-Americans (30 certificates).

The Trojans—fresh off winning their fifth conference title—received the Pac-12's automatic berth into the field. It is the fourth time USC has been assigned the top seed. The Trojans were also seeded No. 1 in 2017 and 2022 when they won championships and in 2019 when USC finished as the national runner-up. USC has played in every NCAA tournament and has also held the No. 2 seed (2016, 2021), the No. 3 seed (2023), and the No. 5 seed (2018).

USC has won five NCAA titles including the first-ever championship in 2016. In 2017, the Trojans became the first-ever back-to-back NCAA champion and have won the last three (2021-23); the first team ever to win three in a row. The Women of Troy are 27-4 all-time in NCAA duals with a 13-0 mark under fifth-year head coach Dain Blanton. Including Pac-12 tournament and AVCA championship duals, USC is 62-15 in all postseason duals with a 26-5 record under Blanton.

The Trojans are 2-0 against North Florida and played the Ospreys on the same date (May 3) in 2013 at the AVCA championship in Gulf Shores. USC also met UNF for a dual in Miami in 2023 (March 18). A meeting between USC and Chattanooga would be the first for the Trojans and the Mocs.

LAST TIME OUT: The Trojans claimed their fifth Pac-12 championship on a 3-0 victory over crosstown rival UCLA in the title dual. USC held the top seed in the conference tournament and opened with a 3-0 win over Utah and then advanced to the winner's bracket final with a 3-1 win over fourth-seeded California. The Bruins overcame a 2-0 hole to send USC to the contender's bracket, but there, the Trojans upended third-seeded Stanford in a 3-1 result before exacting revenge on their crosstown rivals. Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple went 3-1 at the top court while Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse were 4-0 at the No. 3 position. All four Trojans were chosen to the all-tournament team. At the No. 4 position, freshman Ashley Pater delivered the final point of the tournament alongside partner Grace Seits to finish 4-1 on the week.

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 fifth at USC for all-time wins with 126 and Kraft is eighth with 123 victories. While the pantheon of USC greats includes 11 players with more than 120-career wins, Kraft and Maple have each collected their victories exclusively in duals. And while LSU's Kristen Nuss lays claim to being the winningest player in NCAA beach volleyball history with 139 wins (27.8 wins per season with an .869 win percentage) over the course of five seasons, Maple is already at a 31.5 wins per season average (.907 win percentage) while Kraft stands at 30.75 with a .911 win percentage. Let the debate begin.

DOUBLE CLUTCH: USC's twin-sister duo of Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse has won 120 matches. The twins are 120-23 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' 120 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).

SWEET HOME, ALABAMA: USC is 34-8 all-time in the state of Alabama. All 42 of those duals have been played in the AVCA and NCAA championships in Gulf Shores. The Trojans were 7-4 in the AVCA championship and are 27-4 in the NCAA championship.

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. Particularly mind-blowing, is the fact that of USC's 15 100-win players, four are currently actively playing for the Trojans.

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Players Mentioned

Megan Kraft

Delaynie Maple

Audrey Nourse

Nicole Nourse

Ashley Pater

Grace Seits