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LOS ANGELES -- The UCLA Bruins (9-4) slid one spot to No. 5 in this week's AVCA Collegiate Beach Volleyball Poll and the DiG Magazine Poll. The Bruins return home after a spring break trip that saw UCLA face six ranked teams, going 5-1 while in Florida. This week UCLA hosts No. 1 Pepperdine (11-0) at Sunset Canyon Beach Volleyball Courts on Wednesday, March 30 at 3:00 p.m. PT. This match will also be televised and will be the Bruins' debut on the Pac-12 Network this season. Anne Marie Anderson and Holly McPeak will call all of the exciting action. The Bruins will then head to Honolulu, Hawaii to compete in the Outrigger Beach Volleyball Challenge. The event will open with a pairs tournament on April 1. UCLA will face Arizona State at 2:00 p.m. and then No. 4 Hawai'i at 4:00 p.m. on April 2.
SPRING BREAK FLORIDA TRIP RECAP
Then No. 4 UCLA faced six ranked teams in six matches last week on a spring break trip to Florida. The Bruins opened with a 5-0 win against No. 16 Tulane and a 5-0 sweep at No. 17 Florida Atlantic on March 23 in Boca Raton, Fla. UCLA then took part in the Stetson Beach Invitational, posting a 5-0 win over No. 10 Florida International before falling to No. 2 Florida State, 4-1, on March 25. The Bruins concluded the event with back-to-back wins on March 26. UCLA defeated FAU again 5-0 before holding off No. 9 Stetson, 3-2.
TOUGH SCHEDULE
In addition to playing the top four teams in collegiate beach volleyball in its opening weekend, the Bruins have already faced eight of the other nine teams ranked in this weeks AVCA Top 10 Poll. In fact, 12 of UCLA's 13 matches this season have been ranked at the time the match was contested by either the AVCA or DiG Magazine Polls. Additionally, all four of the Bruins' losses this season have been to teams currently ranked in the Top 3.
INFUSION OF YOUTH
The Bruins have six freshmen on the team and another three newcomers from the indoor squad that are looking to make an immediate impact in 2016. Freshmen identical twins Nicole McNamara and Megan McNamara (Vancouver, BC, Canada) have played every match on court one and are currently 6-7 on the year. Freshman Izzy Carey (Westlake Village, Calif.) has played every match on court two with her partner, sophomore Elise Zappia (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and currently sports a 7-6 record. Two indoor cross-over student-athletes, freshman Zana Muno (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and sophomore Reily Buechler (Del Mar, Calif.) are playing their first season of collegiate beach competition and have teamed together to go 7-1 on court four. Another indoor player, junior Jordan Anderson (Flower Mound, Texas), is currently 3-0 on the year.
RETURNING VETERANS
The Bruins return 10 letterwinners from last year's squad, all vying for playing time. Headlining the group of veterans is senior Kamila Tan (San Diego, Calif.), who advanced to the 2015 AVCA National Pairs Championship. With her partner now graduated, she has spent the majority of the season with sophomore Ivey Schmitt (Encinitas, Calif.) on court three and have gone 6-4. Tan has also partnered with Jordan Anderson (2-0) and Zana Muno (1-0) to run her overall record to 9-4. UCLA also returns three other seniors in Julie Consani (Newport Beach, Calif.), Karly Drolson (Del Mar, Calif.) and Rachel Inouye (Kailua, Hawai'i). Consani has paired with junior Laurel Weaver (Winnetka, Calif.) to go 9-4 overall (8-2 on court five and 1-2 on court four).
PAC-12 OFFICIALLY ADDS BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Beach volleyball has been added as the 23rd Pac-12-sponsored sport beginning in the 2015-16 academic year. With eight member institutions (Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC and Washington) currently fielding beach volleyball teams, the Conference of Champions is the first major conference to sponsor beach volleyball as an official sport.
As part of the addition, the Pac-12 will also sponsor a Beach Volleyball Championship from April 28 to May 1, 2016 with USC serving as the hosts. The format of which will be determined based upon the established NCAA qualification requirements.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION
The NCAA® Beach Volleyball Committee selected the host site for the inaugural National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship. The NCAA's 90th and newest National Championship will debut May 6-8, 2016 at the Gulf Shores Public Beach and will be hosted by the city of Gulf Shores, Alabama and Orange Beach Sports Commission.
The host institution for the inaugural beach volleyball championship will be the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The university and Gulf Shores have also been chosen as the hosts of the 2017 championship, which will be held May 5-7, 2017.
Beach volleyball is the fastest-growing NCAA sport with 47 sponsoring schools. The addition of the beach volleyball championship will become the 45th NCAA championship administered for women. The championship will have an eight-team bracket that will be played in a double-elimination format with teams consisting of five pairs of female student-athletes. After being placed on the list of emerging sports for women in 2009, beach volleyball is the fifth sport to succeed from the emerging sports program.
Tickets to the 2016 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship are on sale now exclusively here.