The All-American USC beach volleyball pair of seniors Kelly Claes (Fullerton, Calif.) and Sara Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif.) was named Pac-12 Pair of the Week for the week of February 27-March 5, as announced by the conference on Tuesday, March 7. It is an unprecedented fourth award for the Trojans’ top pair and the seventh all-time selection for the top-ranked Women of Troy.
Claes and Hughes won two straight-set matches over the weekend at the Pepperdine Kick-Off to begin the 2017 season. The duo defeated UCLA’s top pair of Megan and Nicole McNamara, 21-19, 21-12; and then took down Pepperdine’s No. 1 tandem of Delaney Knudsen and Madalyn Roh, 21-13, 21-12. The two wins extended Claes and Hughes’ record-setting winning streak to 75 consecutive matches, which dates back to April 2, 2015.
The No. 1-ranked Trojans (2-0) will face a pair of top-15 teams this weekend at the East Meets West Invitational hosted by UCLA at the Manhattan Beach Pier in Manhattan Beach, Calif. USC takes on No. 12 Florida International at 10:30 a.m. PT on Saturday, March 11, and then faces No. 10 Louisiana State at 12:30 p.m.Before the weekend tournament, USC hosts an international exhibition at Merle Norman Stadium against pairs from Poland, China, and Team USA. The exhibition begins at 11 a.m. PT and is free to the public.
For more information on the two-time national champion USC beach volleyball team and a complete schedule, please visit USCTrojans.com and follow @USCBeach on Facebook, Twitter, Periscope, Instagram, and Snapchat.
ALL-TIME USC PAC-12 BEACH VOLLEYBALL PAIRS OF THE WEEK
2016
Nicolette Martin and Allie Wheeler (Mar. 8)
Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes (Mar. 21)
Jenna Belton and Abril Bustamante (Mar. 28)
Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes (Apr. 11)
Sophie Bukovec and Alexa Strange (Apr. 18)
Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes (Apr. 25)
2017
Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes (Mar. 7)
News courtesy of USC Athletics.
Leave a Reply