2 0 1 5 U S C S AND V OLLEYBALL 2014 AVCA Champions Kirby Burnham and Sara Hughes • 2013 AVCA Champions Kirby Burnham and Stevi Robinson 2013 & 2014 AVCA Team Semifinalists • 2014 AVCA National Coach of the Year Anna Collier • 4 AVCA All-Americans For release: March 18, 2015 University of Southern California Sports Information • 3501 Watt Way • HER103 • Los Angeles, Calif. • (213) 740-8480 • Fax: (213) 740-7584 Asst. Director (Women’s Sand Volleyball): Jeremy Wu • Office: (213) 740-3807 • Cell: (213) 379-3977 • E-mail: [email protected] No. 3 USC Faces First Road Tests in Hawai’i SCHEDULE AND RESULTS MATCH #4 3-0 Overall No. 3 USC (3-0) at No. 1 Hawai’i (4-0) 3-0 Home • 0-0 Away • 0-0 Neutral Ching Complex | Honolulu, Hawai’i AVCA Poll: No. 3 • DiG Magazine Poll: No. 3 Wednesday, March 18 - 5 p.m. HT (8 p.m. PT) Series History: USC leads, 4-1 Last Meeting: L, 3-2 (May 2, 2014 | Gulf Shores, Ala.) MARCH TV/Web Stream: OC16 / OCSports.tv 12 TCU W 5-0 Opponent Web: www.HawaiiAthletics.com 13 No. 4 Florida State W 4-1 No. 6 Loyola Marymount W 4-1 MATCH #5 14 USC Tournament (FSU/LMU) Comp. No. 3 USC (3-0) vs. Nebraska (0-0) 18 at No. 1 Hawai’i (OC16) 5 p.m. HT Queen’s Beach | Honolulu, Hawai’i 19 vs. Nebraska % 10 a.m. HT Thursday, March 19 - 10 a.m. HT (1 p.m. PT) vs. California % 12 p.m. HT Series History: USC leads, 2-0 20 Queen of the Beach Challenge % 8 a.m. HT Last Meeting: W, 5-0 (Mar. 20, 2014 | Honolulu, Hawai’i) 21 Queen of the Beach Challenge % 8 a.m. HT Opponent Web: www.Huskers.com 24 Pepperdine (P12N) 2 p.m. 26 Bakersfield (P12N) 3 p.m. MATCH #6 Saint Mary’s College (P12N) 6 p.m. No. 3 USC (3-0) vs. California (3-3) 27 vs. New Mexico & 5 p.m. Queen’s Beach | Honolulu, Hawai’i at Grand Canyon & 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 19 - 12 p.m. HT (3 p.m. PT) 28 at Arizona State 3 p.m. Series History: First meeting Opponent Web: www.CalBears.com APRIL 2 Loyola Marymount (P12N) 1:30 p.m. 2015 QUEEN OF THE BEACH CHALLENGE Queen’s Beach & Ching Complex | Honolulu, Hawai’i Concordia (P12N) 3 p.m. Friday, March 20 - 8 a.m. HT (Pool Play) 4 at Pepperdine $ 10 a.m. Saturday, March 21 - 8 a.m. HT (Bracket Play) 9 Loyola Marymount (P12N) 2:30 p.m. San Francisco (P12N) 4 p.m. LOS ANGELES – The No. 3-ranked USC women’s sand volleyball team (3-0) will play 11 USAVB Collegiate Challenge (Team) # 9 a.m. its first road matches when the Women of Troy head to the islands to face No. 1 12 USAVB Collegiate Challenge (Pairs) # 9 a.m. Hawai’i (4-0), Nebraska (0-0), and California (3-3). The Trojans will also participate 14 vs. Concordia @ 1:30 p.m. in the 2015 Queen of the Beach Challenge hosted by the University of Hawai’i. at Irvine Valley College @ 3 p.m. 18 Pac-12 Invitational (Team) * 8 a.m. USC and the Rainbow Wahine will meet on the UH campus at the T.C. Ching 19 Pac-12 Invitational (Pairs) * 8 a.m. Complex for a 5 p.m. HT dual match on Wednesday (March 18). The dual will be broadcast live on OC16. The Trojans then take to the sand at Queen’s Beach MAY in Honolulu for a 10 a.m. HT match against the Cornhuskers on Thursday (March 1 AVCA Championship (Team) ^ Noon CT 19). USC will also play the Golden Bears for the first time in program history at 2 AVCA Championship (Team) ^ 9 a.m. CT noon HT the same day. Exhibition matches against pairs from Hawai’i Pacific and 3 AVCA Championship (Pairs) ^ 9 a.m. CT Chaminade will also be played intermittently throughout the afternoon. All times PST unless otherwise noted Following the three duals, pairs from USC, Hawai’i, Nebraska, California, HPU, and Bold indicates home match at Merle Norman Stadium Chaminade will take part in the 2015 Queen of the Beach Challenge hosted by & at GCU Sand Courts | Phoenix, Ariz. UH. Pool play begins at 8 a.m. HT on Friday, March 20. Bracket match play will % at Queen’s Beach | Honolulu, Hawaii $ at Zuma Beach | Malibu, Calif. take place at the Ching Complex on Saturday, March 21, beginning at 8 a.m. HT. @ at IVC Campus | Irvine, Calif. Matches are schedule to end at approximately 4 p.m. each day. # USAV Beach Collegiate Challenge | Hermosa Beach, Calif. * Pac-12 Invitational | Santa Monica, Calif. ^ AVCA Championship | Gulf Shores, Ala. ANTICIPATED USC LINEUP PAIRING DUAL OVERALL ALL-TIME No. 1 :: Kelly Claes / Sara Hughes 2-1 6-1 6-1 No. 2 :: Sophie Bukovec / Alexa Strange 3-0 4-1 4-1 No. 3 :: Eve Ettinger / Meg Norton 3-0 5-1 5-1 No. 4 :: Nicolette Martin / Allie Wheeler 2-1 3-2 27-7 @USCSandVBall No. 5 :: Jenna Belton / Bria Russ 1-0 1-1 1-1 2015 USC WOMEN OF TROY ## Name Ht. Yr. Hometown (Prev. School) 3 Bria Russ 5-9 Sr. Long Beach, Calif. (Long Beach Poly HS) 4 Meg Norton 5-11 Gr. Pacific Palisades, Calif. (Harvard-Westlake HS/UCLA) 5 Sophie Bukovec 6-1 So. Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Bishop Allen Academy/LBSU) 10 Lorna Brandt 6-2 Fr. Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. (Palos Verdes HS) 11 Eve Ettinger 6-2 Sr. Santa Barbara, Calif. (Santa Barbara HS) 12 Allie Wheeler 5-11 So. Saratoga, Calif. (Archbishop Mitty HS) 13 Olivia Asprey 5-11 Fr. Southlake, Texas (Liberty Christian School) 14 Sara Hughes 5-10 So. Costa Mesa, Calif. (Mater Dei HS) 15 Alexa Stonish 5-7 Sr. Stony Brook, N.Y. (Ward Melville HS/Stetson) 22 Paige Hines 5-11 So. Encinitas, Calif. (La Costa Canyon HS) 23 Emily Young 6-2 Sr. Schaumburg, Ill. (Schaumburg HS/USC) 24 Alexa Strange 6-0 Jr. San Clemente, Calif. (San Clemente HS/Nebraska) 25 Jo Kremer 5-8 Fr. Pacific Palisades, Calif. (Harvard-Westlake HS/Notre Dame) 30 Kelly Claes 6-2 So. Fullerton, Calif. (El Dorado HS) 31 Jenna Belton 6-1 Fr. Aptos, Calif. (Aptos HS) 35 Nicolette Martin 5-9 So. Anaheim, Calif. (Canyon HS) 40 Marielle Bagnard 5-8 Fr. Pacific Palisades, Calif. (Harvard-Westlake HS) Head Coach Anna Collier (fourth year), USC ‘77 Assistant Coach Andrew Fuller (third year), Virginia Tech ‘06 Volunteer Assistant Coach Dain Blanton (first year), Pepperdine ‘94 Strength & Conditioning Coach Chris Chase Athletic Trainer Abigail Wonnell USC HEAD COACH ANNA COLLIER PRONUNCIATION GUIDE Anna Biller Collier, who coached women’s beach volleyball teams Asprey ............................................. AS-pray in a pair of Olympics, is in her fourth season as USC’s first-ever head Bagnard .................. mar-ee-ELL BAN-yerd coach of women’s sand volleyball with a 49-15 overall record. Bukovec ............................... BOO-co-veck Brandt ................................................ BRANT Collier guided the Women of Troy to a 23-3 mark in 2014 and a Claes .................................................. CLAYS second straight semifinal appearance in the AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Championship. Her top team of Kirby Burnham Collier ......................... AW-nuh CALL-ee-err and Sara Hughes won the AVCA pairs national title; the second Ettinger ......................................... ET-ing-jer straight pairs crown for the Trojans. She was named the 2014 AVCA Kremer ...................................... CREMM-err National Coach of the Year. Russ ................................................. BREE-uh Stonish ......................................... STOW-nish USC was 16-8 in 2013 with an AVCA semifinals appearance. Burnham and Stevi Robinson won the pairs national title and became USC’s first-ever All-Americans in the sport. Collier took USC to a 7-4 record in 2012, the sport’s inaugural season as an NCAA emerging sport, COLLIER CAREER RECORD and sent two USC teams to the pairs championship of the first AVCA pairs tourney. YEAR REC H A N She has led two U.S. teams to fifth-place Olympic finishes: Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno 2012 7-4 2-0 1-2 4-2 (1996 Atlanta Games) and Annette Davis and Jenny Johnson (2000 Sydney Games). Collier 2013 16-8 7-3 2-2 7-3 has coached beach volleyball since 1990, and has worked with standouts Misty May- 2014 23-3 8-0 3-1 12-2 Treanor, Kerri Walsh, Nicole Branagh, Rachel Wacholder and Angie Akers. 2015 3-0 3-0 0-0 0-0 As head coach for the U.S. Senior A2 Beach National Team, she led teams to first and fifth TOTAL 49-15 20-3 6-5 23-7 place finishes at the 2012 World University Championships in Brazil. She coached U26 and U23 A2 U.S. squads at the 2010 Team FISU World University Championships in Turkey and coached the U26 U.S. squads at the 2011 championships in China. She served as coach of Team USA at the 2013 Summer World University Games in Russia. On top of her duties, she is a USAV High Performance coach and a founding member of the USAV Beach Coaching Accreditation Program Cadre. She is currently a faculty member (teaching a variety of kinesiology classes) at Santa Monica (Calif.) Junior College, where she has spent the past 32 years. She began as the women’s cross country and track and field coach, and won three California State championships. Collier played professionally on the beach for seven seasons between 1978 and 1989, and posted 10 Top 10 finishes among her 20 tournament appearances.