Merle Norman Stadium Hosts 2019 Pac-12 Championship

LOS ANGELES – The No. 2-ranked USC beach volleyball team (24-4) sets its sights on the program's third conference title when Merle Norman Stadium hosts the 2019 Pac-12 Championship this week (April 25-27). The Women of Troy received the second seed among the league's nine teams and will face seventh-seeded Washington (8-14) to open the tourney on Thursday (April 25) at 3 p.m. PT. A win over the Huskies would advance the Trojans into the winner's bracket semifinal set for 10:30 a.m. on Friday. A loss would put USC into the contender's bracket where it would play a second dual on Thursday evening.

2019 PAC-12 BEACH VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Merle Norman Stadium • Los Angeles, Calif.

MATCH #29 • Thursday, April 25 • 3 p.m. PT
[2] No. 2 USC (24-4) vs. [7] Washington (8-14)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 4-0 (1.000) • STREAK: Won 4
LAST MEETING: W 5-0 (April 7, 2019 • Stanford, Calif.)
TV: Pac-12 LA (Anne Marie Anderson & Holly McPeak)
WEBSITE: Pac-12.com/beach-volleyball

BARE E-SAND-SHELLS

USC owns three beach volleyball national championships including the first-ever NCAA title in 2016 (AVCA, 2015).
The Trojans won the first-ever Pac-12 beach volleyball crown in 2016 and repeated as the league champion in 2017.
8th-year head coach Anna Collier is 197-36 (.887) and is the first and only collegiate head coach to reach 150 career victories.
The Trojans are 51-8 (.864) all-time at Merle Norman Stadium and went 7-1 on home sand this season.
AVCA All-Americans Abril Bustamante (Sr.) and Tina Graudina (So.) top the Trojans' lineup. The duo is 57-4 all-time together; the fourth most successful pair in program history for total victories.
Individually, Bustamante is 114-24 and Sr. Terese Cannon is 109-29 all-time. They rank sixth and seventh all-time among USC individuals for career wins.

USC owns two Pac-12 championships. The Trojans hosted and won the inaugural championship in 2016 and repeated in 2017 on sand in Tucson, Ariz. No. 1-ranked UCLA is both the defending national and Pac-12 champion and received the top seed in defense of its first title. Last year, USC lost to its crosstown rival in the title dual at the championship held in Stanford, Calif.

The Trojans enter the championship on an eight-dual winning streak; the team's second-longest run this season. Eighth-year head coach Anna Collier is three wins from reaching the 200-career wins plateau. USC holds a winning record over each of its Pac-12 opponents and has only ever lost to UCLA (eight times) and to California (once). USC has never lost to its first-round opponent Washington in four previous meetings and claimed a 5-0 sweep over the Huskies at the Pac-12 North Invitational on April 7 this spring.

TRACK THE TROJANS: Fans of the Women of Troy can follow @USCBeach on Twitter for score updates during home matches and select road matches. The Trojans are also active on Instagram and Facebook.

USC HOSTS 2019 PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIP: The sand at Merle Norman Stadium will play host to the 2019 Pac-12 Championship from April 25-27. The Trojans also hosted the inaugural league tournament at the stadium in 2016 and won the first of its back-to-back conference crowns. Arizona hosted the 2017 tournament and Stanford played host to the tourney in 2018. For more information on the championship, please visit Pac-12.com/beach-volleyball.

LAST TIME OUT: The Women of Troy concluded the regular season with a pair of 4-1 victories on home sand over No. 15 Grand Canyon and No. 7 Cal Poly. At the top court, Abril Bustamante and Tina Graudina delivered the clinching point over the Mustangs with their eighth straight victory; the duo's 57th all-time. Haley Hallgren and Alexandra Poletto also extended their winning streak to eight straight at the No. 3 position.

SCOUTING REPORT: Washington (8-14) has lost four of its last five and is 2-10 in its last dozen duals heading into the championship. The Huskies last two victories were each over San Jose State. At the top of the lineup, Destiny Julye and Kristen Gengenbacher are 11-8 overall. Shayne McPerson and Kara Bajema are 9-10 at the second position. USC has defeated Washington four times in each of the teams' previous meetings, which includes a 5-0 sweep on April 7 this season. The Trojans and Huskies also met in the 2017 Pac-12 Championship's contender's bracket final; a 4-1 win for USC.

PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY: The Women of Troy hosted the inaugural Pac-12 championship in 2016 at Merle Norman Stadium and went 4-0 to win the school's first beach volleyball league title. USC went on to win the 2016 NCAA championship and carried a 62-match winning streak into the 2017 Pac-12 championship in Tucson, Ariz. Though the Trojans had their streak snapped, they went on to claim the 2017 crown for back-to-back championships. In 2018, the Bruins got the best of the Women of Troy in two meetings on Stanford sand as UCLA claimed its first Pac-12 title. USC is 11-3 all-time in Pac-12 tournament duals and 4-0 in such match-ups on home sand.

ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS: On Saturday, April 23, 2016, USC defeated Hawai'i, 3-0, to make head coach Anna Collier the first collegiate beach volleyball coach to reach the 100 career victories mark. She is now 197-36 (.887) all-time and just three wins from reaching the 200-win plateau. Previously, the next closest coach was Pepperdine's Nina Matthies who reached 100 in 2017 and retired from coaching following the 2018 season with 137 career victories. The next nearest active coach to Collier is UCLA's Stein Metzger who started the season at 110-38 and is now 138-39 (.780).

CENTURY CITY: Seniors Abril Bustamante and Terese Cannon reached 100 career wins during a trip to the East Coast. They are the seventh and eighth players to reach that career plateau with the Trojans. Bustamante ranks sixth with 114 wins (24 losses) and Cannon ranks seventh with 109 wins (29 losses) all-time. The other six Trojans among the top eight are school-record holder Sara Hughes (190); Kelly Claes (180), Nicolette Martin (141), Allie Wheeler (130), Jenna Belton (124), and Jo Kremer (103).

PAIR'S LAIR: USC's pair of Abril Bustamante and Tina Graudina has won 57 matches (57-4) and are fourth all-time among Trojan pairs. In school history, they rank behind only Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes who won 147 matches; Nicolette Martin and Allie Wheeler (91 wins); and Sophie Bukovec and Alexa Strange (66 wins). Terese Cannon and Sammy Slater are just a step behind Bustamante-Graudina. They rank sixth among all-time USC pairs with 47 wins (47-14).

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Players Mentioned

Jenna Belton

Abril Bustamante

Terese Cannon

Tina Graudina

Haley Hallgren

Jo Kremer

Alexandra Poletto

Sammy Slater