Women’s Beach Volleyball | October 15, 2023
TLAXCALA, Mexico – USC beach volleyball All-Americans Kelly Cheng (Fullerton, Calif.) and Sara Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif.) claimed gold medals at the 14th Beach Volleyball World Championships on Sunday, Oct. 15. As a result of their win, the U.S. secures a berth into the women’s tournament at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Co-coached by USC associate head coach Gustavo Rocha, the Trojan duo secured their place in the annals of beach volleyball as only the fifth U.S. women’s pair to win the world title and the first since another all-USC pair of All-Americans April Ross (Newport Beach, Calif.) and Jennifer Kessy (San Clemente, Calif.) won in Norway in 2009. Former USC beach assistant coach Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings won three straight world titles in 2003, 2005, and 2007.
Cheng-Hughes cemented their spot atop the medal podium with a straight-set win over the world’s No. 1-ranked pair and defending world champions of Ana Patricia Silva Ramos and Eduarda (Duda) Santos Lisboa of Brazil, 21-16, 24-22, in the gold-medal match. It was the fourth time the two pairs met in a high-stakes final. Cheng-Hughes got a win in the 2022 FIVB Finals tournament in Doha, Qatar; and then won gold at the Tepic, Mexico, Elite 16 tour stop in 2023. Ana Patricia and Duda claimed gold in Gstaad (2023) and won a bronze medal match-up with Cheng-Hughes in Brazil.
In an all-USA semifinal, the Trojan alumnae went three sets with world No. 3 Taryn Kloth and Kristen Nuss from LSU and got the win, 18-21, 21-12, 15-13. The Tiger alumnae won their third-place match and finished with bronze medals at the World Championships. In the quarterfinals, Cheng-Hughes defeated Brazil’s 14th-seeded duo of Tainá Silva Bigi and Victoria Lopes Pereira Tosta in straight sets, 21-14, 21-16.
Cheng and Hughes went three sets in their round of 16 match against 18th-seeded Tina Graudina—a four-time USC All-American—and partner Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia and advanced, 19-21, 21-16, 15-11. It was also three sets for Cheng-Hughes in the round of 32 but the American-Trojan duo defeated…
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