Beach volleyball sweeps in double-header


USC faced Long Beach State and Grand Canyon in a double-header on Tuesday,  winning each matchup 3-2.

Freshman Tina Graudina returns a shot at the net. Ling Luo | Daily Trojan

Before they took on 6th-ranked Long Beach State at Merle Norman Stadium, the team celebrated Jenna Belton and Jo Kremer’s Senior Day. Playing extensively at the fifth court for the past few years, Kremer and Belton’s contributions were crucial to USC’s national championship runs.

“Jo and Jenna carried us to three national championships,”  head coach Anna Collier said. “They were our rock, and every time we won a big major event, they won. It’s really sad to see them go. They were really the foundation of what we had for the last four years.”

The matches opened up with Belton and freshman Maja Kaiser taking on Long Beach State’s Zoi Konstantopoulou and Nicci Reinking on the fourth court.

Konstantopoulou and Reinking went up early over Belton and Kaiser, going up by as much as 7-16 before taking the first set 11-21. Konstantopoulou and Reinking would go on a 13-7 run the rest of the way to earn Long Beach State’s first point of the evening.

Looking to tie the dual, USC turned to graduate transfer Alexandra Poletto and freshman Haley Hallgren, who took on Hannah Matt and Marisa Ramsey. In the first set, Poletto’s height proved to be a difference maker as she blocked many of Matt and Ramsey’s efforts to score and led to a 21-16 win in the opener.

In the second set, Poletto and Hallgren had the game on the brink with a 20-19 lead before Matt and Ramsey went on a 3-0 run to steal the set. In the decisive third set, Matt and Ramsey came out aggressively, taking a 7-10 lead. However, after a timeout, Poletto and Hallgren would go on an 8-3 run of their own to take the point.

Looking to bounce back from a 1-3 record in last weekend Pac-12 North Invitational, sophomores Joy Dennis and Cammie Dorn battling Megan Kruidof and Rachel Nieto were locked in early on and kept the match tight at 13-15 as a timeout was called.

After the break, Dennis and Dorn were shutout, dropping the set 13-21. The two then went on to lose the second set 8-21, and Long Beach State claimed their second point.

On the third court, USC’s pair of junior Terese Cannon and freshman Sammy Slater took an early lead over Kristyna Adamcikova and Hailey Harward in the 1st set. They then crushed the Long Beach State duo winning the set 21-9. The second set was more competitive, but Adamcikova and Harward were unable to solve Cannon and Slater’s defense, losing 21-15 and tying the dual for USC.

Despite powerful shots from freshman Tina Graudina and junior Abril Bustamante on the first Court, Long Beach State’s Nele Barber and Sasha Karelov responded well on the first court, leading up to a 17-17 tie late in the first set. Eventually Graudina and Bustamante’s onslaught proved too much too handle as a few costly errors from Karelov and Barber gave USC the first set 21-18.

It was the same story in set two, as Karelov and Barber were unable to match Graudina and Bustamante’s power and the match ended in a win for the Trojans.

After the 3-2 win against Long Beach State, USC took on No. 16 Grand Canyon.

Poletto and Hallgren played Grand Canyon’s Jessica Clark and Jamie Walsh. The match started unevenly for USC’s fifth pair, falling behind early 2-8 and eventually losing in the first set. Despite responding well in the second set, Clark’s and Walsh’s crafty shots would prove to be too much too handle and USC conceded the second set 20-22, giving Grand Canyon the first points of the dual.

On court four, Belton and Kaiser looked to bring USC back against Katie Pyles and Madi Relaz. Kaiser and Belton went up 13-8 early in the first set and never looked back. In the second set, Belton and Kaiser fought back from a deficit to take an 18-15 lead, and Kaiser would score the next 4 points to tie up the dual for USC.

On the first and second court, Graudina and Bustamante, and Cannon and Slater both took care of business as usual to seal the win for USC. With the dual already decided, Grand Canyon’s Natalie Honzovicova and Katie Sarber defeated the struggling Dennis and Dorn 21-17, 21-16.

Along with the matches’ importance for the standings, the two wins were also crucial for the Trojans’ mindset moving forward.

“These were must-wins for us,” Belton said. “Today was big because both matches that we won were huge team wins. Different people won at different spots and that’s what it’s about at the end of the day.”

The Women of Troy will have about a week and half to prepare for the Pac-12 Tournament beginning next Thursday at Stanford.