USC Beach Volleyball Sophomore Nicole Nourse Earns CoSIDA Academic All-America Notice

LOS ANGELES – USC beach volleyball sophomore Nicole Nourse (Newport Beach, Calif.) was voted to the 2020-21 CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) Academic Division I At-Large Third Team on Friday, August 6.
 
Nourse was chosen as a member of the NCAA All-District 8 Team, which includes athletes from the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawai'i, Oregon, Utah, and Washington; and the entire country of Canada. Nourse is only the second USC beach athlete to be chosen for Academic All-America honors and the first since 2017 when Nicolette Martin received the same honor.
 
Nourse was the recipient of the NCAA's Elite 90 award in May as the holder of the highest grade-point average (3.94) at the national championship site. The second-year business administration major is also pursuing a minor in sports media industries. Partnered with her twin sister Audrey Nourse, the tandem went 27-4 in 2021 and improved to 36-6 all-time to rank 11th all-time among Trojan pairs. The sisters also produced a 26-match winning streak, which is the third longest in program history.
 
The Nourse sisters were named among three American pairs to the USA Beach U21 Women's National Team. The duo claimed silver at the 2021 FIVB U21 World Championship Trials in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on July 9, and will participate in the U21 Beach World Championship in Roi Et, Thailand, Sept. 24-29. The twin Trojans also participated in a training camp July 26-28 in Fort Lauderdale.
 
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.