USC, FIU win in beach as NCAA season gets under way around the country

COVID or not, the NCAA beach volleyball season began Thursday with a few matches around the country and many more on tap Friday. USC won, UCLA-Long Beach State canceled, and Florida State is home and LSU gets its season under way Friday in Houston.

Fourth-ranked USC beat Pepperdine twice, 4-1, and 5-0. Rob Espero’s interview with USC coach Dain Blanton is below.

The UCLA-at-Long Beach State match was canceled at the last moment.

In Florida, No. 14 Florida International scored a pair of 5-0 wins over Florida Memorial.

The ASUN had two matches Thursday, with Erskine at Jacksonville’s Dolphin Beach. JU swept both matches 5-0.

Friday is when the season kicks off in earnest.

Florida State hosts the Seminole Beach Bash in Tallahassee, featuring No. 3 FSU, No. 6 Cal Poly, No. 8 Loyola Marymount and Southern Miss.

Stetson’s Spring Fling has No. 11 Stetson, No. 12 Florida Atlantic, No. 13 Florida International, No. 14 South Carolina and No. 15 TCU.

Houston Baptist’s Beach Tournament teams are No. 1 LSU, ULM, and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

No. 7 Grand Canyon’s Canyon Classic features No. 17 Arizona, No. 20 Arizona State and Colorado Mesa in a round-robin format February 26, with a pairs tournament February 27.

No. 9 Cal is home for Oregon and UC Davis, its only home matches of the year.

Tulane’s Green Wave Invitational matches up Tulane, Utah, Southeastern Louisiana and UAB.

Earlier this week, Travis Mewhirter broke the down the different halves of the country. Read his previews about the East and West.

The weekend’s schedule (all times local)

ASUN:
Friday
Huntingdon at North Alabama, 6:45 a.m.
UNCW vs North Florida at Jacksonville, 8 a.m.
Hendrix College at North Alabama, 9 a.m.
Mercer vs North Florida at Jacksonville, 9:45 a.m.
Central Arkansas at North Alabama, 12:30 p.m.
Erskine vs Mercer at Jacksonville, 2:15 p.m.
Saturday
Mercer vs. College of Charleston at Jacksonville, 9 a.m.
TCU at Stetson, 10 a.m.
Huntington at North Alabama, 10 a.m.
College of Charleston vs. North Florida at Jacksonville, 12:15 a.m.
Central Arkansas at North Alabama, 1:30 p.m.
Mercer vs UNCW at Jacksonville, 1:45 p.m.
FAU at Stetson, 2 p.m.
Erskine vs. North Florida at Jacksonville, 3:15 p.m.
Sunday’s
FIU at Stetson, 10 a.m.
South Carolina at Stetson, 4 p.m.

BIG WEST
Friday
Stanford at Long Beach State, 9 a.m.
Stanford at Long Beach State, 11 a.m.
Saturday
Cal Poly vs Tampa at FSU, 6:45 a.m.
Cal Poly vs Georgia State at FSU, 10:15 a.m.
UC Davis at Cal, 1 p.m.
Cal Poly vs Southern Mississippi at FSU, 1:45 p.m.
Sunday
Cal Poly at Florida State, 6:45 a.m.

CCSA
Friday
Tulane at New Orleans, 8:30 a.m.
UNCW vs North Florida at Jacksonville, 8 a.m.
Utah vs UAB at Tulane, 10:30 a.m.
College of Charleston vs UNCW at Jacksonville, 12:45 p.m.
UAB at Tulane, 2:30 p.m.
Saturday
Palm Beach Atlantic vs. College of Charleston, where?, TBA time
Erskine vs. College of Charleston, where? TBA time
Southeastern Louisiana at Tulane, 4:30 p.m.
Utah at Tulane, 10:30 a.m.
South Carolina vs. FAU at Stetson, 8 a.m.
Loyola Marymount vs. Georgia State at Florida State, 8 a.m.
Mercer vs College of Charleston, Jacksonville: 9 a.m.
New Orleans vs UAB at Tulane, 9:30 a.m.
TCU at Stetson, 10 a.m.
Southern Miss at FSU, 10:30 a.m.
Erskine vs. UNCW at Jacksonville, 10:45 a.m.
South Carolina at FIU, noon
College of Charleston vs North Florida at Jacksonville, 12:15 p.m.
Cal Poly vs Southern Miss at Florida State, 3:45 p.m.
Sunday
TCU at FIU, 4 p.m.
Florida Atlantic vs TCU at FIU, 8 a.m.
FIU at Stetson, 10 a.m.
Loyola Marymount vs. Southern Miss at Florida State, 10:30 a.m.
South Carolina vs TCU at FIU, noon
Tampa vs Georgia State at Florida State, 1:15 p.m.
FAU at FIU, 2 p.m.
Southern Miss vs Georgia State at Florida State, 3 p.m.
South Carolina at Stetson, 4 p.m.
Tampa at Florida State, 4:45 p.m.

PAC-12
Friday
Oregon at Cal, 9 a.m.
UAB vs Utah, New Orleans, La., 9:30 a.m.
Grand Canyon at Arizona, 10 a.m.
Colorado Mesa vs ASU at Arizona, 10 a.m.
Stanford at Long Beach, 10 a.m.
ASU vs Grand Canyon at Arizona, noon
Colorado Mesa at Arizona, noon
Stanford at Long Beach, 1 p.m.
Oregon at Saint Mary’s, 2 p.m.
Utah vs Sel at New Orleans, 3:30 p.m.
Saturday
Grand Canyon Classic (pairs), Phoenix, Az.
Pairs event CMU, ASU, GCU, UA, Phoenix, Az.
Stanford at UCLA, 10 a.m.
UCD at Cal, 1 p.m.
Utah vs UNO at New Orleans, La., 1:30 p.m. PST
Stanford at UCLA, 1:30 p.m.
Monday
Stanford at Pepperdine, 11 a.m.

West Coast Conference
(most WCC teams’ schedules have not been published yet)
Friday
Oregon at St. Mary’s, 2 p.m.
Saturday
USF at Saint Mary’s, 9 a.m.
Sunday
Stanford at Pepperdine (Zuma Beach, Malibu) 11 a.m.

Thursday’s results:
FIU 5, Florida Memorial 0
1. FRASCA, Federica/ROBEIRO, Roberta (FIU) def. Dodd, Olivia/Infante, Azmabeth (FMU) 21-7, 21-12
2. MANCINELLI, Raquelle/ERTELTOVA, Emma (FIU) def. Albarron, Sammyra/Santana, Keisha (FMU) 15-21, 21-16, 15-4
3. HUGHES, Abbie/KALKHOFF, Paige (FIU) def. Soto, Adriana/Santana, Alanis (FMU) 21-3, 21-3
4. BERNIER, Lina/LIPSCOMB, Gina (FIU) def. Cruz, Biancaliz/Busque, Agustina (FMU) 21-7, 21-7
5. BIANCHI, Giada/BRANDSTETTER, Sophia (FIU) by forfeit
FIU 5, FM 0
1. FRASCA, Federica/ROBEIRO, Roberta (FIU) def. Dodd, Olivia/Infante, Azmabeth (FMU) 21-6, 21-4
2. HUGHES, Abbie/KALKHOFF, Paige (FIU) def. Albarron, Sammyra/Santana, Alanis (FMU) 21-4, 21-5
3. ERTELTOVA, Emma/MANCINELLI, Raquelle (FIU) def. Cruz, Biancaliz/Santana, Keisha (FMU) 21-6, 21-16
4. LIPSCOMB, Gina/BERNIER, Lina (FIU) def. Soto, Adriana/Busque, Agustina (FMU) 21-15, 21-8
5. BRANDSTETTER, Sophia/BIANCHI, Giada (FIU) def. No player/No player (FMU), by forfeit

Erskine at Jacksonville
Jacksonville 5, Erskine 0
1. (JU) Morgan Dees/Shaylee Befus def. (EC) Morgan Browne/Olivia Browne, 21-8, 21-12
2. (JU) Olivia Szyszkiewicz/Rina Mitchell def. (EC) Allison Dutterer/Alyssa Pagan, 21-19, 21-10
3. (JU) Giao Huynh/Kathryn Wristen def. (EC) Mallory Carter/Karina Petrovich, 21-7, 21-11
4. (JU) Kari DeYoung/Makaela Weathers def. (EC) Emily Gilbert/Marissa Possenriede, 21-15, 23-21
5. (JU) Makenzie Weathers/Kaitlyn Sereda def. (EC) Allison Carter/Maisy Garner, 21-18, 21-19
Jacksonville 5, Erskine 0
1. (JU) Morgan Dees/Shaylee Befus def. (EC) Morgan Browne/Olivia Browne, 21-11, 21-17
2. (JU) Olivia Szyszkiewicz/Rina Mitchell def. (EC) Allison Dutterer/Hannah Kryzsiak, 21-11, 21-11
3. (JU) Giao Huynh/Kathryn Wristen def. (EC) Emily Gilbert/Marissa Possenreide, 21-16, 21-14
4. (JU) Kari DeYoung/Makaela Weathers def. (EC) Mallory Carter/Karina Petrovich, 23-21, 21-17
5. (JU) Makenzie Weathers/Kaitlyn Sereda def. (EC) Allison Carter/Maisy Garner, 21-11, 21-17

No. 4 USC 4, No. 10 Pepperdine 1
1. Tina GRAUDINA/Sammy SLATER (USC) def. Brook BAUER/Carly SKJODT (PEPP); 21-19, 18-21, 15-10
2. Hailey HARWARD/Julia SCOLES (USC) def. Melanie PAUL/Simone PRIEBE (PEPP); 21-14, 21-17
3. Haley HALLGREN/Megan KRAFT (USC) def. Alexis FILIPPONE/Sutton MACTAVISH (PEPP); 21-16, 21-12
4. Jordan BENOIT/Mary SINCLAIR (PEPP) def. Joy DENNIS/Delaynie MAPLE (USC); 19-21, 21-18, 17-15
5. Audrey NOURSE/Nicole NOURSE (USC) def. Katie GAVIN/Gracie PEDERSON (PEPP); 21-14, 21-14

No. 4 USC 5, No. 10 Pepperdine 0
1. Tina GRAUDINA/Sammy SLATER (USC) def. Brook BAUER/Carly SKJODT (PEPP); 21-18, 21-16
2. Hailey HARWARD/Julia SCOLES (USC) def. Alexis FILIPPONE/Sutton MACTAVISH (PEPP); 21-15, 21-19
3. Joy DENNIS/Haley HALLGREN (USC) def. Melanie PAUL/Simone PRIEBE (PEPP); 21-14, 21-19
4. Megan KRAFT/Delaynie MAPLE (USC) def. Jordan BENOIT/Mary SINCLAIR (PEPP); 21-12, 21-15
5. Audrey NOURSE/Nicole NOURSE (USC) def. Cameron BAKLENKO/Kristine BRIEDE (PEPP); 21-13, 21-12