Women of Troy off to best start in program history

The women’s sand volleyball team is off to a hot start, maintaining a perfect 7-0 record and climbing the rankings to the top spot in the nation. After a weekend of play in Hawai’i against various teams, the Women of Troy bested No. 3 Pepperdine at home on Tuesday.

USC kicked off the season earlier this month with home wins against Texas Christian, Florida State and Loyola Marymount. Following the homestead sweep the team headed to Hawai’i over spring break and emerged unscathed.

The Women of Troy began the Hawai’i trip with a 5-0 win over the University of Hawai’i. The following day they beat Nebraska and California in a pair of 5-0 wins to stay undefeated.

The Queen of the Beach Challenge began the following day at the Queen’s Beach Sandbox on Friday. The first day of the Challenge was pool play, and four USC pairs advanced to the gold bracket. The pairs of Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes, Eve Ettinger and Meg Norton, Sophie Bukovec, Alexa Strange, Nicolette Martin and Allie Wheeler each went 2-0 in pool play to earn spots in the gold bracket.

Claes and Hughes won Pool B with a 21-10, 21-12 win over the mixed duo of Cal and Hawai’i. Claes and Hughes also defeated a Nebraska pair in straight sets, 21-5, 21-10. In Pool C, Ettinger and Norton claimed a pair of wins. The first came against Hawai’i, 21-17, 21-13. They then beat Nebraska, 21-9, 21-13.

In Pool F, Bukovec and Strange saw back-to-back straight-set wins with a 21-10, 21-8 victory over Cal, and a 21-15, 21-18 win against Hawai’i. Martin and Wheeler earned two wins in Pool G where they defeated Hawai’i, 21-14, 21-11, and then went on to a 21-11, 21-11 win against Nebraska.

The following day in bracket play, USC’s sophomore duo of Claes and Hughes won the Queen of the Beach crown. Claes also won the tournament’s Best Offense award. That marked  straight match wins for the pair, who has lost just one set during that run.

The pair faced a Hawai’i duo in the quarterfinals and produced a 21-18, 21-19 win to move into the semifinals where they had to go head-to-head with teammates Bukovec and Strange. Claes and Hughes prevailed with a 21-16, 21-14 win and eventually took out the Rainbow Wahine’s pair in the final, 21-19, 21-13.

Bukovec and Strange also won their pool and were pitted against the Women of Troy duo of sophomores Martin and Wheeler in the gold quarters. Bukovec and Strange won that matchup, 21-13, 21-18, before they fell to Claes and Hughes in the semifinals. The Women of Troy had a fourth pair in the gold quarterfinals. Seniors Ettinger and Norton lost in the quarters, 21-16, 21-19.

The Women of Troy returned home as the number one team in the nation, and put their perfect record on the line against No. 3 Pepperdine on Tuesday. USC won three of five three-set matches against the Waves.

The Women of Troy scored the first two points with wins at court four and five, respectively. Martin and Wheeler struck first with a 21-19, 21-16 win over Sophie Asprey and Taylor Racich at court four.

The USC duo of senior Bria Russ and freshman Jenna Belton fought back from a loss in the first set to tie the score with a 21-16 win in the second over a Pepperdine pairing. Belton and Russ came through with a 15-12 win in the third to give USC a 2-0 lead.

The Waves fought back and evened the score at 2 apiece, and the win was decided in the final match. Ettinger and Norton fell, 21-17, to the Waves in the first set, but won the second, 21-14. The duo continued to dominate into the third and completed their three-set win, 15-9, to seal the 3-2 dual victory for the USC.

At 7-0, the Women of Troy are off to the best start in program history. USC looks to maintain its perfect record on March 26 when it hosts Bakersfield (6-2) at 3 p.m. and Saint Mary’s College (3-4) at 4:30 p.m. Both matches will be broadcast live on the   Pac-12 Networks.