National pairs champions will have to go through a Trojan wall
BEACH VOLLEYBALL IS THE NCAA’s NEWEST SPORT, but it already has a pairs team for the ages. Southern California’s Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes, who are expected to headline USA Volleyball’s pairs event May 11-13 in Hermosa Beach, California, began the 2017 season with 25 straight victories to improve their active collegiate winning streak to 99 as of April 3. That streak may swell to well over 100 by the time the
Trojans converge on Gulf Shores, Alabama, May 5-7 to defend their national championship. Claes and Hughes, who are part of the USAV Beach High Performance pipeline, plan to make a run at qualifying for a berth in the FIVB World Championship in Austria later this summer immediately after the collegiate season ends. They defeated Olympic gold medalists Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany in Klagenfurt, Austria, last July, less than a month before the Olympics. Some of the college competition Claes and Hughes have seen this senior season they will see again in Hermosa Beach. The
Southern California stars have dispatched of the other school’s No. 1 pairs during the first half of the college season, but have encountered some minor speed bumps. They lost an opening set to Utah’s Adora Anae and Dani Barton on March 17, but won the match 12-21, 22-20, 15-7. That was only the second set the pair has lost in two seasons. A third set loss came against Loyola Marymount’s Sarah Sponcil and Savannah Slattery, who extended the Trojans’ top pair to three sets on March 23 (18-21, 21-10, 15-3). The Trojan duo has also bested Megan McNamara and
Nicole McNamara of UCLA in straights sets in the lone meeting this year. The two sisters were the only team to beat Claes and Hughes in a set in 2016. Other top teams who may present a challenge to the Trojan
duo include Delaney Knudsen and Madalyn Roh of Pepperdine, LSU’s Claire Coppola and Kristen Nuss, Hawaii’s Morgan Mar- tin and Mikayla Tucker and Arizona’s Madison and McKenna Witt. See complete list on page 40.
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