Beach volleyball outlasted at Outrigger
USC was the runner up to UCLA in its season-opening tournament in Hawai’i.
By LEILA MACKENZIE
In beach volleyball, any matchup between USC and UCLA has the potential to be a championship preview. And the Trojans’ season-opening tournament at the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic in Honolulu, Hawai’i proved that.
No. 1 USC (4-2, Pac-12) kicked off the three-day tournament Thursday against No. 2 UCLA (4-3) in a rematch of last year’s national championship. And with an assertive 4-1 victory, the Trojans appeared to have widened the gap between No. 1 and the rest of the playing field.
But by Saturday, the tide shifted. The Trojans faced UCLA again in the Gold Medal Dual and couldn’t quite bury the Bruins in the sand, this time falling 1-4.
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Besides UCLA, USC played three additional top-10 teams over the three-day tournament: No. 5 Loyola Marymount University, No. 7 Stanford and No. 9 University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
Now, considering they dismantled the No. 2 team in the nation, one could only assume the rest of the Trojans’ matches would be a breeze. Instead, each team lived up to, or even exceeded, the expectations of its ranking.
In its second dual, USC fell to the Cardinal 3-2. It was the Trojans’ first-ever loss to Stanford in the 14-game history of the matchup.
Thursday’s result was definitely an upset, but in the context of this spring, it wasn’t a surprise. The USC-Stanford rivalry has been riddled with shockers as USC women’s basketball took down the Cardinal Feb. 2 for its first victory at Maples Pavilion since the 2000-01 season, and women’s swim and dive snapped a 28-year losing streak to Stanford Feb. 3.
Although the loss to Stanford was disappointing, it may just be a testament to the Trojans’ domination of the sport because USC bounced right back the following day.
The Trojans won both of their Friday duals, defeating LMU 4-1 and sweeping Hawai’i, the tournament host, 5-0 without dropping a set.
After going 3-1 in the round robin, the Trojans eased into the finals with another 4-1 victory over the Lions.
Meanwhile, UCLA seemed a bit shaken up after its first loss. It swept Hawai’i, but acquired a pair of back-to-back losses against Stanford and LMU to close out the round robin.
Clearly, the Bruins weren’t too disheveled. They fought their way to the Gold Medal Dual and thrashed the Trojans 4-1 to finish the tournament in first place.
In the Trojans’ finals defeat, senior All-Americans Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple received their first loss of the season 15-21, 17-21. Last year, the pair started out on a 10-game win streak; getting their first loss out of the way early could alleviate the pressure for perfection.
At the No. 2 position, graduate twins Audrey and Nicole Nourse had a tough road throughout the tournament. They played a total of four three-setters, dropping a match in each of the Trojans’ losses to Stanford and UCLA.
On a higher note, the lifelong duo’s first match win over the Bruins’ senior Peri Brennan and graduate Devon Newbury placed it in second all-time at USC with 95 career victories behind only Kelly Cheng (Claes) and Sarah Hughes who had 147.
With the challenge of playing six duals against top-10 teams over 2,500 miles from home out of the way, the defending champions return to the mainland this week. The Trojans will host their home-opener Friday and Saturday in the Battle for Los Angeles at Merle Norman Stadium.
