Best beach volleyball photos from Mark Rigney, Jim Wolf as No. 1 USC edges No. 3 UCLA

You would have expected nothing less than a close battle when two of the nation’s top three teams met to end the NCAA beach volleyball regular season Friday at USC’s Merle Norman Stadium.

Previously this season, UCLA won 3-2 on March 5 at UCLA and USC won 4-1 on April 16 at USC. In this rubber match USC won 3-2 in the battle of the Los Angeles schools. It was certainly a prelude of things to come in next week’s PAC-12 Championship at Arizona and then when they and 14 other programs meet in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on May 4 for the NCAA Championship.

VolleyballMag.com photographers Mark Rigney and Jim Wolf were on the USC campus and their best photos follow. Follow Mark on Instagram at @markrigney and Jim at @jimwolf9426.

Click on any one of them to view full size.

USC (28-10 3), UCLA ( 28-5) 2
1. Hailey Harward/Tina Graudina (USC) def. Lexy Denaburg/Abby Van Winkle (UCLA) 21-17, 21-10
2. Sammy Slater/Megan Kraft (USC) def. Jaden Whitmarsh/Devon Newberry (UCLA) 22-20, 21-9
3. Lea Monkhouse/Jessie Smith (UCLA) def. Julia Scoles/Delaynie Maple (USC) 21-18, 13-21, 22-20
4. Audrey Nourse/Nicole Nourse (USC) def. Natalię Myszkowski/Sophie Moore (UCLA) 21-17, 21-14
5. Marlie Monserez/Rileigh Powers (UCLA) def. Mollie Ebertin/Sunny Villapando (USC) 21-14, 12-21, 15-10
Order of finish: 4, 2, 1*, 3, 5

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