Latvia's Liva Ebere Makes Debut for USC in US College Beach Volleyball

Latvian beach volleyball player Liva Ebere has made her debut in US collegiate beach volleyball for the University of Southern California (USC) team. USC has won the US college national championship seven times, and Ebere plays in the team's strongest pair alongside American Sarah Wood, who is 188 cm tall.

A tough opening match

In the first match, the pair faced LBSU players Mahala Eseri and Abby Lewis. The Latvian-American duo trailed 5:9 early on and briefly took the lead at 18:17 near the end of the first set, but lost it 20:22.

In the second set, Ebere and Wood overcame a three-point deficit, saved a match point and won 24:22. In the deciding third set, only their opponents held match points, yet Ebere and Wood took the victory 18:16.

Second match

The pair then defeated GCU's Sara Edler and Karinna Garova 21:15, 21:15. After that they also beat UCLA's Cora Lumer and Adelina Okazaki 21:14, 19:21, 15:12.

What comes next

Three more matches are scheduled for the team on Saturday, and knockout games will be played on Sunday.

The USC beach volleyball team has won the US college championship in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Latvian Tina Graudina was part of two of those title-winning teams, in 2021 and 2022. Graudina once trained in the United States together with Wood.