HERMOSA BEACH, California — One mustn’t take into consideration pink elephants.
Difficult factor, that. As soon as somebody mentions one thing as peculiar as a pink elephant, how are you supposed to consider the rest? Think about the problem, then, of Delaynie Maple, Megan Kraft, and USC Seashore Volleyball coach Dain Blanton, solely as a substitute of a pink elephant, this one is parading round in garnet and gold. It’s the one factor they mustn’t take into consideration, and but it’s what’s on the collective NCAA Seashore Volleyball thoughts, the proverbial elephant on the seashore: Can USC win 4 straight NCAA Championships?
Such a feat has by no means been performed earlier than within the younger sport, which celebrates its ninth yr as an official member of the NCAA. The one volleyball athlete Blanton may recall ever beginning 4 straight years and amassing an NCAA Championship in all 4 of them is Ricci Luyties, the wildly athletic setter for UCLA who ran the desk from 1981-84.
This Might, Kraft and Maple can turn out to be the second and third.
However considering of such issues does no good. Even Maple’s dad and mom will catch themselves when bringing it up in dialog with their daughter.
“My dad and mom will carry it up after which reduce themselves off,” Maple stated. “I strive not to consider it. I try to simply take into consideration every day as a result of if you consider it too lengthy you’d simply go loopy about it. That’s one thing I’ve tried to do the previous few years will not be to consider it till the week of since you simply construct it up means an excessive amount of in your head as a result of it will be so cool to go 4 for 4 however there’s so many steps you have to take to get there.”
Because it goes with any national-championship aspirations, the steps, certainly, are many, although not practically that of 2023. USC was thought-about — and that is nonetheless an odd sentence to write down — one thing of an underdog coming into 2023. As a lot as a back-to-back NCAA Champion may be thought-about an underdog, anyway. The Trojans had misplaced 13 of their 24 complete gamers, a listing that included soon-to-be AVP champions in Julia Scoles and Hailey Harward; Tina Graudina, a blocker who had competed in an Olympic Video games; and a consummate winner in Sammy Slater, amongst others.
“It was positively a special fall,” Maple stated final winter.
Totally different fall, similar spring consequence: A number of Trojans sprinting into the teal Gulf of Mexico, celebrating their most sudden NCAA title to this point.
“Final yr was a grind,” Kraft stated. “We weren’t sweeping groups, we have been squeaking by 3-2 plenty of the time. We didn’t expertise that so much freshman and sophomore yr. It wasn’t fairly as shut of a match. Having that final season gave us the idea that if it’s shut we are able to nonetheless win.”
Certainly, 14 of their 37 matches have been determined 3-2, triple that of the earlier two seasons mixed. And but, as USC is wont to do, it gained loads, claiming 32 of 37 matches, together with the 4 that mattered most, in Gulf Shores, Alabama. How have been the ultimate two determined? 3-2, after all.
It’s no accident, no a easy stroke of fine fortune, that Blanton, and Anna Collier earlier than him, continues to recruit gamers who arrive not merely ready to play, however ready to win. When Maple and Kraft enrolled for his or her debut seasons in 2021, already proving they may end fifth on the AVP Tour, they did so wanting not all that completely different from the ladies who had already claimed Nationwide Championships of their very own. Maple completed 26-3 beginning on courtroom 4 whereas Kraft, largely one courtroom one with Graudina, gained 30 of her 33 matches.
“USC was so lucky to get these two collectively,” Blanton stated of Kraft and Maple. “They performed collectively at Torrey Pines, gained a state championship collectively, and I don’t assume folks perceive how vital it’s, the mentality of being a winner, being a champion, when you’ll be able to recruit somebody who already has that sort of mentality. It makes it simpler for everybody round them.”
It’s a nod to Blanton’s recruiting as a lot as it’s to the management of the ladies who preceded Maple and Kraft and those that will succeed them once they turn out to be alumni. Maple can nonetheless recall, as if it occurred yesterday, a observe her freshman season. She hit a reduce shot, a wonderfully positioned reduce shot with first rate tempo, but Graudina had already pulled into that precise shot, patiently awaiting what, to Maple, felt like a well-disguised assault.
“We study a lot from Dain and [assistant coach] Gustavo [Rocha] however we additionally study a lot from them,” Maple stated of her teammates. “Tina knew that I used to be doing earlier than I did it. I requested her how she knew that, and selecting their brains as a result of they see volleyball at such a special degree, and studying from them was one of many largest issues I used to be capable of do these first two years. I discovered all the things I’ve been making an attempt to show this group from them.
“I used to be getting so humbled however I’m getting so significantly better as a result of I’m getting demolished by these older gamers. I haven’t been part of a bunch the place one by 22 need to play, need to be part of one thing, need to make it such a particular yr. Yearly we begin from scratch. Although we’ve had the same end result, each tradition has been tremendous completely different which I believe is admittedly cool, seeing what works for folks.”
The tradition this yr isn’t a lot completely different as it’s doubled-down upon. Whether it is winners Blanton seeks to recruit, he has them in spades. As he has performed his whole profession at USC, he once more hit the switch portal lottery, hauling in Molly Phillips, a two-time Nationwide Champion at Texas as an outdoor hitter; Ainsley Radell, a four-year starter at Cal; Grace Seits, who went 26-10 for LSU’s courtroom two in 2023; Maddi Kriz, an All-Pac-12 First Workforce starter for Stanford; and one other 6-foot-plus indoor switch in Emily Fitzner, who comes by the use of Indiana. Freshman Ashley Pater, like Maple and Kraft earlier than her, has already confirmed her capacity to win on the skilled degree, with three AVP Professional or Gold Collection fundamental attracts to her identify.
“We need to play nice volleyball and if I recruit the proper gamers and I can get them to achieve their potential, the rating takes care of itself,” Blanton stated. “I don’t draw back from it. We’ve championship shirts, rings, however we don’t make it the focus. An important factor is recognizing it’s a new season, there are new gamers, and also you don’t need to discuss how that is the best way we do it, that is the way it’s performed, as a result of each group is completely different. We misplaced 12 gamers previous to final season, we’ll lose in all probability 8 to 10 this season. It’s a revolving door, faculty athletics. It’s a must to take a look at it yr by yr. If you happen to begin previous years, it gained’t allow you to.”
It will be undeniably cool for Maple and Kraft, to complete their careers at USC with a sweep of NCAA Championships. However occupied with that garnet and gold elephant gained’t assist them any greater than regaling tales of championships previous.
“A number of us try to benefit from our final yr,” Maple stated. “I really feel like daily we discuss it, the way you need to be current, how in three months from now we’re going to be USC alumni.”
Probably some of the embellished USC alumni in historical past,
However we mustn’t take into consideration that.