Underdogs? USC was ranked No. 4 in the nation in the AVCA preseason poll, was up to No. 2 for six of the next seven weeks, and finished in the No. 3 slot.
No one was sleeping on USC.
But, yes, it was a new team and the way that the top-seeded UCLA and second-seeded TCU rosters were so loaded, you had to consider third-seeded USC a mild longshot to win a third NCAA National Collegiate Beach Championship in a row.
But things don’t always go to form in the annual gathering in Gulf Shores, Alabama, where the only thing that appears certain is that either UCLA or USC will be the ones swimming in the Gulf of Mexico at tournament’s end.
“We brought in some amazing girls and we already had an amazing base,” USC coach Dain Blanton said. “We brought in 10 new players this year and everyone said it was going to be a rebuilding year. But they didn’t think that.”
Certainly not when Sunday’s title dual got underway, because USC won on courts 2 and 4 to take a 2-0 lead.
Then the 1s, 3s and 5s hit the sand.
UCLA won on 1 and 5 and it was tied 2-2.
It was winner take all on court 3, where the USC senior identical twins, Nicole and Audrey Nourse, were playing their old teammate, Haley Hallgren, and Riley Powers. Halgren was part of the USC squad that won the beach title in 2021 before heading to Michigan to play indoors. Powers was part of the UCLA team that won it all in 2018 and 2019.
The Nourses and Hallgren-Powers were headed to a third and national-title deciding third set.
“I’ll say it again and again, if it’s on the line, I want the twins on the court,” Blanton said. “They are the most competitive, they are the most reliable. We have so many reliable teams, but they really embrace the spotlight and the pressure. And wow. One game in a third set to 15 for a national championship and they embraced it.”
The final: USC won 21-18, 19-21, 15-11 when Powers attack sailed long.
The Nourses were mobbed by their teammates.
“Oh, my gosh, they fought. And UCLA was amazing,” Blanton said. “After being up 2-0 they came back and almost pulled off the reverse sweep. It could have gone either way. And these girls came together, played as a team the whole year and I can’t believe it. It’s a three-peat.”
And then Blanton screamed, “Three-peat!”
It marked the 21st time USC and UCLA had decided a national…
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