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No. 3 USC Beach Volleyball Treks to PNW For Pac-12 North Invitational

by usctrojans.com
Apr 3, 2024

LOS ANGELES – The third-ranked USC beach volleyball team (21-3) heads to the Pacific Northwest for the Pac-12 North Invitational this week. The Women of Troy take their fifth road trip of the spring and will play three duals on Alki Beach in Seattle where they are 3-1 all-time. USC meets No. 12 Arizona State (16-4) and second-ranked Stanford (18-2) on Friday morning (April 5); and then concludes the trip to the Emerald City with a morning bout against seventh-ranked California (15-7) on Saturday (April 6). The Trojans last played in the Evergreen State in 2018 and were handed their only loss there by the Golden Bears. USC is more than two thirds of the way through its schedule with just nine regular-season duals left to be played and finally has the opportunity to avenge its first loss of the season—delivered by the Cardinal on Feb. 22 in Hawai'i.

THIS WEEK
PAC-12 NORTH INVITATIONAL
Alki Beach • Seattle, Wash.

MATCH #25 • Friday, April 5 • 9 a.m. PT
No. 3 USC (21-3) vs. No. 12 Arizona State (16-4)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 15-0 (1.000)
STREAK: Won 15 • LAST 10: 10-0
LAST MEETING: W 5-0 (April 7, 2023 • Stanford, Calif.)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: theSunDevils.com

MATCH #26 • Friday, April 5 • 11 a.m. PT
No. 3 USC (21-3) vs. No. 2 Stanford (18-2)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 13-1 (.929)
STREAK: Lost 1 • LAST 10: 9-1
LAST MEETING: L 2-3 (Feb. 22, 2024 • Honolulu, Hawai'i)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: GoStanford.com

MATCH #27 • Saturday, April 6 • 9 a.m. PT
No. 3 USC (21-3) vs. No. 7 California (15-7)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 11-3 (.786)
STREAK: Lost 1 • LAST 10: 7-3
LAST MEETING: L 2-3 (April 27, 2023 • Stanford, Calif.)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: CalBears.com

BARE E-SAND-SHELLS • TL;DR

  • USC has won the last three NCAA championships and owns six national titles including the first NCAA crown awarded in 2016 (AVCA '15, NCAA '17, '21, '22, '23).
  • The Trojans have won four Pac-12 championships (2016, '17, '19, '22).
  • USC is 126-18 (.875) under fifth-year head coach Dain Blanton.
  • The Trojans are ranked No. 3 in the AVCA poll (No. 2, CBVB). It is the 107th time (of 107) USC is ranked by the AVCA; its 106th time among the top 5. The Trojans have also held the No. 1 spot a record 46 times.
  • USC's recently-ended 16-dual win streak is the fifth-longest in program history.
  • The Women of Troy are 3-1 all-time in matches played in the Evergreen State.
  • Three different USC pairs have eclipsed the double-digit win mark this season: Kraft-Maple (23-1), Kriz-Seits (17-3), and Nourse-Nourse (18-5). Individually, 12 different Trojans have reached double-digit wins through 24 duals.
  • Twin graduates Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse rank second among pairs in school history with 109 total wins. The sisters have played more than 130 matches together, which also ranks second in program history. Their 100-plus wins in dual matches are the most by any USC pair in school history.
  • The Trojans' senior All-Americans Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple are 51-4 all-time and have lost a total of only 13 sets in their 55 matches together.
  • USC has celebrated 15 AVCA All-Americans (30 certificates).

LAST TIME OUT: The Women of Troy collected a pair of 5-0 wins over No. 4 TCU and No. 17 Florida Atlantic at the Death Volley Invitational on March 29 to extend their win streak to 16 consecutive duals, which stands as the fifth-longest run in program history. That streak was halted the next day by a determined tournament host in 10th-ranked LSU, which claimed three three-set victories in a dual that had four three-set matches to complete a 3-2 win over the then No. 1-ranked Trojans. USC bounced back quickly and secured a 4-1 win over No. 5 Florida State to conclude its first-ever trip into the state of Louisiana with a 3-1 mark. At the top court, All-Americans Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple improved to 23-1 on the season and extended to an 18-match streak as a duo, which ranks ninth all-time in USC history. Twin sisters Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse went 3-1 and improved to 18-5 overall and fellow grads Maddi Kriz and Grace Seits went 2-2 but had a 15-match win streak stopped to settle at 17-3 through 20 matches this spring. USC's fifth pair—three times Ainsley Radell and Mabyn Thomas—went 4-0 overall.
 
TWO GOATS: All-American seniors Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple will assuredly be regarded as two of the greatest collegiate beach volleyball players in the history of the sport at the conclusion of their careers. Maple ranks ninth at USC for all-time wins with 116 and Kraft is tied for 10th with 113 victories. While the pantheon of USC greats includes seven players with more than 120-career wins, only All-Americans Tina Graudina (122) and Sammy Slater (118) sit ahead of Kraft and Maple; having collected those exclusively in duals. While LSU's Kristen Nuss lays claim to being the winningest player in NCAA beach volleyball history with 139 victories (27.8 wins per season with a .869 win percentage) over the course of five seasons, Maple is already at a 29.0 wins per season average (.921 win percentage) while Kraft stands at 28.25 with a .926 win percentage.
 
DOUBLE CLUTCH: USC's twin-sister duo of Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse has won 109 matches. The twins are 109-21 all-time and are 21-4 when their match has clinched the outcome of a dual. More specifically, when the score is tied, 2-2, and the twins are playing to decide the victor, Audrey and Nicole are 3-3, which includes a big three-set win in the final match of the 2023 NCAA Championship dual to give USC its third consecutive national championship. The twins' 109 wins in dual matches is the most by a USC pair. Including wins collected in pairs' tournaments, All-Americans Kelly Claes (Cheng) and Sara Hughes hold the school record with a 147-4 mark in their career at Troy but were 99-4 in dual competitions (48-0 in tournaments).
 
ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS: In a 5-0 sweep of Concordia (March 1), Delaynie Maple and Nicole Nourse each collected their 100th-career victories to move into 12th and 13th respectively in the Trojans' all-time records. One week later, in a 5-0 win over Utah, Audrey Nourse and Megan Kraft each reached 100-career wins to become the 14th and 15th Trojans to join the century club. Previously, the last two Women of Troy to reach the 100-win club were All-Americans Tina Graudina (122 wins) and Sammy Slater (118 wins), both in 2022.
 
EVERGREEN STEEN: The Trojans' last and only other trip to the state of Washington is of a 2018 vintage. The Huskies also hosted the Pac-12 North Invitational on Alki Beach that year. USC employed a last-minute modified lineup but went 3-1 with wins over Washington, Stanford, and Oregon, and a 3-2 loss to California.
 
ROAD WARRIORS: The Trojans have played 18 of their 24 duals on the road. USC will take a total of six trips this spring, an eye-popping number considering the team will only play on home sand on just four days (eight duals). Including the Pac-12 Championship in Tempe, Ariz., USC has seven trips on its schedule.
 
CENTURY CITY: While four USC mainstays have already reached the 100-win mark in their careers this spring, two graduate transfers are on the verge of crossing the 100-win plateau as well. Ainsley Radell has a career-record of 96-35 with 82 wins as a member of the California Golden Bears. Maddi Kriz is 93-51 in her career with 73 wins while playing for the Stanford Cardinal. Both are now pursuing master's degrees at USC.
 

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