UCLA is top seed this year; USC is No. 5 for NCAA beach volleyball tournament
The Bruins are seeking their first national title since 2019, while fifth-seeded USC is trying to win its fifth straight this week in Gulf Shores, Alabama. LMU is seeded fourth and Long Beach State is seeded ninth.
UCLA is the top seed and USC is seeded fifth for the 16-team NCAA beach volleyball tournament, which begins Friday morning in Gulf Shores, Alabama. (Photo by Jan Kim Lim, UCLA Athletics)
OC Register staff — Top-ranked UCLA (30-6) received the No. 1 seed for the three-day NCAA beach volleyball tournament on Sunday, while four-time defending national champion USC was seeded fifth.
The Bruins will face 16th-seeded Chattanooga (26-5) on Friday at 8 a.m. PT when the single-elimination tournament begins in Gulf Shores, Alabama. USC (26-10) will face Atlantic Sun champion #17 North Florida (25-10) on Friday at 7 a.m.
Loyola Marymount (35-6) is the No. 4 seed and will face No. 14 Florida Atlantic (21-14) at 6 a.m., while Long Beach State (27-11) is seeded ninth and will open against No. 8 seed Florida State (25-12) at 9 a.m.
Other first-round matches include: No. 2 TCU (28-5) vs. No. 15 Georgia State (22-16) at 10 a.m., No. 7 Texas (27-9) vs. No. 10 Cal (27-9) at 11 a.m., No. 3 Stanford (31-8) vs. No. 14 Boise State (23-11) at noon and No. 6 Cal Poly (29-7) vs. No. 11 LSU (24-12) at 1 p.m.
The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on Saturday, with the championship match scheduled for Sunday at 7:30 a.m.
The Bruins won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2018 and 2019 and have been the runner-up three times, with two third-place finishes. UCLA has lost to USC in the final in three of the past four years.
USC won its first national title in 2015 (AVCA), then won the first two NCAA titles in 2016 and 2017 before its run of four straight.
GULF SHORES, ALABAMA – MAY 5: USC’s Olivia Bakos #5, Nicole Nourse #42 and Audrey Nourse #24 celebrate after defeating UCLA during the Div I Women’s Beach Volleyball Championship held at Gulf Shores Public Beach on May 5, 2024 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. (Photo by Tyler Schank/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
No school other than USC or UCLA has won the title in the NCAA era, with Florida State a three-time runner-up.
Championship History (Recent):
2024:USC (3-0 win over UCLA)
2023:USC (3-2 win over UCLA)
2022:USC (3-1 win over Florida State)
2021:USC (3-1 win over UCLA)
2020:Championship canceled due to COVID-19
2019:UCLA (3-0 win over USC)
Eight of the 16 teams in this year’s field received automatic berths by winning their conference championships.
The tournament will be played in single-elimination duals with 10 athletes split into five pairs from each team. The dual meet match is formatted in five best-of-three sets, pairs matches, with each pairs match being worth one point.
ESPN2 will provide live coverage on Friday and Saturday, with the championship dual on Sunday to air on ESPN.
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One of the services released their top 25 post spring. We play 6 of the top 25. Oregon, Notre Dame, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Nebraska. We also play improved UCLA and Michigan State.
OK…..we’ll see. No place to hide……and we should be considered lucky….no Penn St or Ohio State.
I’m not looking at UCLA as anything close to “improved.” It’s an overused term nowadays, but I think the Bruins remain a “dumpster fire” program. The little gutties are a putrid 50-56 since they took the field in 2016. This new, improved, and much more aggressive and intelligent version of USC football under GM Chad Bowden’s leadership of the new Trojan front office is suddenly a likely playoff team. What an amazing rejuvenation. DC D’Anton Lynn now has some real talent to work with. IOWA, ILL, MICH ST and NEB are all capable teams that seem less likely to make… Read more »
I can’t tell you how many places I have read about how improved ucla will be this year. Well I don’t see it. They lost some elite players on defense, and are replacing it with 3 start talent. Nico has a million$ arm, and a 10 cent head. He might destroy their locker room.I think they struggle to get bowl eligible.
OK….LOL….let me stir the soup……after all…….it’s all for entertainment…..and it’s April with nothing else to do. I await your reply. You don’t have to be polite……go ahead and punch. I’am ready to hit the floor. Granted…..Some of this stuff is a preseason guess. I don’t see a strong pass rush.. Lucas stops the run but moves slowly. Silver had one sack in 30 games. Jarrett did not flash. Fountain is the only one that as an offensive coach I would worry about…..and he might have an RB watching him because the rest don’t have it. The rest have not demonstrated… Read more »
Awesome illinoisusc. I agree with a lot of what you say and thanks for the effort you put into your viewpoint. This should give us all a lot to think about. I like the way you break down all the different facets of what USC can expect to do in 2025. For my viewpoint to work, the sum of the parts for USC must be greater that what they would seem to add up to. I, for some reason, have the feeling that Lincoln Riley has finally felt enough heat to get smart and start adapting to his weaknesses as… Read more »
Well-traveled Chad Baker-Mazara commits to USC men’s basketball The Trojan men now have 11 players for next season. Expect more to come. Connor Morrissette (USCFootball.com) — Former Auburn wing Chad Baker-Mazara committed to USC men’s basketball Monday. He gives the Trojans another talented and experienced contributor for next season. Baker-Mazara played the last two seasons at Auburn. He was a starter on the Tigers Final Four team this past season averaging 12.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Baker-Mazara shot 44.8 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from three-point range. For his career, Baker-Mazara is an 87.8 percent free throw shooter. The left-handed Auburn… Read more »
One of the services released their top 25 post spring. We play 6 of the top 25. Oregon, Notre Dame, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Nebraska. We also play improved UCLA and Michigan State.
OK…..we’ll see. No place to hide……and we should be considered lucky….no Penn St or Ohio State.
I’m not looking at UCLA as anything close to “improved.” It’s an overused term nowadays, but I think the Bruins remain a “dumpster fire” program. The little gutties are a putrid 50-56 since they took the field in 2016. This new, improved, and much more aggressive and intelligent version of USC football under GM Chad Bowden’s leadership of the new Trojan front office is suddenly a likely playoff team. What an amazing rejuvenation. DC D’Anton Lynn now has some real talent to work with. IOWA, ILL, MICH ST and NEB are all capable teams that seem less likely to make… Read more »
I can’t tell you how many places I have read about how improved ucla will be this year. Well I don’t see it. They lost some elite players on defense, and are replacing it with 3 start talent. Nico has a million$ arm, and a 10 cent head. He might destroy their locker room.I think they struggle to get bowl eligible.
OK….LOL….let me stir the soup……after all…….it’s all for entertainment…..and it’s April with nothing else to do. I await your reply. You don’t have to be polite……go ahead and punch. I’am ready to hit the floor. Granted…..Some of this stuff is a preseason guess. I don’t see a strong pass rush.. Lucas stops the run but moves slowly. Silver had one sack in 30 games. Jarrett did not flash. Fountain is the only one that as an offensive coach I would worry about…..and he might have an RB watching him because the rest don’t have it. The rest have not demonstrated… Read more »
Awesome illinoisusc. I agree with a lot of what you say and thanks for the effort you put into your viewpoint. This should give us all a lot to think about. I like the way you break down all the different facets of what USC can expect to do in 2025. For my viewpoint to work, the sum of the parts for USC must be greater that what they would seem to add up to. I, for some reason, have the feeling that Lincoln Riley has finally felt enough heat to get smart and start adapting to his weaknesses as… Read more »
Well-traveled Chad Baker-Mazara commits to USC men’s basketball The Trojan men now have 11 players for next season. Expect more to come. Connor Morrissette (USCFootball.com) — Former Auburn wing Chad Baker-Mazara committed to USC men’s basketball Monday. He gives the Trojans another talented and experienced contributor for next season. Baker-Mazara played the last two seasons at Auburn. He was a starter on the Tigers Final Four team this past season averaging 12.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game. Baker-Mazara shot 44.8 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from three-point range. For his career, Baker-Mazara is an 87.8 percent free throw shooter. The left-handed Auburn… Read more »