HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Kaitlyn Bradley and Maddy White split a pair of matches on the opening day of the AVCA Collegiate Beach Pairs National Championship on Friday, sweeping South Carolina's Lauren Lawson and Evie Ziffer 21-10, 21-12 in the round of 64 before falling to TCU's Melina Mol and Hannah Taylor 21-18, 21-14 in the round of 32 at the John Hunt Park Sand Volleyball Complex.
The 21st-seeded Toreros, making the program's first appearance in the 64-pair field, never let the 44th-seeded Gamecocks past 12 points in either set of the morning opener on Court 8. The round of 32 brought the 12th-seeded Horned Frogs, the program where Bradley spent the first four seasons of her career, including TCU's 2025 NCAA championship season. San Diego stayed within three in the opening set before TCU pulled away in the second.
The loss moves Bradley and White into the 17th-place bracket, a 16-pair draw of round-of-32 losers that plays out Saturday and Sunday.
White, a graduate student from Scottsdale, Ariz., came to Alcalá Park from USC, where she earned AVCA All-America first-team honors in 2025 after going 23-14 at the No. 1 position. Bradley, a defender from Round Rock, Texas, broke into TCU's lineup at the top two flights last spring and was named Big 12 Pair of the Week in March after a 3-1 debut at No. 1 with Elea Beutel.
Now in its fifth year, the pairs championship brings 64 pairs from 41 NCAA Division I and II programs to Huntsville for three days of best-of-three matches, with the first two sets to 21 and a deciding set to 15. Pairs that drop out of the championship bracket continue in placement brackets through Sunday.
Beach volleyball is USD's 18th varsity sport and the first NCAA Division I program in San Diego, and the Toreros begin West Coast Conference competition in spring 2027 under inaugural head coach Derek Olson. The program made its competitive debut at the FISU America Games in Lima, Peru, in July, where Lauren Watson and Niki Egan won silver and White teamed with Sam Herman to go unbeaten in pool play before a quarterfinal exit.
UP NEXT
Bradley and White open the 17th-place bracket against Boise State's Addison Wolden and Kate MacDonald, the 28th seed, at 8 a.m. CT (6 a.m. PT) Saturday, Nov. 7, on Court 9. Wolden and MacDonald beat Long Beach State's Mahala Esser and Abby Lewis 21-19, 23-21 in the round of 64 before falling 21-17, 21-14 to fifth-seeded Charlotta Bell and Brooke Rockwell of Stanford. The winner plays again at 11:45 a.m. CT (9:45 a.m. PT) Saturday on Court 4, with the bracket's semifinals Sunday morning and its final later Sunday. The loser moves to the 25th-place bracket.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Live results and the full bracket are available on VolleyballLife. ESPN+ will carry six championship-bracket matches from Court 1 on Saturday and Sunday — two quarterfinals, both semifinals, the third-place match and the championship — with the remaining matches on Courts 1 and 2 streamed on the AVCA's YouTube channel. USD's Saturday matches are not currently assigned to a streamed court. Admission at John Hunt Park is free.
