Tina Graudina Claims Latvian Title with Anastasija Kravcenoka
CĒSIS, Latvia – Two-time USC beach volleyball All-American Tina Graudina and partner Anastasija Kravčenoka won the 2020 ERGO Open tournament to claim the Latvian Championship on Sunday, Aug. 16. It is the third Latvian national title for the pair, which also won championships in 2017 and 2019.
Played out over the course of four stages, Graudina-Kravčenoka arrived at the final site of the 2020 championship as the top seed and did not drop a set to go 5-0 to win the title.
Graudina and Kravčenoka faced third-seeded Kristīne Briede and Krista Paegle in the title match where they concluded a perfect run with a 21-12, 21-10 victory. In the semifinals, Graudina-Kravčenoka marched through the fifth-seeded duo of Marta Ozolina and Luize Skrastina for a 21-9, 21-5 result.
After receiving a first-round bye, Graudina-Kravčenoka earned a 21-14, 21-8 win over Inese Jursone and Liene Simkuse in the quarterfinals. The duo dominated a pair of pool matches with a 21-7, 21-5 win over Vanesa Grosberga and Nikola Einberga; and a 21-6, 21-8 victory against Krastina-Ozolina.
Graudina is a two-time AVCA All-American (2018-19) and was DiG Magazine's 2019 National Player of the Year. In 2019, she was also the Pac-12's Player of the Year and part of the Pac-12 Pair of the Year with Abril Bustamante. She holds a 64-4 all-time collegiate record with the Women of Troy in two seasons. Graudina became part of the first-ever Latvian women's pair to qualify for the Olympic Games when she and Kravčenoka won a qualifying tournament last summer. She and Kravčenoka are also the defending European champions and Graudina herself is the first-ever NCAA beach volleyball player to earn an Olympic berth.
The Women of Troy went 6-5 in 2020 before the season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Each of USC's losses were by narrow 3-2 decisions under Dain Blanton in his first year with the Trojans. A three-time national champion, USC finished as the NCAA runner-up in 2019 and claimed the program's third Pac-12 Championship with a dramatic 3-2 win over crosstown rival UCLA. 11 different Women of Troy have earned the program's 20 AVCA All-America certificates including returning junior Sammy Slater (2019).
For more information on the three-time national champion USC beach volleyball team and a complete schedule, please visit USCTrojans.com and follow @USCBeach on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.