2 0 1 8 U S C B EACH V O LLEY B ALL 2016 & 2017 NCAA Champions • 2015 AVCA Champions • 4 Pairs National Champions: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 2-Time Pac-12 Champions • 2014 AVCA National Coach of the Year Anna Collier • 14 AVCA All-Americans For release: April 30, 2018 University of Southern California Sports Information • 3501 Watt Way • HER103 • Los Angeles, Calif. • (213) 740-8480 • Fax: (213) 740-7584 Assistant Director: Jeremy Wu • Office:(213) 740-3807 • Cell: (213) 379-3977 • E-mail: [email protected] USC Opens NCAA Title Defense Against Florida State 2018 SCHEDULE AND RESULTS 2018 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP • FIRST ROUND 25-12 Overall MATCH #38 • Friday, May 4 • 10 a.m. CT (8 a.m. PT) 2-3 Home • 3-5 Away • 20-4 Neutral [5] No. 5 USC (25-12) vs. [4] No. 7 Florida State (30-6) AVCA Poll: No. 5 • DiG Magazine Poll: No. 5 Gulf Shores Beach • Gulf Shores, Ala. Series History: USC leads, 8-3 (.727) • Streak: Won 6 FEBRUARY Last Meeting: W, 3-2 (Mar. 11, 2018 • Manhattan Beach) 24 at No. 10 Grand Canyon W 3-2 TV: ESPNU & ESPN3 (Courtney Lyle & Sam Gore) at Arizona State 1 W 3-2 Opponent Website: Seminoles.com 25 vs. Nebraska 1 W 5-0 Tournament Website: NCAA.com vs. No. 14 Cal Poly 1 W 3-2 28 No. 3 UCLA (P12N/LA) L 3-2 No. 5 Pepperdine (P12N/LA) L 3-2 MARCH 3 at No. 5 Pepperdine 2 L 3-2 vs. No. 3 UCLA 2 W 3-2 10 vs. No. 13 Florida International 3 W 4-1 vs. No. 9 Louisiana State 3 L 4-1 11 vs. No. 20 TCU 3 W 5-0 vs. No. 5 Florida State 3 W 3-2 17 vs. No. 12 Grand Canyon 4 W 5-0 at No. 5 Hawai’i 4 L 3-2 BARE E-SAND-SHELLS vs. Nebraska 4 W 5-0 • USC is the three-time defending national champion and won the 18 vs. Nebraska 4 W 5-0 first-ever NCAA beach volleyball title in 2016 (AVCA, 2015). at No. 5 Hawai’i 4 L 3-2 • 7th-year head coach Anna Collier is 171-30 (.851) and is the first 24 vs. No. 16 California 5 W 3-2 and only collegiate head coach to reach 150 career victories. vs. Arizona State 5 W 4-1 25 vs. No. 11 Arizona 5 W 4-1 • The Trojans have won 12 consecutive matches in Gulf Shores, vs. No. 14 Stanford 5 W 5-0 Ala., dating back to their run to the 2015 AVCA championship. 31 vs. No. 19 Saint Mary’s College 6 W 5-0 • Only seven teams have ever beaten the Trojans in a dual match: Pepperdine vs. No. 16 Loyola Marymount 6 W 4-1 (12), Long Beach State (5), Florida State (3), Hawai’i (3), UCLA (3), California (1), at No. 1 Pepperdine 6 L 4-1 and LSU (1). Of those, only Pepperdine holds a winning record (12-10). • USC has matched 24 different pairs this season and started 20 different lineups. APRIL 4 at No. 1 UCLA (P12N/LA) L 3-2 • Abril Bustamante and Tina Graudina lead all USC pairs with a 28-2 record. Terese 10 No. 2 Pepperdine (P12N/LA) L 3-2 Cannon and Sammy Slater are second with a 24-5 mark. 14 at Washington 7 W 4-1 vs. No. 14 Stanford 7 W 3-2 15 vs. No. 13 California 7 L 3-2 LOS ANGELES – The three-time defending national champion USC beach volleyball vs. Oregon 7 W 5-0 team (25-12) will defend its back-to-back NCAA titles as the fifth seed in the 2018 17 No. 6 Long Beach State W 3-2 NCAA Championship. The Trojans earned one of two at-large berths and face No. 16 Grand Canyon W 3-2 fourth seed Florida State (30-6) at 10 a.m. CT on Friday, May 4, in Gulf Shores, Ala. 26 vs. Arizona State * (P12N) W 4-1 The Seminoles won the Coastal Collegiate Sports Association crown. The dual will 27 vs. No. 12 California * (P12N) W 4-1 28 vs. No. 1 UCLA * (P12N) L 3-2 be shown live on ESPNU with court-by-court coverage on ESPN+ and ESPN3 digital vs. No. 12 California * (P12N) W 5-0 platforms. USC and FSU met twice in the inaugural NCAA tournament in 2016. vs. No. 1 UCLA * (P12N) L 3-2 USC has won each of the last three collegiate beach volleyball national MAY championships including the final AVCA title in 2015 and each of the first two 4 vs. No. 7 Florida State ^ (ESPNU) 10 a.m. CT NCAA crowns (2016-17). The Trojans have won 12 consecutive duals in Gulf Shores All times PST unless otherwise noted beginning with the 2015 run. Pepperdine owns two national titles (2012 and 2014 Bold indicates home match at Merle Norman Stadium 1 Sun Devil Challenge • PERA Club • Tempe, Ariz. AVCA) and Long Beach State claimed the only other championship in 2013. 2 Zuma Beach Classic • Zuma Beach • Malibu, Calif. 3 East Meets West Challenge • Manhattan Beach, Calif. 4 Outrigger Resorts Hawai’i Invitational • Queen’s Beach • Honolulu ANTICIPATED USC LINEUP 5 Pac-12 South Invitational • Ocean Park Beach • Santa Monica 6 Pepperdine Invitational • Zuma Beach • Malibu, Calif. AIRING UAL VR LL IME TREAK 7 Pac-12 North Invitational • Alki Beach • Seattle, Wash. P D O . A -T S * Pac-12 Championship • Stanford Sand VB Stadium • Stanford, Calif. No. 1 :: Abril Bustamante/Tina Graudina 28-2 28-2 28-2 L1 ^ NCAA Championship • Gulf Shores Beach • Gulf Shores, Ala. No. 2 :: Terese Cannon/Sammy Slater 24-5 24-5 24-5 W1 No. 3 :: Joy Dennis/Cammie Dorn 3-8 3-8 3-8 L1 No. 4 :: Haley Hallgren/Alexandra Poletto 9-3 9-3 9-3 W5 @USCBeach No. 5 :: Jenna Belton/Maja Kaiser 5-4 5-4 5-4 L1 2018 USC WOMEN OF TROY ## NAME HEIGHT YEAR HOMETOWN (PREVIOUS SCHOOL) 2 Alexandra Poletto 6-3 Gr. Toronto, Ontario, Canada (De La Salle HS/Colorado State) 3 Maja Kaiser 6-0 Fr. Bulverde, Texas (Smithson Valley HS) 4 Sammy Slater 5-10 Fr. Ventura, Calif. (Ventura HS) 5 Peri Green 5-7 Fr. Honolulu, Hawai’i (La Pietra) 10 Abril Bustamante 6-0 Jr. Redondo Beach, Calif. (Redondo Union HS) 11 Joy Dennis 6-0 So Cypress, Calif. (Keystone Academy) 12 Haley Hallgren 6-1 Fr. Southlake, Texas (Carroll HS) 13 Lainy Thomas 5-10 So. Frisco, Texas (Frisco HS) 14 Tina Graudina 6-0 Fr. Jurmala, Latvia 20 Katrina Kernochan 5-9 Jr. Manhattan Beach, Calif. (Mira Costa HS) 24 Cammie Dorn 6-0 So. Laguna Beach, Calif. (Laguna Beach HS) 25 Jo Kremer 5-8 Sr. Pacific Palisades, Calif. (Harvard-Westlake HS/Notre Dame) 31 Jenna Belton 6-1 Sr. Aptos, Calif. (Aptos HS) 41 Terese Cannon 6-3 Sr. Pittsford, N.Y. (Our Lady of Mercy HS/Georgetown) Head Coach Anna Collier (7th year), USC ‘77 Assistant Coach Gustavo Rocha (1st year), Park ‘06 Athletic Trainer Louis Duran Strength & Conditioning Coach Kelly Dormandy Graduate Assistant Sara Hughes Undergraduate Managers Roman Bertozzi, Reed Malone USC HEAD COACH ANNA COLLIER PRONUNCIATION GUIDE Anna Biller Collier, who coached women’s beach volleyball teams Bustamante ............... April, like the month in two Olympic games, is in her seventh season as USC’s first-ever Cannon ............................................ ter-EES head coach of beach volleyball with a 171-30 (.851) overall record. Collier .............................. AW-nuh CALL-yur Hallgren .......................................... HAY-lee Collier has led the Trojans to three national championships (AVCA Graudina .............................. grah-DEE-nah 2015) including the first two NCAA titles in history. USC went 38-1 in Green ............................................. PAIR-ee 2017 and was 34-2 in 2016 when it finished on a 30-match winning Kaiser .............................................. MY-uhh streak. The Trojans are the first team ever to win back-to-back Kernochan .............................. KER-nah-KIN crowns and are also the first to win three in a row. Under her care, Kremer ...................................... CREMM-err USC also won consecutive Pac-12 titles (2016-17). In 2015, USC was Poletto ...................................... puh-LED-oh undefeated (28-0) and won the AVCA’s national championship. Sizemore ................................ bree-AW-nuh USC pairs have claimed four national titles under Collier. Sara Hughes and Kelly Claes won the 2015 AVCA and the 2017 USAV championships. Kirby Burnham and Hughes won the COLLIER’S CAREER RECORD 2014 championship; and Burnham and Stevi Robinson won the 2013 crown. YEAR RECORD H A N In 2014, USC was 23-3 and and Collier was named the 2014 AVCA National Coach of the 2012 7-4 2-0 1-2 4-2 Year. The Trojans went 16-8 in 2013 and made their first-ever AVCA semifinals appearance 2013 16-8 7-3 2-2 7-3 as a team. Burnham and Robinson became USC’s first-ever All-Americans in the sport. 2014 23-3 8-0 3-1 12-2 Collier took USC to a 7-4 record in 2012, the sport’s inaugural season as an NCAA emerging 2015 28-0 10-0 5-0 13-0 sport, and sent two USC teams to the pairs championship of the first VCAA pairs tourney. 2016 34-2 9-1 3-1 22-0 2017 38-1 8-0 4-0 26-1 She has led two U.S. teams to fifth-place Olympic finishes: Holly McPeak and Nancy Reno (1996 Atlanta Games) and Annette Davis and Jenny Johnson (2000 Sydney Games).