Congratulations to the National Champions of Beach Volleyball for 2023, the Trojans of USC! By now most of you have heard that news, USC defeated UCLA in the 2023 NCAA national beach volleyball championship tournament, in Gulf Shores, AL. These are two of the top beach volleyball programs in the nation, literally, as the last 7 titles, have been won by these two schools. For The University of Southern Cal, this was a history making three peat! Prior to this feat, both USC and UCLA had ‘back to back’ championships. (a history that only goes back to 2016)
This past March & April, UCLA hosted the East Meets West Challenge 2023.
We were there, and so were several of the schools that made it to the NCAA Championship. Here are images from the end of USC vs. LSU.
LSU had a phenomenal 2023 beach volleyball season. They went 27-13, with 3 of those Losses coming during this weekend in So Cal. On day one of this challenge, LSU would lose to both UCLA and USC. We arrived at the end of this dual, between these two top ranked programs. Megan Kraft, was named the Pac 12 Player of the year.
LSU seems to be the top 5 just about every season.
Featured in this gallery from East Meets West 2023 Day One action, are USC’s Megan Kraft with Nicole Nourse, against Kylie Deberg and Elle Shank of LSU. Also the dynamic duo of Maddison Shields and Maddison White, who would make second team All conference this season. We find them in the 3rd set, against the 3’s from LSU Reilly Allred and Hannah Brister. You’ll also see a quick shot of AVCA Assistant Coach of the year, Gustavo Rocha of USC, giving insight during a side switch.
Southern California Beach Volleyball is dominating Division 1.
That is no shade to the programs around the nation. California is just a very attractive place to live, attend school, and especially to play this sport. As this sport continues to grow and expand, talent will also start to find it’s way to other schools, and soon. More talent will stay at home as more schools get their beach volleyball programs going.
USC and UCLA will face even more competition, in a field that is actually Very competitive already. Even if it may not seem to be the case, judging only by who’s won it all.
We cover the CCCAA on our site, and can tell you that there is a lot of talent at the 2 year college level.
Several of these ladies are also transferring to Division 1 NCAA programs. There are also more and more clubs growing around the nation, developing top tier athletes.
