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LOS ANGELES -- The UCLA Bruins (2-2) jumped three spots to No. 3 in this week's AVCA Collegiate Beach Volleyball Poll on the heels of two upsets last week in 3-2 wins over No. 4 Long Beach State and No. 3 Hawai'i. Now the Bruins host their "home" opener on Thursday, March 10, when they host CSUN (1-0) at 9:00 a.m. at the Annenberg Community Beach House in Santa Monica, Calif. UCLA will also face No. 4 Florida State (4-0) at 11:00 a.m. UCLA used to call Annenberg home, but now has its official home court, Sunset Canyon Beach Volleyball Courts, on campus. That is where the Bruins will be on Saturday, March 12, as they host No. 7 Arizona in the first-ever Pac-12 Beach Volleyball match for UCLA at 10:00 a.m.
PEPPERDINE KICK OFF RECAP
Then No. 6 UCLA earned the program's first-ever win over No. 4 Long Beach State and No. 3 Hawai'i on the first day of the Pepperdine Kick Off in Malibu on March 5. The Bruins won both matches 3-2. On March 6, UCLA lost to No. 2 Pepperdine and No. 1 USC by identical scores of 5-0, pushing at least two courts to three sets.
TOUGH SCHEDULE
In addition to playing the top four teams in collegiate beach volleyball in its opening weekend, the Bruins will face a total of eight of the other nine teams ranked in the preseason Top 10 by AVCA and by DiG Magazine, some of them multiple times during the season.
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. Identical twins Nicole and Megan McNamara (Vancouver, BC, Canada) will likely be the Bruins' top pair and should contribute right away. Izzy Carey (Westlake Village, Calif.) and Zana Muno (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) are also vying for immediate spots. Sophomore Reily Buechler (Del Mar, Calif.) and junior Jordan Anderson (Flower Mound, Texas), like Muno, are from the Bruins' indoor team and all three will be pushing the veterans to see some action on the sand.
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 will be teaming up with another Bruin for her final season. UCLA also returns three other seniors in Julie Consani (Newport Beach, Calif.), Karly Drolson (Del Mar, Calif.) and Rachel Inouye (Kailua, Hawai'i). Junior Laurel Weaver (Winnetka, Calif.) and sophomores Elise Zappia (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and Ivey Schmitt (Encinitas, Calif.) both saw significant action a year ago and should do the same this season.
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.