Four USC Beach Volleyball All-Americans Set for Paris Olympics

LOS ANGELES – Four USC beach volleyball All-Americans are headed to Paris to participate in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games this week. Four-time All-American Sara Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif./Mater Dei HS) and partner three-time All-American Kelly Cheng (Fullerton, Calif./El Dorado HS) will represent the United States; four-time All-American Tina Graudina (Jurmala, Latvia) will represent Latvia; and two-time All-American Sophie Bukovec (Toronto, Ontario/Bishop Allen Academy) will represent her native Canada.

Cheng and Graudina are each now two-time Olympians. Graudina and partner Anastasija Samoilova finished in fourth place at the 2020 Tokyo Games (held in 2021). Cheng and former partner Sarah Sponcil finished in a tie for ninth in Tokyo. Hughes and Bukovec are each first-time Olympians.

Cheng and Hughes are the defending FIVB World Beach Volleyball Champions and the world's fourth-ranked pair. They are co-coached by USC associate head coach Gustavo Rocha. Graudina-Samoilova is the seventh-ranked duo in the world. Bukovec and partner Heather Bansley—a three-time Olympian—earned their spot in the Olympic Games by winning the NORCECA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Tlaxcala, Mexico. Bansley and Bukovec are the world's No. 21-ranked women's pair.

Graudina has the distinction of being the first-ever collegiate beach volleyball athlete to qualify for the Games. She and Samoilova won the Olympic qualifying tournament in Haiyang, China, in September 2019 to secure their initial berth.

There are nine NCAA beach volleyball athletes competing in the Paris Games. USC's four are the most from any single college. LSU is represented by the world's No. 2-ranked pair of Americans Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss; and TCU is represented by Daniela Álvarez Mendoza and Tania Moreno Mateeva—the 16th-ranked world duo—from Spain. Texas A&M Corpus Christi is represented by alumna Giuliana Poletti Corrales who plays for her native Paraguay.

The U.S. has claimed Olympic gold medals in women's beach volleyball in four of the last five Summer Games. Three-time USC All-American and beach pro April Ross won gold with partner Alix Klineman at the 2020 Tokyo Games. She also won bronze with Kerri Walsh Jennings at the 2016 Games in Brazil and earned the silver medal with fellow Trojan All-American Jennifer Kessy at the 2012 London Games. Former USC assistant coach Misty May-Treanor won three gold medals—all with Walsh Jennings—in 2004 (Athens), 2008 (Beijing), and 2012 (London).

Pairs in the Olympic tournament will play three matches in pool play for the right to advance to the single-elimination tournament. Organized into six pools with four pairs each, the six pool winners, the six runners-up, and the best two of the six third-placed teams advance directly to the round of 16. The remaining four third-placed teams play in a single-elimination "lucky-loser round", where the two winners complete the 16 teams that will play down a single-elimination bracket.

POOL B – SOPHIE BUKOVEC
July 27 – 1 p.m. PT | Bansley/Bukovec (Canada) vs. Kloth/Nuss (USA)
July 29 – 2 a.m. PT | Bansley/Bukovec (Canada) vs. Xue/X.Y. Xia (China)
August 1 – 7 a.m. PT | Bansley/Bukovec (Canada) vs. Clancy/Mariafe (Australia)

POOL C – KELLY CHENG & SARA HUGHES
July 28 – 1 p.m. PT | Cheng/Hughes (USA) vs. Hermannova/Stochlova (Czechia)
July 31 – 6 a.m. PT | Cheng/Hughes (USA) vs. Chamereau/Vieira (France)
August 2 – 1 p.m. PT | Cheng/Hughes (USA) vs. Müller/Tillmann (Germany)

POOL D – TINA GRAUDINA
July 29 – 8 a.m. PT | Graudina/Samoilova (Latvia) vs. Esmée/Zoé (Switzerland)
July 31 – 3 a.m. PT | Graudina/Samoilova (Latvia) vs. Michelle/Poletti (Paraguay)
August 3 – 8 a.m. PT | Graudina/Samoilova (Latvia) vs. Humana-Paredes/Wilkerson (Canada)

The Women of Troy won an unprecedented fourth straight NCAA championship in 2024 to up the program's total to seven all-time national titles. Top-ranked USC finished the season 37-5 overall and went 4-0 at the championship with an incredible 12-0 mark in individual court play. It was the 136th national title won by a USC team and the school's 113th NCAA team championship. USC became the first women's team in school history to win four consecutive national titles and brought home the 38th women's national championship; the 28th NCAA crown won by the Women of Troy. Fifth-year head coach and AVCA National Coach of the Year Dain Blanton improved to 17-0 in NCAA duals and improved to 4-for-4 in national championship appearances.

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.

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