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Pac-12 Announces Beach Volleyball Pair of the Week

Mar 8, 2016
USC Athletics

SAN FRANCISCO - USC juniors Nicolette Martin and Allie Wheeler won all four of their dual matches, including decisive matches in Women of Troy victories over No. 3 Hawai’i and No. 4 Long Beach State, to earn the first-ever Pac-12 Conference beach volleyball pair of the week award.

Playing on the No. 3 court, Martin and Wheeler, from Anaheim and Saratoga, Calif., respectively, began the 2016 season - the inaugural campaign of Pac-12 and NCAA beach volleyball - with a straight-sets win against Hawai’i’s Ari Homayun and Emily Maglio to give top-ranked USC a season-opening 4-1 victory.  USC saw its 29-match win streak end with a narrow 3-2 loss to No. 2 Pepperdine in its second match, with Martin and Wheeler clinching one of their team’s two points with a 2-1 triumph over Skylar Caputo and Corinne Quiggle.

USC bounced back with a 5-0 blanking of rival No. 6 UCLA as Martin and Wheeler triumphed in straight sets against Ivey Schmitt and Kamila Tan.  The duo then gave the Women of Troy the decisive dual point in the 3-2 win against No. 4 LBSU, taking the third set versus Jenelle Hudson and Ciana Wagner, 15-8.

Pac-12 beach volleyball, the league’s 23rd sport, has a national-best three teams in the top seven of this week’s AVCA Top 10 poll:

>> USC exchanged spots with Pepperdine after the second-ranked Waves edged the No. 1 Women of Troy this week.

>> Despite its loss to city rival USC, UCLA (2-2) climbed three spots to No. 3 on the strength of victories over then No. 3 Hawai’i (3-2) and then No. 4 Long Beach State (3-2).
>> ARIZONA (4-0) jumped two spots to No. 7 after winning its own Invitational with wins over Colorado Mesa (5-0), TCU (4-1), CALIFORNIA (3-2) and Loyola Marymount (5-0).

Pac-12 Networks LA will broadcast two of USC’s matches this week when the Women of Troy host No. 4 Florida State and Loyola Marymount on Friday, March 11 at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. PT, respectively.

ALSO NOMINATED: Madison & McKenna Witt, ARIZ; Bianca Arellano & Whitney Follette, ASU; Bryce Bark & Kory Lamet, CAL; Courtney Bowen & Jennifer DiSanto, STAN.

2016 PAC-12 BEACH VOLLEYBALL PAIR OF THE WEEK                  

Week of             Player of the Week
March 7             Nicolette Martin & Allie Wheeler, USC