USC's Julia Scoles, Megan Kraft Named to 2021 USAV Beach Collegiate National Team
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USC beach volleyball All-Americans Megan Kraft (San Diego, Calif.) and Julia Scoles (Mooresville, N.C.) have been named to the 2021 U.S. Collegiate Beach National Team (BCNT) as announced by USA Volleyball on Thursday, June 3.
Kraft and Scoles are two of just 13 women and a total of 26 college-aged beach volleyball players to have been named to the squad.
All 13 women and 13 men on the roster will attend a training block in Huntington Beach, Calif., June 21-26. Training-block sessions will be led by Christian Hartford (Athletic Performance Coach, U.S. Beach National Team), Patty Dodd (Beach National Team Training Group Coach) and Mike Dodd (Olympic silver medalist); and will include presentations by Dr. Peter Haberl (Senior Sport Psychologist, USOPC), Shawn Hueglin (Senior Sport Dietitian, USOPC), and Chris Clements (Mentor Coach, USOPC).
John Mayer, head beach volleyball coach at Loyola Marymount University (California), will lead the women's BCNT team. Meagan Owusu, former head beach volleyball coach at the University of California, will serve as the team's assistant coach.
"I am honored to have the opportunity to coach the Beach Collegiate National Team," Mayer said. "The team is an elite group of women who have potential for success at both the professional and Olympic levels. I'm excited for an interesting week of training and learning so that we can prepare them for the next step in their beach volleyball careers."
Danko Iordanov, head volleyball coach for the indoor and beach teams at the University of Saint Katherine (California) will serve as head coach of the men's BCNT squad and will be assisted by Hudson Bates, men's associate head coach at Ohio State.
The USC beach volleyball team captured the program's fourth national championship (third NCAA crown) with a win over crosstown rival UCLA in the NCAA Championship dual. Under second-year head coach Dain Blanton, USC went 30-4 and had winning streaks of 13 and 12 matches during the season. The Trojans finished as the Pac-12 runner-up and produced the league's Pair of the Year in Tina Graudina and Megan Kraft. Graudina was also named Pac-12 Player of the Year and Kraft was the conference's Freshman of the Year. Both were named first-team AVCA All-Americans and were joined on the first team by Julia Scoles and Sammy Slater.
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 Twitter @USCBeach.