USC Beach Volleyball’s Quest For Four Straight NCAA Titles Begins

At USC Beach Volleyball, Dain Blanton, Delaynie Maple and Megan Kraft are looking to do something unprecedented in the world of NCAA Beach Volleyball: Win four consecutive NCAA Championships. They’ve won three straight, with 2023 being the biggest surprise of the bunch, if there is such a thing at USC. Now, they’re back for a fourth, doing everything they can to not think about winning a fourth straight. We chatted all about that, as well as:
– How the USC team culture continues to produce winner after winner after winner
– What it was like for Blanton to replace the legendary Anna Collier
– Kraft’s professional season playing with Emily Stockman and finishing with Terese Cannon
– How the previous generation of greats – Tina Graudina, Julia Scoles, Hailey Harward, Sammy Slater – paved the way for this current generation.

And a whole lot more.

SHOOTS!

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You got those articles I sent you yeah just for yeah info I appreciate that where’s try he is in Florida oh um yeah so he was in Hawaii for the last like probably eight weeks and then he went straight to Florida because Nick lucenna is assist

Uhhuh um for you guys yeah and then they’re coming back Wednesday nice yeah so try it’s hilarious I keep telling him like try you haven’t been on your own show in like three months he’s just been completely ABS he just been running it yeah busy man yeah but we’re going now

Sans’s triborn per usual and uh I have here a very pretty ring Kudos of danne Blandon and Kudos of YouTube for winning a third straight National Championship three Pat says it right there that’s not bad not bad so congrats to you guys another and uh four straight could you

How cool would it be to go out of a college career with four straight national championships yeah that’d be crazy I try not to think about it I try and just think about like each day because if you think about it too long you just like you you just go kind of

Crazy about it and that’s something I’ve always thought of like the past three years I just try not to think about it until like the weekend of cuz you just build it up way too much in your head cuz you’re like that would be so cool to

Just go four for four but then it’s like okay there’s many steps have to do to get there so I try not to think about it my parents will bring it up and then they’ll like cut themselves off is it uh is it difficult to stay in the present

Like that because I’m sure that I mean that was the first question I had for you guys is how cool it’ be to go for p and I’m sure that’s the first thing on a lot of people’s minds so what do you what do you do to stay in the present

And keep yourself from jumping to Golf Shores and met yeah I think taking it like day by day at practice and with our team and we have a really cool team this year with a lot of new new people and um some people that have been on the team for a couple

Years and so it’s a good mix I think but yeah just just not thinking about it too much and trying to just be the best team we can when the season starts and then continue to try to be the best team we can as it goes throughh yeah I think

It’s easy with a lot of SC not easy but with like a large amount of seniors I think it’s nice cuz all of us are like trying to make the most of our last year and like you don’t realize like how fast it goes obviously to your last year it’s

So cliche but like I didn’t realize it till I actually got here that like it’s been like I feel like every day we talk about it like how you want to be presid like we’re going to be three months from now we’re going to be like USC alumni so

It’s like that has been nice like going through it with so many people that’s wild think you guys are going to be USC along that yeah I remember it was not that long ago that you guys were like the cute little high schoolers who just ran rough shot through her mosa and now

You’re close to be in USC alumni that’s crazy little wild ride yeah crazy yeah it’s crazy for me because I was an assistant coach when you guys used to come to the Trojan beach camps that on a caller created and you you guys would come and play and and you just never

Back then would you think that it would turn into what it has but um and us so fortunate to get these two together played together at Tory Pines won a state championship together and I don’t think people understand how important it is the mentality of of being a winner of

Being a champion when you can recruit someone who already has that type of mentality it makes uh it easier for everybody around them and that’s that’s what uh they’ve really brought MH and I mentioned to them how hard it is to what they’re doing to stay in the present as

A coach what are you doing to keep the whole team because there’s going to be girls on this USC team who’ve never won a national championship who they’re brand new to the experience it reminds me of the sort of Vince Lombardi cliche where every year he would show his

Football teams like this is a football and he’s like we’re starting from the basics regardless of what we did last year what’s it like to take in sort of you have a lot of returners coming I think seven back from the starting lineup maybe that finished in Golf

Shores but oh seven of the yeah the 10 I don’t I never even think of those numbers but a lot of new faces as well yeah definit and so what’s what’s sort of the process of of starting a team a new with a blank slate in 24 well I

Think the biggest thing is we don’t put a ton of focus on hey we’re shooting for this National Championship we want to play like great volleyball and if I recruit the right players and I can get them to reach their potential I think like the score kind of takes care of itself

So I don’t shy away from it you know what I mean we have Championship shirts we have rings but we don’t make it the focal point and the most important thing is recognizing that it is a new season there are new players and you don’t want

To talk about this is the way we do it all the time or this is the way it was done because every team is is different we lost 12 players prior to last season we’ll lose probably eight8 to 10 players this season so it’s a Revol revolving

Door College uh Athletics is and um you have to look at Year bye if you start thinking about you know the the past years that’s not going to help you the you know the only thing it does it puts a Target on your back people play their

Best matches when they come to play you but that’s fun and I think that both uh Delany and Megan Embrace when someone comes at them and puts their biggest match out there because I know when I would play like against K Karai I would love it because your game would go to

Another level so I think they thrive on playing great players and then they play great and and the key is to try to play your best volleyball in those huge moments MH and last year was so funny because with how much you guys lost from the previous National Championship

Winning team remember when we had you in here I was like usfc is like kind of this little Underdog sort of this year and then of course not an underdog ever because you’re SC and now the narrative flipped where again you have no question sort of that Target um do you guys enjoy

That position of like we’re kind of the standard bears and that because like Dane said you’re going to get the best from everyone that in turn is going to bring out the best in you pretty much week in week out yeah I I love it like I

Think even last year even though maybe like on paper we were underdogs like I don’t think any of us at one point the season felt that like I think all season long we still felt like we had a Target because of having those like three letters on your chest like you just know

People are gunning for you um which is I feel like it’s actually nice because you kind of know what you’re getting every match like there’s never I’ve never felt one time in the past three years like walking onto a corner feeling like I’m just going to blow through this like

Ever no matter like what lineup I was in or where I was because I just know like no matter how much film you watch on a team like they are going to play very different volleyball against you because they have nothing to lose and I think like that’s been really nice honestly in

Practice because like we know that so like we all just gun for each other in practice because like you want to like prepare your teammates as much as you can and I think that’s something we’ve been really like putting an emphasis on and like talking to the grage students

About and our freshmen like we go really hard in practice and sometimes it almost gets too competitive we’re like we’ll have to debrief after and be like I didn’t mean that personally or like I just did it with the twins last week we like sat down and like I’m sorry I

Didn’t mean that you didn’t mean that cuz like we go we practice how we play it’s like cliche but we that’s like our whole thing so I think it’s nice because we’ve been really trying to push that and I think it’s been kind of like a shock to some people like how aggressive

We go but it’s because like we know that’s what we’re getting for every single match you play like you don’t have one that you just roll over so I think long story short I think it’s nice like you know what you’re getting which is good and I think that that’s sort of

It’s kind of a winning culture right of you can you have to go after each other in practice because that’s what UCLA isn’t going to be worried about your feelings when they’re trying to play you in golf Shor right and it reminds me of um this great quote from Nick Sabin

Where he was talking to a high school recruit and the recruit was talking about how well how am I going to get on the field when I’m behind an All-American All-American All-American future NFL prospect and Sabin was like those are the exact guys you want to be

Behind because when you do get your shot you’re going to be up against the best in the world all the time in practice you’re going to be more than prepared but it’s always that it’s always tough because you are friends and teammates and so how do you fall Foster that

Culture of we’re going to be Cutthroat in practice and then off the court Nicole I didn’t mean it yeah yeah kind of like Delaney said we I think the the iron sharpens iron kind of mentality at practice is is key for our team and I learned it and I’m

Sure Delany did too I learned it from Tina and from Julia and Haley and all the seniors that we had when we were freshmen and trying to keep that same culture even now I think is is a big part of why we’re we’re the way we are

And then last year you know we it was a grind like we we weren’t sweeping teams we were squeaking by 3-2 a lot of the time but it was always together as a team which I thought was really cool and we didn’t really experienced that freshman and sophomore year was a little

More uh not maybe dominant sometimes it wasn’t quite as much of a close close match but having that last season is is kind of the belief that yeah even if it’s close we can still win we can still push each other in practice and get better and I think we got better

From the first day of last year to to the last day in Gulf Shores and that’s what we’re trying to do this year as well and just bringing up Nick Sav actually made me think of uh you know I don’t envy kayin dor filling in for Nick

Sabin at Alabama but you sort of did the equivalent when you took over for Anna I mean no one had built a bigger Dynasty in the sport there was no slip you know just looking at uh reading that story that um USC wrote about you how it’s

Like Dane just never stops winning what was it like filling in for Anna and taking over a program that was the most dominant in history and then just not only sustaining it but building upon it yeah when I was a assistant coach I dreamed if I could get a head coaching

Job it would be at USC I wanted to go to a school that really values Excellence not only on the court but in the classroom and that supports their program and being in a assistant coach I got to kind of see how it worked out and

And how the system worked and um when I got there a lot of pressure right because you got to fill those shoes um without on a call you’re who knows if beach volleyball would be an NCA Sports so USC has been Allin from day one built

Their facility in 2013 so um last year was the 10 year anniversary of the facility and um hopefully we’ll get another facility in the next few years right but um the expectations were really high and I I kind of enjoy that as well it’s it’s kind of nice when kind

Of the cards are stacked against you and and when we started right before Co we were kind of graveling we were like a six F six and five team uh be before it got cut off we had lost almost every one of our match or duel three to2 and um we

Really used that covid uh year to recruit the right girls you know getting Julia skols to come over Haley Harward would have been my first recruit when she came over from Long Beach had to get Tina to come to come back after after the the Olympics a lot of people said

There’s no way but um there was high pressure but I try to Foster an environment that cultivates what they were just telling you um going at each other hard but you walk out the facility and you know you guys are friends your teammates but they know if they push

Each other hard enough when it comes time to really compete they can draw from those experiences of uh of being tested already and uh I think without that we don’t win championships there’s no way but we’ve cultivated this environment and a culture and I try to

Empower them to be a part of it you know uh I ask them a lot of questions I I love input from them I want them to be comfortable but I also want to push them as well and so creating the environment and so I’m thinking about the future and they

Move they they learn from Julia and Tina now I’m trying to get the Next Generation to learn from them because they’re such special athletes and um this season it’ll be a real crash course for a lot of the younger players that will be taking over the team that I’m

Going to put a pre a lot of pressure on them to extract and learn as much information and they’re great teachers too you could have seniors that are just like hey I’ve been here I’m over it they’re vested in making the future better and it’s it’s a it’s a big family

You know you hear about the USC alumni and the family but just our Beach Community I’m trying to cultivate you know a family where people want to come back to playing the alumni game and they want to go down the beach and support when when we’re playing and it’s it’s

It’s a lot of fun and uh I feel really fortunate yeah when you I mean just think about the alumni that you guys have I mean just recently we got Kelly Chang and Sarah Hughes world champions Tina grina almost won an Olympic medal Julia skoles won an AVP haly Harvard won

An AVP it’s crazy just to think of all those alumni is it cool for you guys to sort of sit in USC and know that these were the positions that all those big names were once in as well yeah totally like and it’s cool for both of us we

Both had the opportunity to play with a couple of those girls and like seeing where they are now and like I’m sure they have no idea the impact they had on us like as freshman and sophomores like we talk about all the time like obviously we learned so much from Dan

And Gustavo but we also learned so much just by like asking them like I remember a specific play like I cut shot and Tina pulled perfectly into my cut shot like she knew what I was doing before I even did it and I remember asking her I was

Like how did you know that and like picking their brains because they just see volleyball at such a different level like learning from them was like one of the biggest things I took from those two years of just like understanding their minds because they were I mean over four

Years older than us at the time when we were freshmen and they made such an impact but like I think they made a bigger impact on the culture and that’s something that like we put so much emphasis on like I learned everything that I’ve been trying to like teach this

Team like from them and like how hard you go in practice and you know the standards that we keep and how you treat each other off the court and on the court like that was all what they taught us so I think that’s important like they

Cared a lot and we still see them all the time which is really cool and they always ask us like if they need anything if we have stuff like I I know like we try and keep stuff out of you know out of the team and I’ll call Julia for like

Advice on what should I do about this like what how would you do this and I think it’s just cool having them as a resource because they get it but also you know they want the best for us and they’ve taught us so much so it’s been a

Really cool thing to have them because so many of them live 20 minutes away like here so that’s been really cool we’d still have them so close that we can you know ask some things all the time and lni that I didn’t even mention was theres Cannon yeah partner Nora

Champion yeah how fun was it finish in the season with t oh it was really fun she’s she’s great and and I think both of us being from USC and she’s won two national championships too um and she’s also a student of the game and and

Really wanting to learn just just like I am just like our whole team is so it was really fun it’s really fun to play with her and yeah our alumni are are just amazing all around it was fun to watch you guys and did you know that you have a world class

Defender oh yeah you you can put her anywhere on the court she’s she’s just a great volleyball player and um it’s it’s great that she’s out there excuse me and the versatility that that is there so sorry you have any water for yeah I can get it that one’s been there for a

Minute baby water thank you sir nice cold no but what I was uh saying is she’s such a versatile player now and I think that you know always blockers want to play defense Defenders always want to block and she’s out there actually doing it which is which is huge but it it it

Creates a level of Versatility for our team that she can she can play defense or she can block and she’s gotten really good at it so no kidding yeah really good I remember World chance make I was like all right digs per set Kristen Nas no surprise nah Brunner standard s tman

Yep Megan craft the blocker it was lucky it was lucky it was a three weeks of Defense crash course I got lucky but it’s easy behind Lucky so often I remember talking to theres about um your guys tournament in Paris which that was your birthday right H yeah yeah

Um because you guys you qualified played great and then you played three really good teams really close you went to three with Australia mhm and Italy like overtime with Kristen Taran and then three with Italy yeah it’s how how useful do you think playing in those big

Time events is for I mean it’s not training that’s what you want it’s the level you want to be playing at but to bring back to college where you’re now in a leadership position and saying hey like this is what the best in the world are doing this is what we’re trying to

Foster at USC yeah yeah I think play like playing against the best in the world is humbling and it reminds me of so much to get better at and so to be able to come back to USC with things I want to work on not only at USC but also

In in international events is is really cool to have more data points and then just having uh experience with coming up with strategy I think is something that I have been trying to work on a lot more this year um defensive strategy serving strategy just trying to to win the the

Chess match against your opponent and as College gets better and better you have to you can’t rely on hitting the ball as hard as you can anymore and overpowering teams maybe like you you could back a couple years ago now you have to you have to be smarter than them too and and

More efficient and um to have a better strategy so I think that’s that’s something that’s huge that I took away from that and at this point I mean the gap between the highest level of NCAA and a mid-level professional player it it just keeps getting smaller and smaller and smaller where there it’s

Almost no difference I mean when you watch when I watch Golf Shores I’m like this is I’m watching ing a professional beach volleyball match it’s pretty cool and you were volunteering for Anna from what like 2014 2015 to 2018 yeah how much have you seen the level jump since

Those years it’s crazy it’s exactly what we thought would happen all the Casual type uh female players that would kind of Weekend Warriors I can play in an AVP you just knew that that that kind of section was going to be completely removed because the training’s happening at such

A a a young level formal training at fifth grade sixth grade seventh grade you know it’s not just you’re going down the beach and hitting around a lot of people are getting trained by by older professionals and so by the time you get out of high school some of these you

Know players I mean they were doing it what did you guys get a fifth in Hermosa so I mean they were doing it in high school so you just knew four years of col college or a few years of college it’s just going to to rise up and it’s

Happened and I think it’s given such a boost to the women’s game and it’s so fun to see Kelly and Sarah back together playing I mean you mentioned you know skulls is the defending Manhattan Beach uh champion and it’s it’s so cool the system because the trainings there and

It it was just it’s needed too and it seems like the momentum is huge the ESPN ratings were through the roof for our sport as well as indoor and it’s it’s just a great time you know all these Pro leagues are starting indoor in the United States it’s it’s a great time to

Be a women’s uh volleyball player on the beach or indoor and I think the momentum is huge and we just all can contribute in continuing to grow it yeah do you guys catch any of the PVF this week I did it was pretty cool I mean it was like

11,700 yeah we have Shane and scolly who played on our team two years ago is playing and so it was cool seeing her I was uh pleasantly surprised I wasn’t sure what it would look like cuz Pro volleyball in the US has never really taken like had a good foothold but then

It like blew out the attendance record for pro volleyball and the I mean of course you know Omaha it’s like if you want to do something good in volleyball just go to Omaha Ser but it’s it’s cool is it uh fun for you guys to see too just as Dane

Mentioned it’s a good time to be a women’s V player Beach or indoor cuz the TV ratings are going up the interest is booming the participation is enormous I feel like you guys are like at the frontier of this big boom it’s fun yeah it’ll be exciting we we’re talking about

It in the car on the way here like when it moves Huntington next year we’re like oh it’s going to be so different than go Shores but and like we feel like we have a there’s a big fan base there but it’s usually all like family and friends

Where now when it gets moved to Huntington I mean our the basically the entire beach volleyball Community is there in like Manhattan Beach here but an hour drive so it’ll be really cool to see how that affects it too and how many young girls that might watch that like

Go into volleyball because of that and like with the Olympics this year as well I know that always is a big thing you know people will watch beach volleyball and that’ll boom so I think this will be a really big year for beach volleyball after following such an enormous year

Last year for indoor um I think it’ll be a really exciting year because I just think a lot of things are clicking at a really good time like everything’s kind of overlapping this year of changes um so I it’s I mean it’s really cool coming

You know on our last year of of college Beach is like seeing the direction it’s going and like talking to recruits who are looking at SC I’m like there’s no better time to go into college beach volleyball and or like indoor for those girls that are trying to look to do both

Like it’s the most like perfect time because it’s booming in all sorts and like the opportunities that are going to be there and the amount of you know different universities that are adding beach volleyball too it’s like every year I feel like there’s just so many more um so it’s it’s definitely it’s

Cool to look back on like how how different it was from when we were senior in high school there’s kind of a there’s like a sense of finality this year too because as you mentioned it’s the last year in Golf Shores which was that’s an iconic spot for college Beach

How do you guys feel about it switching because it like my heart it’s like it’s cool that that was sort of the most random tradition like who would have thought golf scores Alabama would be like the national championship but like you said Huntington it’s it’s a bigger

Beach volleyball spot but then it’s I don’t know it was a cool little tradition I see the both Sid how do you guys feel about the switch to Huntington yeah I think I’m uh yeah it’s going to be interesting I’m happy that it be close so we can go watch as alumni

And and um cheer on our team but it’s I think like de said it’s definitely going to bring a different fan base than Gulf Shores but Golf Shores is special and it feels different when you go there so it’ll be it’ll be a little sad I think

To to not go back there but um I think Huntington will will make it look great and probably look similar to go Shores with the grass and and the cool things that they do but it’ll definitely be different yeah yeah Golf Shores is awesome but it’s hard to get to very and

But once you get there and you’re facing the water and just the colors and it’s almost like a TV set it’s like an oasis and when ESPN comes in they do they do put palm trees and they kind of make it look even more special but it’s it’s

Absolutely beautiful it’ll be it’ll be missed for sure and you know you got give a lot of credit to Gulf Shores because they were at the Forefront of it and um I thought it was pretty cool that the NCAA awarded them the the first four or

Five year whatever it was when it became an NCAA sport they could have easily won a different direction but the support down there and um I think like you know Megan said it’ll it’ll be kind of sad not not to go there it’s a special place

Um and you know hopefully we can um go back there and create some magic again yeah the Sprints into the water be a little chillier just a little cooler than the golf of Mexico it could be freezing you don’t care yeah that’s true you get that

Opportunity go in the water I can never keep up with Delaney he’s the first one is uh is Huntington is that like a longterm thing or are they taking it I think it’s like a three-year deal don’t quote me on that but I think there is a term to it okay I

Wasn’t sure if if like they were trying to make that sort of the new Hub or if they were going to rotate it around like how they do with the NCAA basketball for example or it’s kind of a new spot every year yeah I thought go Shores might

Become like the Omaha of volleyball college baseball yeah yeah so but um it’ll be you know it it I think you get an interesting reaction right when you’re like oh our finals are in go Shores Alabama they’re like just beach volleyball has not been

The thing there I mean it has for us but I think it’ll be cool to come to the West Coast to see how it’s received and it’s it’s so much more accessible for fans so it’ll be good it’s part of the evolution yeah I think I think it’ll be

Huge in Huntington I think if they put it in Hermosa it would be ridiculous yeah but I think Florida State might be like listen USC and UCLA don’t need a home match for the national championship they they travel so well though like even though it’ll be in California like the

LSU and the FSU like they have such an enormous fan base that yeah I don’t even think it’ll feel different yeah it’s so cool that those schools because like in the South College sports are kind of religion and it’s awesome to see that they’ve adopted beach volleyball it’s

Like that’s a legit big fan based Sport and it helps because those two schools win so much and they’ve been knocking on the door forever yeah absolutely who are the teams that we should be keeping an eye on this year I think there’s a lot we were talking about the other day like

I think in the past you could name off like three or four that you’re like they’ll I feel like be gunning but this year I think there’s there’s going to be a lot of girls it’s kind of like hitting the year where like you can’t Overlook anybody cuz like even the Freshman

Coming in like our freshman this year I mean they have come in so mature and like volleyball knowledge IQ I was like you are blow like I don’t even think I knew what you were doing as a freshman like and it’s it’s been really cool just seeing the different like caliber of

Volleyball and like I’m I’m sure a ton of freshman play at other schools and you know seeing like how I just feel like it’s changing so I I couldn’t even give you a list I think there’s going to be a lot yeah yeah I think it’s a really

Strong class that our seniors right now as well tons of gradu the Freshman because so many so many times we’re going over rosters and it’s like oh my God they’re still here we got to deal with this yeah and but to to delany’s point I think there’s

A lot of great team teams I mean will be solid Y is always good Florida State’s going to be there Loyola marmount Cal Pauli Hawaii Stanford’s got a lot of you know good players and it just keeps growing it it keeps growing and keeps getting more and

More competitive which is awesome um but I think the you you know like you were talking about like when you look at the Freshman now the way they’re coming in and we get freshmen that some of them are taking their senior year off they’re they’re graduating early and they’re

Training to get ready for college and it’s interesting to see the trends and I think there’s a lot more players making that distinction like I’m just going to play indoor or I’m going to play Beach and so they come in a little more prepared and um what I’ve always pushed

At at SC is you know if you want to play both we want you to come you know here we want to open that door because if you know volleyball you know volleyball and I think it’s just slight subtle differences and and Reps you can you know go from indoor to outdoor from

Outdoor to indoor you know I think it’s it’s possible the versatility of the athlete that’s coming up now and we were chatting uh before you came about Molly Phillips that’s a a cool transfer to get how’s her transition been it’s a really cool uh fortunate right I mean how often

Can you get a two-time national champion from indoor and now they’re they’re coming over to the beach um you know she reminds me of like the potential of like almost like on Alex Kleinman MH because of her height and just putting up 6’4 65 is that that right and just really

Coming to the beach and she has a history on the beach as well but she’s come to our team with such an open mind she’s just been a you know a breeze to work with and she’s just kind of fit right in I don’t know how you guys feel

But from my perspective it’s just like she was wide wide eyed when she came in just taking it all in and now she’s just ready to to do her thing and every day you see something click a little more and you’re like oh wow she can be very

Dangerous yeah she’s a great human she’s been definitely like seamless came in and I don’t feel like she skipped a beat which is really cool and obviously like incredible athlete but even like better human and I think she’ll help like the maturity of our team a lot and she’s

Been I mean even teaching us stuff about you know like ways they did stuff at Texas and things that you know we can improve and stuff too so she’s been awesome I think she’ll she’ll only be a positive thing for us which is cool but

I think I think that she comes in like that because of them being leaders and opening the door it’s not like oh this is our team and oh you want to come in on it’s just like Open Arms let’s go we’re we’re on the same Squad and and I think that accelerates the

You know her getting acclimated and and really like blossoming you can always learn from a winner she’s won two national championships and you can learn from that it’s cool that she came in with her humility to learn from you guys though and I think that speaks to the the

Program that Texas put together as well that she can come in and be like you know what I have things to learn on the beach and I’m sure that she it’s always humbling when you go from hard surface to one that moves yeah definitely but that’s cool that you guys just embraced

Her with open arms but that’s just another and along line of transfers that You’ brought in I mean you mentioned was it Haley or Julia that was your first uh Haley Harward so haly yeah she graduated um right in December after her indoor season of that allowed her to

Have the spring of that year and then addition additional year and um Julia as well was at Hawaii when Co hit which um instead of her playing that year in Hawaii got another year and I believe you guys are the first class after not affected at all Yeah by Co and but they

Do have they they do they are in a really great and interesting position I think Ricky Ludy the old um yeah uh legendary you know indoor Beach uh player he I believe he was the only player to start four years and win four national championships for he did a

UCLA and um they’ve obviously started from day one and uh it’s it’s it’s just a lot of fun and you know um like I said we don’t talk a ton about those things and uh but they’ve created some amazing opportunities for themselves which is cool MH but you’ve

Done really well uh with transfers I know last year mass and shields Ashlin rasnik Pope Jenna Johnson is it Kelly agnu that was UCLA um any outside from Molly any new transfers this year a lot of new transfers um Maddie Chris who was on the ones with zalan

Hodell in at Stanford okay uh spectacular Defender um and volleyball player um also Grace sites who was at LSU um she’s she’s she’s really fun to work she’s great um anley Rudell from Cal okay um you mentioned Molly Phillips from Texas and um Emily fitzner was on

Our indoor team and she’s moved over and and she’s now competing on the beach and um did I miss anyone no and and not to mention the Freshman cuz Ashley perer she’s coming in and you did you play her yes Heros okay Sarah wood oh yeah Sarah’s a

Beast yeah I was I was very nervous for that game it’s uh it’s crazy that you’re getting frustrating with AP experience and probably somewhat regularly I mean you guys you did it but actually I feel like she’s been playing the main draws I’ve seen her name for years and she’s

Just now becoming a freshman yeah she came in very like effortlessly like you could tell her maturity and like the IQ is so there like from day one which is cool she’s been awesome she she’s someone you just like don’t even have to worry about like you know she’s doing

The right things and she’s been super open-minded and has been trying to learn from all of us and I mean I’m learning stuff from Her Like She’s she runs down everything so she’s been making me way better and I think it’s just so cool seeing someone like that like just I

Talk about all the time like seeing her trajectory of where she’ll go at USC will be really cool so I’m I’m definitely excited for her and she’s just been a great teammate so we’ve we’ve really enjoyed her any other freshman uh kind of notable we have entrance we have five right five okay

Six or six total yeah oh yeah six total you’re right yeah yeah we have a lot all great we have great humans all of them I mean all of them are great just volleyball players like but even I mean they’re all great humans like that is like the biggest

Thing they all came in like very mature and very just like they knew what they wanted they’ve been grinding like I remember all summer last summer they were texting me like is this the right workout thing to do is this like they were doing our conditioning test I’m

Like take a week to breathe like you just you just graduated high school but they they’ve been awesome and they’ve been pushing us and they’ve been so open-minded and the cool thing is they’ve been asking a ton of stuff about like leadership too we have a a freshman

From Texas name Kaylee and she’s been awesome just trying to ask so many questions like not just volleyball but like what are like keys of how you run this team what are things that have worked and like it’s cool because you know we do have a big graduating class

This year and they’ll be the the people that you know those freshman and grad students will look to you know when when they’ll kind of taking over the team so it’s been it’s been really fun they’ve been a good group and as a coach how do

You take all these you have some of the core then you have all these new transfers coming in from different programs and different cultures and freshman coming in how do you just mold it all together every year do you have to take a different tack based on the

Personality or do you sort of have this sort of template it’s obviously worked very well and you’re now this will be your fifth year at SC so I mean just how do you take all these different talents and personalities that you get a new influx every year and just mold it into

This winning culture I think the honestly the biggest thing is recruiting the right character athletes that that have the right intentions that are very competitive um that want to have a good time and want to work hard um like they mentioned like Ashley perer she’s just a

Workhorse right she just comes in puts her head down and does her thing and I think if you put like-minded athletes together that are that kind of put ego to the side and are welcoming like Hey we’re a squad and we’re on a mission and that’s that’s really been

The formula and you don’t always get it right with the you know the players that you bring in but I think we’ve got it right way more than we haven’t with you know like how how how uh well spoken these two are how um respectful and also

You know they have that ability to set the ego aside and do what’s best for the group and um then it makes my job a lot easier I can kind of back off I mean the idea is to get them to CU beach is kind of a it’s not an individual sport but

Once you get out there on your own you got to be able to make decisions and when you’re playing Five matches at once it’s not like you’re going to always have a coach there and so so I want them to be fully prepared when that instance

Hits and um you know to answer your question it’s it’s the type of athlete you bring in and the mentality and the work ethic and all those things because I’ve seen teams that uh it’s very different it’s it’s very different so um just trying of create that that

Environment I I think we’ve been able to do it you know by getting athletes like thish can it be an obstacle to recruit when if you’re hot shot freshman coming in like well how am I gonna play behind Megan and Delaney and the Nores and whoever else may be coming in because

It’s like you’re not any good coach you’re not going to be in a position where you say yeah I’ll guarantee you this spot because you might get beat out for it has that been a a challenge recruiting or is that almost a tool where you’re saying you know what I

Can’t guarantee you a spot but you’re going to be going up against some of the best players in the country every day at practice I think I think for me and and I think they could answer it better because I don’t want to you know it’s

Only it only works if if they think it works right and and I try to be very fair I don’t care if you’re on scholarship I don’t care if you’re not on any scholarship if you can perform and play Within the system then I kind

Of let the players decide um in terms of their ability would would that be fair to say yeah definitely I think like a lot of people come for like culture reasons to I think a lot of the grad students who I’ve talked to the past

Couple years like they want to be a part of something where they see that like we are all very like-minded people and I think he’s done a fantastic job of just recruiting like the right humans like I think he puts a lot of emphasis on like the human being beside the athlete

Because like the athlete will come with the training we do like Madison Peele our strength coach is incredible and she’s changed all of us like like everybody’s vertical and how quick like she’s done an incredible job and obviously with him and Gustavo and Emily as coaches like you’re going to get the

Volleyball I think it’s just like if you can get the human that is willing to put the ego aside and like get humbled and I think like that’s something I learned freshman year like I I was getting so humbled but I was like I’m getting so much better because like I’m getting

Demolished by these older players and I think that’s huge and I think our team this year in particular like top to bottom I’ve I haven’t been a part of a group where you know 1 through 22 are just girls who like want to play want to

Be a part of something want to make it a special year um and I think I think that’s the biggest thing is just our culture and every year we start from scratch like even though we’ve had a similar outcome every culture has been super different because you just have

Different individuals and ways you have to treat things and ways you go about things which I think is really cool and just seeing like what works for people and I like taking things from you know anley from Cal and having LSU Stanford backgrounds and like picking what worked

For them has been really nice and like learning what maybe hasn’t worked and maybe if they see similarities and you know learning from them so that’s just been the biggest thing for me I think we’ve learned so much from each other and like everybody has put their ego

Side 100% like people like want to just learn from each other which has just been a really cool environment to be part virtuous cycle when that happens yeah absolutely how would you describe the USC culture mag yeah I think it’s amazing I was about to add on to you D I

Think D and Nick are our captains and Nick Norse and they uh they do a really really really good job um and they’ve they’ve learned you know we all have but them especially as like the the head captains they’ve learned through Tina and Julia and Sammy and all the people

That have been captains when we were younger and they they they’re doing a really good job of of not only organizing things and like making sure Logistics are a go but they really they they serve the team and I think the idea of serving each other and working for

Each other and lifting each other up is kind of their their first their first go-to and you can really feel it so you guys are doing a great job and we’ mentioned the sort of lack of ego in the whole USC program and Meg I have to say it is incredible to see

How softspoken and humble you are when you have played at literally the highest level in the world top 10 at World Championships playing with someone you hadn’t had much experience playing defense after 3 weeks of practice and you’re just still you would never know it by the way you carry yourself and I

Think it’s um it’s encouraging to see and I I enjoy watching you play and succeed because I’m like she’s the most humble athlete out there you hear it from all of fres it’s my favorite thing is when freshman come in and they’re like oh my God it’s b craft and they

Like talk to her and they learn from her and it’s like you’d have no idea what she’s doing but obviously like the most humble human and I think she doesn’t give herself credit for like the leadership she does because I think so many people literally just watch and

Like learn from her in the way that like she speaks when she needs to she helps when she needs to and like she’s played such a huge leadership role of just like lead by example which is kind of what Tina was for us like she was our lead by

Example like Captain like you watch her and you learn from her and you’re like that’s how you do it and that’s how you don’t do it and I think she’s been a huge like especially for our blockers we have so many blockers this year that I think they’ve just watch and like learn

How she does it because obviously it’s so effortless but I mean great human to have as like a leader which I think is really important so I had like when I knew we were going to do this I had to ask them together did you see how I asked you guys

Together Meg would have had something that she would have kind of skirted out because she is very softspoken and kind of goes around the Limelight rather than U but that was that was calculated by me and then and then you know she threw me next was I have class every afternoon

Monday through Thursday and so I told you we got to do it tomorrow so funny that’s why it’s fun having people on here with Meg so they can give Meg the hype that you thanks guys turning into a stop sign but it sounds like uh there’s a lot

Of great problems that USC has this year you have a lot of talent to choose for just 10 spots and you don’t hear often we have two many blockers yeah seriously are problems to have yeah well that’s the thing and and with her versatility Megan could play with a blocker you know

If need be and um the versatility is huge but I think what we haven’t talked about a lot is is uh Gustavo who is just I think he’s one of the great volleyball Minds that I’ve worked with and um he was uh voted ABCA assistant coach of the

Year last year I didn’t know that yeah and then we elevated him to associate head coach and he’s we have a blast because not only I think are the players on the same page we as a coaching staff are on the same page we en enjoy going

To work every day and creating and and designing practice and and all those things and just a great guy who is also got his finger on the pulse we talk about recruiting he he’s very in tune with with the best players in the country are as they they come up so um

Just want to give a lot of credit to to him because he was there my last year as an assistant okay and then I had taken 2019 off but when I was there with him as a volunteer assist and he was the main assistant we always talked like how

Cool would it be if we could run this program one day together and that happened starting in 2019 and uh you know I guess the last four years are history but we’re we’re having a blast doing it and um I think they probably see see that energy and it that’s part

Of cultivating that that really cool environment yeah they balance each other out incredibly well like I was talking to Angley and mad about it the other day like it’s so nice having because we also have Emily and like the three of them they have such a like-minded view on

Like how they want you to do things but they all explain it in a way that it makes sense for you like I’ll ask Dane about certain things because this way he says something will click for me and then something I’m like I don’t know maybe if that’s clicking for me you’re

Like Goose reward it and like he’ll show you in a different way and it’s like so cool to have you know different minds of how it works because they they see volleyball in a different way but they have the same goal which I think is really important and and they don’t they

Don’t cross over each other there’s never you know bad energy like they come in with the same energy every day which I also think is really important because when you have 22 College female players like we’re going through a lot with what we do and like when you go in like you

Know what you’re getting every day which I think is really important and it’s created a very stable environment which I think is has made it like a very easy environment to learn in which is awesome I love Gustavo I see him most mornings on our 6 a.m. walks down the Strand

Gustavo and Malo and Malo wait for yeah he was so funny because he was talking about um Molly coming in he goes dude we put Molly and Megan in practice the other day and he was like and he leaning close like they serve Megan he’s just he’s such a good dude

And he always gives me crap he’s like when are you going to write a story about me I’m like listen the blue couch is open for you whenever you want never take credit and that’s another I mean speaking of no ego Gustavo he might be

Harder to get in than Megan yeah he will not speak on anything he done maybe if I told him like we were going to dinner not driving just got to stop by my friend’s house for a second he’s awesome and he cares like he cares so much about us as

Humans like my freshman year I think he called me every week for the entire fall spring just like how are you doing as a human and I think that’s really important cuz he knows like it’s a lot and I think that’s important and I think it’s something that a lot of us have

Seen like he he’s made us great volleyball players but I think even better like he reminds me every day like this is your last semester make the most of it like don’t don’t just you know fly through this and have any regrets and I think it’s awesome because he pushes us

Not volleyball wise but also just like as humans and he knows that it’s bigger than volleyball and I think that’s the biggest thing that he believes which has made it like easier to do the volleyball cuz it’s like you know this isn’t my my everything like

Even though it feels like it is and we like want it so bad he like always reminds us like it’s there are more important things sometimes that like it makes it volleyball not the scary thing like it makes volleyball the calm thing which is really nice yeah it’s like that

Great Ellena Roosevelt quote I think it was Elena Roosevelt but no one knows no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care and that’s cool that you have an assistant coach and a head coach that cares about you more than just volleyball players when you

Graduate say all right next reloading they care about you guys as human beings and I think that’s so important at the college level not that it’s not at the professional level but you guys are developing human beings you know then you’re going to go out into the real

World and I feel like the SC program continues to churn out people who become well adjusted human beings and not just volleyball players I think that speaks to the culture that all three of you guys and a lot of people before you have instilled yeah you’re in such like a raw

Time of your life like everyone your freshman year compared to your senior year is just so different that it’s like it’s you’re in such like an printable phase of your life that’s why it’s like so important like when he says like the people he recruits like you kind of

Become who you like surround yourself with and it’s like it’s very telling like when you meet someone from SC like the the different characteristics like it makes sense why you know like all these people are my best friends and closest people because everyone’s very very like-minded and you’re all kind of

Going through it together which is cool M and the um last time we had you on I think it was before the NCAA had adopted the single elimination format and you were sort of pushing for it you’re like that’s intense how how do you think it went cuz last year was the

First year that was true single limb yeah right yeah you know I was for it right out of the gate as soon as they allowed us to double the field to 16 there was I was on the committee the NCA committee at the time and I said we need

To do this now because if another decision comes down the pipe later and we kick it down a year you know they won’t take us as serious so I was really happy that while on that committee I got it to 16 teams or helped get it to there

And then the single elimination it just seemed like it made more sense um I think there’s one year where a team that didn’t win the winners racket actually won the National Championship I think maybe UCLA did it so you’re talking just one time where you came around um

Unfortunately I’m not on that committee anymore because it’s a conference um nominated committee your conference has to nominate you and once we pulled out of 12 Nomads right they didn’t waste any time I was I think I was kicked off the committee like the week

Later when when we decided to go from uh when USC and UCLA moved to the the Big 10 yeah they they took took us off right away um but I think it’s huge I I like the single elimination is it’s high stakes it’s high drama it’s pressure and but you

Know what I mean it’s very fanf friendly if you know anything about sports you know nothing about double elimination it’s all say you know what I mean you play in the Australian Open that’s happening right now what is it 128 28 I think yeah same thing with the

US Open the the basketball tournament it’s a 64 team draw and imagine those Cinderella stories that the the buzzer beaters and then the team that lost comes back and plays the next day just doesn’t make any sense and the only answer that I was always getting was

We’re doing it that way because we’ve always done it that way yeah and I said let’s get rid of it let’s let’s go single limb you know and every the stakes are higher the thing with double elimination the percentages rise to get the best teams in the final there’s no

Question about it but is that always good you know you sometimes want the you know the the Cinderella story that won barely I think a few years back remember when Stetson beat us and we were able to come back in I don’t think we won the

Whole thing but you know it was that you still had that possibility you know I I I think there’s multiple ways to look at it but it’s a lot cleaner it’s a lot less matches you see your your route um I think I think they they could answer you

Know whether you like it or not a little better yeah it’s good it’s like yeah it’s it’s it’s like every other sports tournament I think there’s not many sports tournaments that are doum but definitely the first year we did it it was we were all like man this is yeah um

And but it was it was exciting and and it definitely brought the pressure up and you were I just remember like looking over the like the hotel has balconies and you can kindy of see the courts if you have a good room and we’d all be like over the balcony trying to

See the who’s up who’s up and everyone’s heads popped out like in those intense games that were really close and and it was just to get into the the quarters you know so it was um yeah it’s it’s cool I like it and I like that the field

Expanded too because there’s more than just eight good teams now there’s definitely 16 if not more and so it’s it’s all competitive games also like one verse 16 is still a good game whereas maybe a couple years ago when it was eight teams that probably made more sense and then getting more volleyball

Made more sense but I like the I like the single of them it’s intense I mean and at the end of the day anything but pool play I’m Happy there’s nothing harder to explain than what H what goes on in pool play yeah even like the World Championships

Once you get out of pool play it’s single Lim but the Czech Republic went one and two and people were like well how are they coming out of pool play they just lost twice ended up winning the World Championship like jeez try so hard to follow like Theo and Trevor’s come back

Go like squeaking out that was nuts even me and theres we shouldn’t have made it out but and you end up play yeah yeah yeah so we like won our game we’re like I hope we got third and yeah it just points and why don’t they just do the

Mod the the modified pool play where it’s like that mini bracket where even so mod ified with a um a 24 team um people have figured out that if you win your first your second doesn’t matter and so one tournament there were six forfeits in the second round oh wow and

So it didn’t matter if you won that second one you going to be in the it supposedly gives you like an advantage that you’re going to play a worse seed but at the highest level all right so you’re going to play Herrera gavira in the first round instead of you know

Paraset schweiner it’s like all right pick your poison you know you got five-time Olympians versus the world champions um so people were just like we’re just not going to play an extra match yeah and it was hilarious because in China Theo uh went to Forfeit against Adrien hydrates and Leo Diller of

Switzerland and hydri beat him to it and so they ended up rock paper scissoring and the uh the loser uh won the match it was they were trying to lose because they knew that Spain had lost their first round and so they were going to

Come out as a three seed and Theo was like the only way we’re going to play Spain the only team we don’t want to play in the first round is if we go to an own pool so we were trying to Forfeit before they could so ideally would

Single Lim work or just or just a double limb get rid of pool play alt together yeah I think uh a 24 team uh tournament causes a lot of problems because if you have a double elimination you run into the same problem where CU this happened to me I

Think three years in a row in AP Hermosa it was a 24 team draw where you win your first then you play a top eight team and if you lose you go backwards to as if you had never won at all and so Modified pull sort of similar thing where if you

Win your first there’s no point in in playing out your second so I think it’s if it’s divisible by 16 or eight it’s uh or yeah 16 then it’s a you can do a single you can do double you can do modified pool and it’s going to work out

But 2014 team is just kind of a weird it’s got to be a full bracket yeah got it NCA expands again I hope they don’t hit 24 don’t go to 24 go straight to 30 yeah when you get allowed back on the committee we got to get that’s

Interesting because we got to get the big 10 to officially sponsor beach volleyball and we’re close now because um Washington and Oregon as well as USC and UCLA are going Nebraska dabbles in Beach they kind of use their indoor team on the beach you need six teams and I

Think it’s important now that now it’s a power four conference right there’s no power five conference but I think it’s important that one of those conferences is sponsoring beach volleyball for sure and it’s going to take take a couple years but I think we’ll get there yeah

Because I mean the big 10 they have so many big programs yeah I mean because you got I mean what Penn State was historically dominant indoors I me Wisconsin you said Nebraska dabbles they’re like kind of a a half Beach program um I my modern Maryland they’ve

Had a pretty decent indoor program for a while I feel like it’s a matter of time but what’s where are you guys right now for Beach I can’t make we’re Pack 12 this is the last year okay for Pack 12 and then we’ll we’ll go Mountain Pacific Sports Federation the one that like

Men’s volleyball is in water polo that that conference was designed for schools that you know not everybody like say Pepperdine in like the West Coast Conference they don’t all the teams in the West Coast Conference don’t have men’s volleyball so that’s why they kind of created a conference where I don’t know

Does that does that make sense yeah not explaining it that well but it’s really great to have them yeah and um we’ll be a part of that next year and what conference we’re in I don’t think is is really that important um because I think the biggest thing is the conferences can

Provide an automatic bid by winning the championship of that conference but um you know if you’re a top 10 team you’re going to get in with now with the 16 team draw but uh we’ll be Mountain Pacific Sports Federation or mpsf for I think the next two years because

Everyone wanted to do two years and not one because one goes by so quickly MH and then um hopefully if I do my job and other coaches do their job we’ll have uh six teams in the Big 10 and be so cool we’ll go from there who do you think

Would be the next school to add from the Big 10 there’s aough I can’t even keep track of who’s in the Big 10 anymore Big 10 like you know there’s Penn State there’s Wisconsin There’s Nebraska there’s uh Minnesota yeah yeah Ohio State there’s state that would be Michigan State Michigan Michigan Indiana

There’s um Michigan State as well Michigan State Michigan should they should have some extra money now WI a football national championship going Beach a couple hundred grand start them up I mean you’re talking about easy school to sell it was the Pack 12 and the Big 10 for women’s volleyball I think without

Question those are the two strongest conferences now technically they’ve merged in a sense and so the it’s they know volleyball it’s just a matter of moving over the beach side you got to think like beach isn’t even 10 years old in uh in the NCAA so there’s a lot long

Way to go but I think we’re in a really good good place yeah well the paac and trajectory is crazy because I remember when it was introduced as an ABCA sport they needed like maybe 40 schools to adopt it in four years years six years

And they hit it in like a year and a half right and so technically Still Still the fastest growing sport in NCAA history czy so it’s fun times yeah then this is like so much finality last in Golf Shores last to pack 12 Last Dance For You two trying to make it four

Straight it’ be fun to watch yeah we’re excited about it and we can’t believe we’re so close to to starting the season totally again the time goes by so quickly yeah when uh when do you guys start uh late February we’ll kick off the Year this year in Hawaii um against

Some great teams Stanford UCLA um Hawaii Hawaii LMU and Hawaii oh that’s packed and that’ll be all um right in late February and then we’ll be rolling nice well I’ll be uh I’ll be following along as much as I can from from the road probably quite a bit

You’ll be busy busy man well thank you guys so much for coming back on great to see all three of you again and um Dan next time we have you back on uh I kind of expect to see what the fourth one looks like I got I got to bring you a

Shirt too I totally forgot bring you uh the three p the three p shirt sure for sure funny yeah well thanks again guys and good luck this year thank you appreciate it