Nourse twins, USC beach volleyball beat UCLA for NCAA title

GULF SHORES, Ala. (AP) — Twins Audrey and Nicole Nourse of Southern California beat the Bruins’ Haley Hallgren and Rileigh Powers 21-18, 19-21, 15-9 to give the Trojans a 3-2 win over top-ranked and No. 1 seed UCLA on Sunday to lift USC to its third consecutive NCAA beach volleyball championship.

Jenna Johnson and Ashlyn Rasnick-Pope of third-ranken and No. 3 seed USC (32-5) beat the Bruins’ Marlie Monserez and Jess Smith 22-20, 21-14 in Match 4 and in Match 2 Southern Cal’s Madison White and Madison Shields beat UCLA’s Abby Van Winkle and Peri Brennan 24-22, 23-21, 15-9 to give the Trojans a 2-0 lead.

Lexy Denaburg and Maggie Boyd kept UCLA (40-3) alive with 21-17, 21-13 win over Megan Kraft and Laynie Maple in Match 1 before Devon Newberry and Jaden Whitmarsh won Match 5 over USC’s Olivia Bakos and Gabby Walker, 21-18, 21-19, to pull the Bruins even at 2-2.

USC has won five of the seven beach volleyball championships all time, with the Bruins winning the other two (2018 and ’19).

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