Women’s Beach Volleyball | April 27, 2023
STANFORD, Calif. – The second-seeded and No. 3-ranked USC beach volleyball team (27-4) fell to third-seeded No. 9 California (27-8) by a 3-2 count in the Pac-12 Championship winner’s bracket semifinal at Stanford’s Beach Volleyball Stadium on Thursday, April 27. The Women of Troy move into the contender’s bracket and will play at 3:30 p.m. PT. USC faces the winner of a dual between Washington and Utah.
The Women of Troy fell to 11-3 all-time against the Golden Bears and had a three-dual win streak against Cal stopped. USC also goes to 23-6 in Pac-12 tournament duals and to 17-3 in matches played in Stanford. Each of the three losses have been in the Pac-12 tournament.
Played in flights, the even-numbered pairs played first. Cal won at both positions to take a 2-0 lead to start. The first point was scored by Ashley Delgado and Ainsley Radell on a 21-14, 21-16 win over graduate Madison Shields and freshman Madison White at the No. 2 spot. The loss by Shields-White snapped a 15-match win streak by the pair.
The Bears took a 2-0 lead moments later when Ella Dreibholz and Lexi McKeown went 21-19, 21-13 for a win over freshman Delaney Karl and graduate Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope at the No. 4 position.
USC got on the board with a win at the top spot when juniors Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple collected their 14th straight win to go to 24-1 on the season. The two Trojans defeated Sierra Caffo and Liz Waters-Leiga, 22-20, 21-11, to make the score, 2-1.
The Trojans evened the dual score from the No. 3 position where twin seniors Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse claimed a 22-20, 21-19 win over Gia Fisher and Maya Gessner to improve to 24-6 on the season. The twins are now 86-16 all-time and just five wins from matching the second-highest total in program history.
In the only three-set match of the dual, Cal’s pair of Brooke Buchner and Alex Young-Gomez took the first set, 21-19, over USC’s pair of junior Olivia Bakos and freshman Gabby Walker. The Trojans came back and sent the match to a third set with a 21-14 win in the second frame, but the Bears outlasted the Trojans for a 15-13 win to seal the dual.
The Trojans get a short rest before they must meet the winner of a contender’s bracket dual between fifth-seeded Washington…
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