No. 2 USC Beach Volleyball Hosts No. 1 UCLA, No. 9 LMU on Senior Day

LOS ANGELES – The No. 2-ranked USC beach volleyball team (27-4) hosts crosstown rival and No. 1-ranked UCLA (28-4) and No. 9 Loyola Marymount (22-11) for Senior Day at Merle Norman Stadium on Thursday, April 18. The Bruins and Lions will meet in a neutral-site match at 10 a.m. PT to open the day before the Trojans and Bruins face off at 12:30 p.m. USC concludes the three-dual day with a matchup against the Lions at 2:30 p.m. and will honors its seniors and graduates in post-match ceremonies on center sand.

The Women of Troy have won 24 straight duals on home sand and are 6-0 in 2024. Overall, USC is 89-11 at Merle Norman Stadium. The Trojans look to close out the regular season with a pair of wins and teams jockey for seeding in the upcoming final Pac-12 Championship set to be played in Tempe, Ariz., April 24-26. USC has won four Pac-12 titles and last claimed the conference championship in 2022.

THIS WEEK
SENIOR DAY 2024
Merle Norman Stadium • Los Angeles, Calif.
WATCH LIVE: USC Live Stream (Eli Kleinmann, Jack Smith, MJ Newsom)

MATCH #32 • Thursday, April 18 • 12:30 p.m. PT
No. 2 USC (27-4) vs. No. 1 UCLA (28-4)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 24-19 (.558)
STREAK: Lost 2 • LAST 10: 5-5
LAST MEETING: L 2-3 (April 13, 2024 • San Luis Obispo, Calif.)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: UCLABruins.com

MATCH #33 • Thursday, April 18 • 2:30 p.m. PT
No. 2 USC (27-4) vs. No. 9 Loyola Marymount (22-11)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 29-0 (1.000)
STREAK: Won 29 • LAST 10: 10-0
LAST MEETING: W 4-1 (Feb. 24, 2024 • Honolulu, Hawai'i)
OPPONENT WEBSITE: LMULions.com

BARE E-SAND-SHELLS • TL;DR

USC has won the last three NCAA championships and owns six national titles including the first NCAA crown awarded in 2016 (AVCA '15, NCAA '17, '21, '22, '23).
The Trojans have won four Pac-12 championships (2016, '17, '19, '22).
USC is 132-19 (.874) under fifth-year head coach Dain Blanton.
The Trojans are ranked No. 2 in the AVCA poll (No. 2, CBVB). It is the 109th time (of 109) USC is ranked by the AVCA; its 108th time among the top 5. The Trojans have also held the No. 1 spot a record 46 times.
The Women of Troy are 89-11 (.890) all-time at Merle Norman Stadium and have won a school-record 24 consecutive duals on home sand.
USC will honor 10 seniors and graduates in post-match ceremonies this week: graduate transfers Emily Fitzner, Maddi Kriz, Molly Phillips, Ainsley Radell, Grace Seits; seniors Olivia Bakos, Megan Kraft, and Delaynie Maple; and fifth-year seniors/graduate students Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse.
Five different USC pairs have eclipsed the double-digit win mark this season: Kraft-Maple (28-3), Kriz-Seits (20-4), Nourse-Nourse (23-7), Pater-White (12-1), and Radell-Thomas (12-2). Individually, 12 Trojans have reached double-digit wins.
Twin graduates Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse rank second among pairs in school history with 114 total wins. The sisters have played more than 137 matches together, which also ranks second in program history. Their 100-plus wins in dual matches are the most by any USC pair in school history.
The Trojans' senior All-Americans Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple are 56-6 all-time and have lost a total of only 18 sets in their 62 matches together.
USC has celebrated 15 AVCA All-Americans (30 certificates).

LAST TIME OUT: The Trojans went 3-1 in duals at the Center of Effort Challenge hosted by Cal Poly. USC opened with a 4-1 win over longtime rival Pepperdine and then earned back-to-back 5-0 sweeps against No. 7 Long Beach State and No. 5 TCU. On a collision course, the Trojans and crosstown rival No. 1 UCLA met in the final match. The teams had previously split meetings on the opening weekend of the season, but the Bruins prevailed in another tightly contested 3-2 battle. At the top court, senior All-Americans Megan Kraftand Delaynie Maple improved to 28-3 on the season and moved into sixth all-time in wins by a Trojan pair (56-6). Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse went 3-1 and moved to 23-7 on the season and collected their 114th-career win together. USC shuffled its pairings at the other position, but individually, sophomore Madison White went 3-1 and crossed the 50-win plateau in her career.

TWO GOATS: All-American seniors Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple will assuredly be regarded as two of the greatest collegiate beach volleyball players in the history of the sport at the conclusion of their careers. Maple ranks tied for seventh (with All-American Abril Bustamante) at USC for all-time wins with 121 and Kraft is tied for ninth with 118victories. While the pantheon of USC greats includes seven players with more than 120-career wins, only All-Americans Tina Graudina (122) and Sammy Slater (118) sit ahead or tied with Kraft and Maple; having collected those exclusively in duals. While LSU's Kristen Nuss lays claim to being the winningest player in NCAA beach volleyball history with 139 victories (27.8 wins per season with an .869 win percentage) over the course of five seasons, Maple is already at a 30.25 wins per season average (.910 win percentage) while Kraft stands at 29.5 with a .915 win percentage. Let the debate begin.

DOUBLE CLUTCH: USC's twin-sister duo of Audrey Nourse and Nicole Nourse has won 114 matches. The twins are 114-23 all-time and are 22-4 when their match has clinched the outcome of a dual. More specifically, when the score is tied, 2-2, and the twins are playing to decide the victor, Audrey and Nicole are 3-3, which includes a big three-set win in the final match of the 2023 NCAA Championship dual to give USC its third consecutive national championship. The twins' 114 wins in dual matches is the most by a USC pair. Including wins collected in pairs' tournaments, All-Americans Kelly Claes (Cheng) and Sara Hughes hold the school record with a 147-4 mark in their career at Troy but were 99-4 in dual competitions (48-0 in tournaments).

ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS: In a 5-0 sweep of Concordia (March 1), Delaynie Maple and Nicole Nourse each collected their 100th-career victories to move into 12th and 13th respectively in the Trojans' all-time records. One week later, in a 5-0 win over Utah, Audrey Nourse and Megan Kraft each reached 100-career wins to become the 14th and 15th Trojans to join the century club. Previously, the last two Women of Troy to reach the 100-win club were All-Americans Tina Graudina (122 wins) and Sammy Slater (118 wins), both in 2022.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Trojans have played 25 of their 31 duals on the road. USC has taken a total of six trips this spring, an eye-popping number considering the team will only play on home sand just four days (eight duals). Including the Pac-12 Championship in Tempe, Ariz., USC has seven trips on its schedule.

CENTURY CITY: While four USC mainstays have already reached the 100-win mark in their careers this spring, two graduate transfers are on the verge of crossing the 100-win plateau as well. Ainsley Radell has a career-record of 99-36 with 82 wins as a member of the California Golden Bears. Maddi Kriz is 98-53 in her career with 73 wins while playing for the Stanford Cardinal. Both are now pursuing master's degrees at USC.

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Players Mentioned

Olivia Bakos

Emily Fitzner

Megan Kraft

Maddi Kriz

Delaynie Maple

Audrey Nourse

Nicole Nourse

Molly Phillips

Ainsley Radell

Grace Seits

Madison White