May 9, 2021 02:16 pm
GULF SHORES, Ala. (AP) Sammy Slater dropped in a service ace to clinch the deciding match for USC and seal its 3-1 win over UCLA in the beach volleyball duals national championship on Sunday.
USC (30-4) won its third NCAA beach volleyball title in its fourth championship appearance. The Trojans lost back-to-back duals against UCLA (32-5) in the Pac-12 Tournament the first of which snapped USC’s 12-match win streak on May 1.
The Bruins had won the previous two national titles in 2018 and 2019.
Slater, an AVCA all-America selection, and Julia Scoles a graduate transfer from Hawaii clinched the title with a 26-24, 21-15 win over UCLA’s Lea Monkhouse and Devon Newberry which culminated with Slater’s ace.
Abby Van Winkle. UCLA also only returns two starters from the 2018 championship team that went 40-4, which includes junior
Megan Muret along with Simo. UCLA won the 2019 NCAA Championship as the No. 2 seed by defeating No. 7 Hawai i 3-2 in the opening round. After that wake-up call, UCLA cruised to its second-straight national title with 3-0 victories over No. 3 Florida State, No. 5 LSU and No. 1 USC (didn t drop a set to the Trojans). The Bruins return their court one duo of Simo and
Abby Van Winkle from 2020 that went 13-2 a year ago (all on court one). Court two also remains intact and consisted of freshman