Sara Hughes Teams with Summer Ross for FIVB Bronze in Espinho

ESPINHO, Portugal – USC beach volleyball All-American Sara Hughes and partner Summer Ross (Washington/Pepperdine) claimed bronze medals at the FIVB (Fédération Internationale de Volleyball) World Tour stop in Espinho on Saturday, July 7. The third-place finish marked the highest by Hughes and her first-career medal-podium appearance. It was the fifth FIVB World Tour medal for Ross.

The duo won the AVP's Gold Series New York City Open on June 10 and had two previous fifth-place finishes in FIVB events (Xiamen, China; and Huntington Beach). In between, Hughes and Ross took 17th in Brazil, ninth in the Czech Republic, and were coming off another 17th-place finish in Poland.

Hughes and Ross were seeded sixth and opened the tournament with a 21-13, 21-11 win over Angela Lobato and Amaranta Navarro of Spain in their first pool match. They dropped a tough three-set decision to Americans Nicole Branagh and Kerri Walsh Jennings, 21-19, 19-21, 15-11, in their next outing, but moved into the main draw.

In the knock-out stages, Hughes and Ross defeated Lezana Placette and Alexia Richard of France, 21-15, 21-12, in the first round. In round two, they knocked out Germany's Anna Behlen and Sarah Schneider, 21-19, 21-12.

Hughes faced her former partner at USC in three-time All-American Kelly Claes in the quarterfinal. There, Hughes and Ross took down Claes and Brittany Hochevar in straight sets, 21-19, 21-12, for Hughes' first-career appearance in an FIVB semifinal. In a hard-fought three-setter against eventual champion Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho of Australia, Hughes and Ross fell, 15-21, 21-15, 15-8.

Defeated but undeterred, the duo bounced back to claim a three-set win over Poland's Kinga Kolosinska and Katarzyna Kociolek, 17-21, 21-13, 15-11, to secure third place and a spot on the podium. Hughes and Ross are now in Gstaad, Switzerland, for the FIVB's five-star event from July 9-15.

In addition to Hughes and Claes, other Trojans in the Espinho FIVB event included sophomore All-American Tina Graudina who partnered with Anastasija Kravcenoka to represent Latvia; and All-American Sophie Bukovec who teamed with Julie Gordon to represent Canada.

Graudina and Kravcenoka won their pool and earned a big win over the world's No. 5-ranked Brazilian duo of Barbara and Fernanda in three sets, 21-18, 17-21, 18-16. The Latvian pair later lost in the round of 16 in another three-set result to the German team of Kim Behrens and Sandra Ittlinger. Bukovec and Gordon were defeated twice in pool play and did not advance to the knock-out stages.

This past spring, the Women of Troy (27-14) finished as the runner-up at the Pac-12 Championship and were chosen as one of two at-large selections into the 2018 NCAA Championship. The Trojans advanced to the Saturday final at the championship and finished in fourth place. Seventh-year head coach Anna Collier collected her 170th victory this season.

For more information on the three-time national champion USC beach volleyball team and a complete schedule, please visit USCTrojans.com and follow @USCBeach on Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, Instagram, and Snapchat.

Players Mentioned

Sophie Bukovec

Kelly Claes

Tina Graudina

Sara Hughes