UCLA
Long Beach State at UCLA
No. 1 UCLA Hosts No. 4 USC, No. 6 LBSU
April 03, 2018 | Beach Volleyball
The Bruins host the 49ers at 1:00 p.m. on April 4 and the Trojans at 3:30 p.m., both on the Pac-12 Network on Senior Day.
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LOS ANGELESย -- No. 1 UCLA (24-3) puts its 19-dual winning streak on the line when it faces six teams this week, five of them ranked, beginning with No. 6 Long Beach Stateย (18-3) in the first dual of a doubleheaderย on Wednesday, April 4ย at 1:00 p.m. PT on Senior Day at Sunset Canyon Beach Volleyball Courts on the Pac-12 Network. The Bruins will also face No. 4 USC (17-7) for the first time ever at Sunset Canyon at 3:30 p.m. PT. UCLA will then head to Stanford, Calif., to take part in the Stanford West Coast Classic at Stanford's Beach Volleyball Stadium on April 7-8. The Bruins will open with No. 20 Saint Mary's (11-7) on Saturday, April 7 at Noon and conclude the day with No. 5 Cal Poly (19-3) at 3:00 p.m. PT. The Bruins will conclude the tournament on Sunday with Pacific (6-7) at 9:00 a.m. PT and end the day with No. 13ย Stanfordย (12-6) at Noon on the Pac-12 Network.
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Opponent:ย No. 6 Long Beach Stateย (18-3)
Location:ย Sunset Canyon Beach Volleyball Courts (UCLA)
Date:ย Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Time:ย 1:00 p.m. (PT)
TV:ย Pac-12 Network
Opponent:ย No. 4 USCย (17-7)
Location:ย Sunset Canyon Beach Volleyball Courts (UCLA)
Date:ย Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Time:ย 3:30 p.m. (PT)
TV:ย Pac-12 Network
Opponent:ย No. 20 Saint Mary's (11-7)
Location:ย Beach Volleyball Stadiumย (Stanford, Calif.)
Date:ย Saturday, April 7, 2018
Time:ย 12:00ย p.m. (PT)
Opponent:ย No. 5 Cal Poly (19-3)
Location:ย Beach Volleyball Stadiumย (Stanford, Calif.)
Date:ย Saturday, April 7, 2018
Time:ย 3:00ย p.m. (PT)
Opponent:ย Pacific (6-7)
Location:ย Beach Volleyball Stadiumย (Stanford, Calif.)
Date:ย Sunday, April 8, 2018
Time:ย 9:00ย a.m. (PT)
Opponent:ย No. 13 Stanford (12-6)
Location:ย Beach Volleyball Stadiumย (Stanford, Calif.)
Date:ย Sunday, April 8, 2018
Time:ย 12:00ย p.m. (PT)
TV:ย Pac-12 Network
POLLING THE BRUINS
UCLA is ranked No. 1 this week in the AVCAย Collegiate Beach Volleyball Poll for the first time in program history. The Bruins are also ranked No. 1 in the DiG Magazine Poll for the first time, as released on Aprilย 2, 2018.
REHASHING LAST WEEK
UCLA won all six matchups last week, starting with a 4-1 win over then-No. 1 Pepperdine at Sunset Canyon Beach Volleyball Courts on Tuesday, March 27. The Bruins then beat five more ranked teams at the FIU Surf 'N' Turf Invitational on March 30-31 inย Miami, Calif. The Bruins postedย a 4-1 win over No. 7 Florida State and then ended with fourย 5-0 sweeps (No. 12 FIU, No. 18 Florida Atlantic, No. 11 Grand Canyon and No. 8 South Carolina).
UCLA opened the 2018 season with 14 straight opponents ranked in the Top 20 in the AVCAย Collegiate Beach Volleyball Coaches Poll. In that span, the Bruins faced No. 1 USC twice, No. 3 Hawai'i once, No. 5 Florida State once, No. 5 Hawai'i twice, No. 5 Pepperdineย twice, No. 9 LSU once, No. 13 Florida International once, No. 17 Stanford twice, No. 17 Loyola Marymount once and No. 20 TCU once. In all, 28 of UCLA's 34 scheduled regular season opponentsย are ranked in this week's AVCAย Poll. Additionally, UCLA will face 17 of the 20 ranked teams at least once (only No. 11 Georgia State, No. 17 Stetson and No. 19 Tulane are not on the schedule). This week the Bruins play five more ranked teams.
CANADIAN ALL-AMERICANS
Juniors Megan McNamara and Nicole McNamara (Vancouver, BC, Canada)ย becameย two-timeย AVCA Beach All-Americans at UCLA last year, and joined Kelly Reeves from 2013 as the only AVCAย All-Americans in school history. The McNamaras are currently 22-5 on the year, all on court one, after winning their last 15 matches, Additionally, they became the first-ever all-freshman pair in the history of the sport to earn All-American accolades. They went 16-12 overall at court one in their first year and improved to 28-7 on court one last season. In addition to the AVCA All-American honors, they were named first team All-Pac-12 in 2017 and to the 2017 Pac-12 All-Tournament Team. Inย 2016, they were also named DiG Magazine First Team All-Americans,ย DiG Magazine Co-Freshmen of the Year, First Team All-Pac-12 and Pac-12 Beach Volleyball All-Tournament Team.ย Additionally, Megan was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. The twins also captured bronze at the 2016 FIVB U-21 World Championships when they defeated the USA's Sarah Sponcilย (then-LMU, now UCLA) and Torrey Van Winden (then-UCLA, now Cal Poly), 18-21, 23-21, 15-10.
PAC-12 PAIRS OF THE WEEK
UCLA junior Zana Muno (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and sophomore Savvy Simo (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.) are this week's Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Pair of the Week as announced by the league office on April 3. UCLA juniorsย Megan McNamaraย andย Nicole McNamaraย (Vancouver, BC, Canada) were named the Pac-12 Conference's Pair of the Weekย on March 20. Freshman Megan Muret and junior Izzy Carey were named the Pac-12 Pair of the Week on March 13.
Reigning Pac-12 Pair of the Week, Zana and Muno, helped leadย UCLA to a 6-0 week last week with victories over six ranked teams, including knocking off then-No. 1 Pepperdine and two other teams in the top 10.ย The pair dropped only two sets all week, one to Pepperdine and one set to FIU in Miami but still came out victorious winning the third set of both matches toย go undefeated on the week.ย They also ran their winning streak to 16-straight matches and have the best record by percentage on the team at 18-2 (.900).ย The Bruins extended their winning streak to 19-straight duals, of which 16 teams were nationally ranked at the time.ย Wins last week included duals over then-#1 Pepperdineย (4-1) at home before heading to Miami to take part in the FIU Surf 'N' Turf Invitational. The Bruins took down #7 Florida State (4-1), and #12 FIU and #18 Florida Atlantic by identical 5-0 sweeps, followed by sweeps overย #11 Grand Canyon and #8 South Carolina to close out the weekend.ย It is the first-career weekly honor for either player and the third this season for a Bruin pair. It is the seventh-all-time weekly nod for UCLA since the award's inception in 2016.
COURT TWO UPDATE
The Bruins have a new pair holding serve on court two in 2018 withย a pairing ofย newcomer Sarah Sponcilย (junior transfer from LMU) and sophomore Lily Justine. They are 20-7 (all on court two) this season. Sponcilย redshirted the beach season last year at LMU and was the starting setter for UCLA this past indoor season. Justine went 18-14 overall last year, most of which was on court five (15-12). Last season, Justine was 11-9 with Chanti Holroyd and 6-3 with Savvy Simo, spending all but one of those duals on court five.
NEW PAIR SEES SUCCESS ON COURT THREE
Sophomoreย Savvy Simoย andย junior Zana Munoย have gone 15-1 over the last three weeks since being moved to court three. Last week they won all six matches, defeating six ranked teams while only dropping two sets. Threeย weeks agoย at the East Meets West Challenge, they went 3-1 with each victory clinching the dual for UCLA. None was larger than the 3-2 win over then-No. 5 Florida State when Simo delivered the winning kill on set, match and dual point. The pair have played on three different courts this season, sporting an overall record of 18-2 (15-1 on court three, 1-1 on court four and 2-0 on court five), which leads the team by percentage at 90.0 percent. They have won their last 16 matches.
NEW DUO(S)ย ON COURT FOUR
The Bruins have already had five different pairs spend time on court four. Most recently, senior Elise Zappia and freshman Mac May (12-2ย overall) occupy the spot. But the court has also featured junior Izzy Carey and freshman Megan Muret (2-4), sophomore Savvy Simo and junior Zana Muno (1-1), freshman Mac May with Simo (0-2) and sophomore Madi Yeomans with Zappiaย (6-6). May and Zappiaย have won their last 13 matches.
NEW TANDEM(S)ย ONย COURT FIVE
Court five has also been an experimental court for UCLA with five different pairs. Junior Izzy Carey and freshman Megan Muretย are currently holding serve, going 19-1 on the court, and in a two-way tieย for the best overall record on the team at 22-5 (with the McNamara twins on court one). But freshman Mac May and sophomore Savvy Simo have gone 2-0 on the court, as has junior Zana Munoย with Simo. Sophomore Chanti Holroyd and Simoย began the year on court five, going 1-1. Chanti Holroyd and freshman Jamie McQuarrie are also undefeated atย 1-0. Carey and Muret have the longest winning streak on the team, having won their last 19 matches.
HALL OF FAME MENTOR
U.S. Olympian and UCLA Hall of Famer Stein Metzger is in his sixth season at the helm of the UCLA Beach Volleyball program. He sports an overall record of 94-37 (.718), including aย 24-3 (.889) mark this season. Metzger was named the 2017 Pac-12 Coach of the Year after guiding UCLA to a second-place finish last year at the Pac-12 Championship and a 30-6 overall record.
PAC-12ย BEACH VOLLEYBALL
In 2016, beach volleyball was added as the 23rd Pac-12-sponsored sport beginning in the 2015-16 academic year. Now with nineย member institutions (Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah and Washington)ย currently fielding beach volleyball teams, the Conference of Champions was the first major conference to sponsor beach volleyball as an official sport.ย As part of the addition, the Pac-12 will also sponsor a Beach Volleyball Championship for the third straight season. This year, Stanford will serveย as the hosts from April 26-28.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION
For the third straight season The NCAAยฎ National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship will be held May 4-6ย at the Gulf Shores Public Beach and will be hosted by the city of Gulf Shores, Alabama and Orange Beach Sports Commission.ย The host institution for the beach volleyball championship will be the University of Alabama at Birmingham.ย Beach volleyball is the fastest-growing NCAA sport with 69 sponsoring schools at the Division I level, which is up fromย 65 a year ago and 47 from 2016.ย The addition of the beach volleyball championship in 2016ย became the 45th NCAA championship administered for women and the 90th NCAA championship overall. 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 2018ย NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship are on sale now exclusivelyย here.
RECAPPING 2017
Ranked in the Top 5 all season, the Bruins won a school-record 30 duals compared to just six defeats. During the season, UCLA also posted a school-record 24 straight dual victories. The Bruins also got their first win over No. 1 USC in program history in the semifinals of the Pac-12 Championship, snapping the Trojans' 62-dual winning streak. The future looks bright for UCLA as the 2017 team was comprised of 50 percent freshmen in the starting lineup (5-of-10 starters). UCLA saidย goodbye to two seniors,ย Jordan Andersonย and the program's first-ever beach-only player, Kamila Tan.
