The Trojans’ seventh winning streak ended Saturday when beach volleyball encountered its crosstown rival UCLA in a 3-2 loss, wrapping up the Center of Effort Challenge Final at Cal Poly. The loss moved the Trojans to 24-19 all-time against the Bruins and marked UCLA’s second straight victory in the series.
During the two-day tournament, the Trojans were high in spirits, opening with a 4-1 win over longtime rival Pepperdine while sweeping No. 7 Long Beach State and No. 5 TCU.
Despite the gritty weather conditions, for USC “it really comes down to always pushing through that and just playing it at our level,” sophomore Madison White said. “We know that’s a high level and I have very high expectations, and we will work hard to fulfill them.”
On Saturday morning, the first dual point against TCU was collected by graduate students Audrey and Nicole Nourse with a quick 21-12, 21-13 victory on court three, securing their 114th all-time victory as a duo. On court one, seniors Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple finished next with a clean 21-18, 21-13 win.
“That was our best dual this year, top to bottom,” Maple said. “Honestly, we don’t get to bring one through 21 of our whole team a lot. Having everybody here makes a huge difference.”
The Trojans were on a roll, as freshman Ashley Pater and graduate Grace Seits clinched their dual with a 21-9, 21-19 win. White and graduate Maddi Kriz came out on top 21-15, 21-17. Freshman Madison Goellner and sophomore Mabyn Thomas ended the sweep with a 21-12, 21-17 win.
Maple didn’t find playing all five games at once a challenge: “We only have three coaches, so two teams don’t have a coach. But at the same time, it’s cool because you feed off everybody’s energy and it’s a better warmup with everyone present.”
The second match of the day for USC came against the No. 1 UCLA. USC scored first behind Pater and Seits.
However, the Bruins bit back and the Nourse twins fell to UCLA freshman Kenzie Brower and junior Jessie Smith with identical sets of 21-16. Then, UCLA reclaimed the lead at 2-1 on court two over Kriz and White, 21-18, 21-19.
The Trojans brought it back to a tie when Kraft and Maple followed with three thriller sets a 22-20 win, a 21-15 loss and a 15-12 win and improved to 56-6 all-time. All eyes were on court three, where the Trojans had the upper hand until the end of the first set 21-14. However, the momentum was lost when Goellner and Thomas fell 21-17 and 15-10 in the final match.
“We’ve tweaked the lineup or some new pairs to get in the groove for the next three weeks of the season, which is the Pac-12 championship. That’s our goal,” head coach Dain Blanton said.
The Trojans will meet the Bruins for a rematch at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday at Merle Norman Stadium. At 2:30, USC will celebrate Senior Day against No. 10 LMU while honoring 10 seniors.