No. 7 USC Beach Volleyball Opens April on Laguna Sand

LOS ANGELES – The seventh-ranked USC beach volleyball team (16-6) will play each of its next three weekends in Southern California and begins with the Best in the West event at Laguna Beach's Main Beach on Friday (April 4) when the Women of Troy take on No. 4 Stanford (16-6) and No. 17 Hawai'i (10-12). The Trojans then face No. 19 Washington (11-9) and No. 16 North Florida (17-1) on Saturday (April 5). USC—having had to deal with lineup changes—has employed 16 different lineups in 22 duals and seen a mix of 28 different pairings this spring. One constant for the Trojans has been their No. 2 pair of freshman Kennedy Coakley and sophomore Ashley Pater which has won 12 consecutive matches to lead all USC pairs with a 16-2 record. At the top court, sophomore Zoey Henson and junior Madison White have produced a 14-5 record. While the Trojans have played up and down the California coast, they will play their first-ever dual matches in Laguna Beach when they take the court this weekend.

THIS WEEK

BEST IN THE WEST
Main Beach • Laguna Beach, Calif.

MATCH #23 • Friday, April 4 • 12 p.m. PT
No. 7 USC (16-6) vs. No. 4 Stanford (16-6)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 16-2 (.889)
STREAK: Won 1 • LAST 10: 8-2
LAST MEETING: W 3-2 (March 8, 2025 • Stanford, Calif.)

MATCH #24 • Friday, April 4 • 2 p.m. PT
No. 7 USC (16-6) vs. No. 17 Hawai'i (10-12)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 18-3 (.857)
STREAK: Won 6 • LAST 10: 8-2
LAST MEETING: W 3-2 (Feb. 20, 2025 • Honolulu, Hawai'i)

MATCH #25 • Saturday, April 5 • 12 p.m. PT
No. 7 USC (16-6) vs. No. 19 Washington (11-9)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 11-0 (1.000)
STREAK: Won 11 • LAST 10: 10-0
LAST MEETING: W 4-1 (March 1, 2025 • Merle Norman St.)

MATCH #26 • Saturday, April 5 • 3 p.m. PT
No. 7 USC (16-6) vs. No. 16 North Florida (17-1)
SERIES HISTORY: USC leads, 3-0 (1.000)
STREAK: Won 3 • LAST 10: 3-0
LAST MEETING: W 3-0 (May 3, 2024 • Gulf Shores, Ala.)

BARE E-SAND-SHELLS • TL;DR

USC has won the last four NCAA championships and owns seven national titles including the first NCAA crown awarded in 2016 (AVCA '15, NCAA '16, '17, '21, '22, '23, '24).
The Trojans own five Pac-12 titles (2016, '17, '19, '22, '24).
USC is 158-26 (.859) under sixth-year head coach Dain Blanton.
The Women of Troy are ranked No. 7 in the AVCA poll. It is the 119th time (of 119) USC is ranked. The Trojans have ranked in the top five 117 times and have also held the No. 1 spot a record 50 times.
The Trojans will play duals in Laguna Beach for the first time.
So. Zoey Henson and Jr. Madison White are 14-5 at the No. 1 position.
The Trojans' No. 2 pair of Fr. Kennedy Coakley and So. Ashley Pater have produced a 16-2 record together and have won 12 straight matches.
Gr. Ella Larkin (75-22), Jr. Madison White (71-22), and Gr. Maya Gessner (60-31) lead the Trojans in career victories. All of White's wins are with USC.
Through 22 duals, USC has employed 16 different lineups with 28 different pairs.
USC has celebrated 15 AVCA All-Americans and 32 individual certificates.

LAST TIME OUT: The Trojans were beaten in a pair of 3-2 finishes at the Death Volley Invitational in Baton Rouge; the first to then 11th-ranked host LSU and the second time to No. 7 Florida State. USC went up, 2-0, on the Tigers but were downed by LSU for the second time on the Tigers' home sand. The loss to the Seminoles snapped an eight-match win streak over Florida State and was USC's third straight dual loss. Each of the Trojans' three lineups was different with the exception of the top two positions. At the No. 2 spot, Kennedy Coakley and Ashley Pater won all three of their matches to improve to 16-2 with a 12-match win streak. In their third match, their win set off a 3-0 victory over No. 8 Texas in the Trojans' historic first dual with the Longhorns.

NEW DIGS: USC plays its first season as a member of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in 2025. The Trojans were members of the Pac-12 from 2016 through 2024 and won five conference titles (2016-17, '19, '22, 24) including the final crown awarded in 2024. With the dissolution of the league, USC moved to the MPSF and is joined by UCLA, California, Stanford, Oregon, Washington, and Grand Canyon. The first MPSF beach volleyball tournament will be played April 23-25 on Spiker Beach in Huntington Beach, Calif. The champion of the seven-team league will receive the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA championship.

RE-CAL-CULATION: Graduate transfer Maya Gessner played three seasons at California (2021-23) and won 54 matches with the Golden Bears. She is the fourth former Bear to join the Trojans and follows Ainsley Radell (2024), Caroline Schafer (2022), and Mary Buckingham (2014). Maya and her former teammates faced off in USC's second match at the MPSF Midseason Rumble (March 7).

A B1G DEAL: USC's home duals will be shown live on Big Ten Plus streams this spring. As part of a new agreement between the MPSF and the Big Ten Network, beach volleyball and men's volleyball contests at member schools will be carried on Big Ten Plus and are available inventory for BTN linear broadcasts. Check USCTrojans.com for links to live streams and broadcast information.

ROAD WARRIORS: The Trojans play 27 of their 31 regular-season duals on the road this season. USC will take a total of six trips (one to Laguna Beach) in the regular season. Last year, including trips to play in the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments, the Women of Troy took eight trips in total.

POLL POSITION: USC opened the 2025 season ranked No. 1 in the AVCA Collegiate Beach preseason poll. The Women of Troy have been ranked in every AVCA poll for a total of 119 weeks. USC has also been ranked in the top five of the poll 117 times. The Trojans held that top-five distinction for 63 consecutive weeks from its inception until March 2, 2020. USC first seized the No. 1 ranking in both the AVCA and Volleyball Magazine polls on March 23, 2015, following a victory over then No. 1-ranked Hawai'i on the road and held the ranking for the rest of 2015. USC has been ranked No. 1 in 50 AVCA polls, the most all-time. The Trojans, Pepperdine, Hawai'i, UCLA, LSU, Florida State, and TCU are the only seven teams ever to hold the top spot in the poll. USC is 159-20 all-time when ranked No. 1.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kennedy Coakley

Maya Gessner

Zoey Henson

Ella Larkin

Ashley Pater

Ainsley Radell

Madison White