USC Beach Volleyball Defends NCAA Crowns as Third Seed

Women’s Beach Volleyball | April 30, 2023

INDIANAPOLIS – The five-time national champion USC beach volleyball team (28-5) received one of eight at-large berths into the 2023 NCAA Championship and will begin defense of its back-to-back championships in as the third seed in a round of 16 meeting with Sun Belt Conference champion 14th-seed Georgia State (20-16), the NCAA’s selection committee announced on Sunday, April 30.
 
The Women of Troy make their seventh appearance in the NCAA championship and will meet the Panthers on Friday (May 5) at 1 p.m. PT (3 p.m. CT) at Gulf Beach Place in Gulf Shores, Ala. The dual will be shown live on ESPNU.
 
All eight NCAA round-of-16 matchups will appear on ESPNU and ESPN+, with individual court coverage available on ESPN+. The quarterfinal and semifinal rounds (May 6) will be shown on ESPN2, and the championship dual will air at 9 a.m. PT on Sunday, May 7, on ESPN. 
 
Should USC advance to the quarterfinal stage, the Trojans will meet the winner of the 6-11 dual between sixth-seeded West Coast Conference champion Loyola Marymount (28-8) and Big West runner-up Hawai’i (27-8). The quarterfinal dual would be played on Saturday (May 6) at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. locally).
 
The Women of Troy had win streaks of 10 and 14 duals this spring and advanced to the contender’s bracket semifinal of the Pac-12 Championship last weekend. USC is led by fourth-year head coach Dain Blanton who collected his 100th-career victory over the weekend in the Trojans’ win over Arizona in the Pac-12 tournament.
 
The Trojans are one of four Pac-12 teams in the NCAA championship field. Conference champion UCLA (37-3) holds the top seed. Eighth-seeded California (28-9) and 10th-seeded Stanford (28-12) also make appearances in the tournament.
 
Two USC pairs reached the 25-win mark this spring. The Trojans’ No. 1 duo of juniors Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple are 25-1 and enter the national tournament on a 15-match win streak. The incredible tandem has dropped just four sets this spring. Twin seniors Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse are 25-6 overall and are the third-winningest pair in program history at 87 wins….