Women’s Beach Volleyball | February 22, 2024
HONOLULU – In a rematch of the 2023 NCAA championship dual, three-time defending national champion and No. 1-ranked USC beach volleyball (1-0) took down crosstown rival No. 2 UCLA (0-1) by a 4-1 count to open the 2024 season on Queen’s Beach at the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic on Thursday, Feb. 22.
The Women of Troy improved to 13-0 in season openers and go to 24-17 in all-time meetings with the Bruins. USC also goes to 24-2 all-time on the Hawaiian Islands in their first dual in the Aloha State since the 2018 season. The Trojans are now 135-14 when they are ranked No. 1.
USC grabbed the first point of the dual on a win from the top court where senior All-Americans Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple took down the Bruins’ No. 1 pair of Maggie Boyd and Lexy Denaburg in straight sets, 21-18, 21-14. It was the 29th win for the pair, which now ranks 19th all-time in school history.
Grad transfers Maddi Kriz and Grace Seits tacked on a second point moments later with a straight set win at the No. 3 court, 21-12, 21-17 over Tessa Van Winkle and Jaden Whitmarsh. UCLA scored its only dual point from court five when Natalie Myszkowski and Ensley Alden went 21-15, 21-15 to defeat USC’s pair of freshman Ashley Pater and graduate Ainsley Radell.
Trojan sophomores Gabby Walker and Madison White delivered the clinching point from court four. After falling to Kenzie Brower and Jessie Smith, 21-8, in the first set, the USC duo fought back to get a three-set win with a 21-19 win in set two and a 15-13 result in the third set.
With the dual result in hand, USC posted a fourth point when twin grads Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse completed a three-set win over Peri Brennan and Devon Newberry, 25-23, 17-21, 15-7 at the No. 2 position. Dating to the end of the 2023 season, the win was the ninth in a row for the Nourses and propelled the twins into second place all-time at USC with 92 all-time victories behind only Trojan greats Kelly Claes (Cheng) and Sara Hughes (147 wins).
USC continues play on Queen’s Beach this afternoon (Feb. 22) with a 2 p.m. HT (4 p.m. PT) meeting with No. 7 Stanford. The Trojans take on No. 5 Loyola Marymount and host No. 9 Hawai’i in two duals on Friday (Feb. 23).
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