Her partnership with Cheng continued through college, where the pair won 103 consecutive collegiate matches and led the USC Trojans to back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2016 and 2017.

Soon after turning professional in mid-2017, Hughes and Cheng became the youngest team to win an AVP event when they won the season-ending Championship.

Hughes re-partnered with Cheng in late 2022, winning several Beach Pro Tour events including the Finals in Doha in January 2023.

During one such instance, a player's parent was impressed by eight-year-old Hughes' peppering and recommended her to local beach volleyball youth coach Bill Lovelace.

[4] Hughes and Claes capped off a dominant year by winning the 2016 World University Championships without dropping a set the entire tournament.

[17] They led the Trojans to their second consecutive NCAA title, coming back from a first set loss in the finals to beat the top-flight duo from Pepperdine.

[30] In October 2012, she debuted in her first FIVB World Tour event at the $190K Bangsaen Thailand Open, where she and teammate Kaitlin Nielsen lost in the first round of the country quota qualifier.

[30] Hughes partnered with Lane Carico to win her first international event the following year at the $8K NORCECA tournament in Boquerón, Cabo Rojo.

[13] She made her Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) debut playing with Geena Urango at the $75K Milwaukee Open in 2014, but did not progress past the qualifying rounds.

[30] Their breakthrough came in June 2016, when Hughes and Claes narrowly lost to Olympians April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings with a score of 21–17, 18–21, 15–17[30] in the third round of the $75K AVP San Francisco Open.

[32][35] In their first professional season, Hughes and Claes got their highest finish in international competition at the $115K Long Beach Presidents Cup exhibition event in July, beating Germany's Walkenhorst and Ludwig in the bronze-medal match.

[28] On the AVP, the 12th-seeded pair won their first title at the $112.5K Chicago Championships in September, beating Brooke Sweat and S. Ross in straight sets in the finals.

[30] They won their first tournament together at the $100K AVP New York Open in June by defeating Nicole Branagh and Brandie Wilkerson in the final match in two sets.

[42] The following month, they beat A. Ross and Alix Klineman in three sets to win another AVP title at the $79K Hermosa Beach Open.

[45] Hughes and S. Ross also reached their first podium on the World Tour by taking the bronze medal at the $150K Espinho Open in July.

However, losses to the fifth-seeded Heather Bansley and Brandie Wilkerson of Canada and the fourth-seeded Maria Antonelli and Carolina Solberg Salgado of Brazil meant they did not progress to the quarterfinals, finishing tied for seventh place.

[51] Hughes and S. Ross concluded 2018 with a third-place finish at the $150K Yangzhou Open, defeating Canada's Sarah Pavan and Melissa Humana-Paredes in the bronze-medal match.

"[23] Her USC head coach Anna Collier described her as "one of the fastest and smartest defenders," with the ability to anticipate her opponents' attacks.

[22] According to three-time Olympian Holly McPeak, Hughes possesses the competitive drive, work ethic and athleticism necessary to compete at the professional level.