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LOS ANGELES – UCLA Beach Volleyball Head Coach Stein Metzger has announced the additions of graduate student Haley Hallgren (Michigan indoor volleyball) and sophomore Reagan Harper (Oregon indoor and beach volleyball). They will be available to play for the Bruins beginning with the 2023 campaign, which UCLA is slated to open in Hawai'i on February 23.

Hallgren played two seasons (2021 and 2022) on the indoor team at Michigan as a utility player where she was was a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar in 2021 and an Academic All-Big Ten selection in 2022. She appeared in 17 matches (45 sets), starting seven, and collected 42 kills, 60 digs, 18 blocks, and seven service aces for the Wolverines in 2022. Hallgren recorded a career-high eight kills against Morehead State (Sep. 2, 2022) along with a .429 hitting percentage and also posted a career-high five service aces against Morehead State. She registered a career-high 13 digs against Loyola Chicago (Sep. 3, 2022). Made her first start for the Wolverines against Northern Arizona (Aug. 26) at the Lumberjack Classic.

Prior to her graduate work with Michigan, she was a two-time team captain (2020-21) for the USC beach team, winning a NCAA Championship in 2021 with the Trojans. She finished her career at USC with an 84-34 (.712) overall record, which ranks 15th in USC history in wins and 20th in winning percentage. She was named a Second Team All-American by DiG Magazine (2019) and a two-time Second Team All-Pac-12 selection (2018 and 2019). Hallgren was an AVCA High School Beach All-American and AVCA Volleyball Phenom at Carroll HS in Southlake, Texas. She was also named a three-time All-District (indoor), two-time Class 6A MVP (indoor), and PrepVolleyball.com High School All-American (indoor) during her prep career.

"If you can't beat her, have her join you," Metzger said. "She was an incredible player at USC. We always had a hard time matching up against her and beating her. She is a prolific attacker. She is a great utility player that can play defense and can block, basically play every position. She has a lot of fire power from her jump serve to her attacking ability. We feel like she was the best player in the transfer portal this winter and we are lucky and very excited to have her join our Bruin family."

Hope has been with Oregon's indoor volleyball team for the past two seasons (2021 and 2022). She was forced to redshirt the 2021 season after an injury sidelined her freshman campaign with the Ducks. She played 13 sets of six matches making one start in 2022 as a middle blocker. She had 16 kills on 32 swings with just five errors for a .344 hitting percentage which was third on the team. She also had eight total blocks on the year (one solo). Her best outing came in a three-game sweep at Oregon State when she had seven kills on 12 attempts with one error for a .500 hitting percentage. She also had four block assists and one ace against the Beavers to finish with a season-high 10 points.

Hope also missed the Ducks' beach season in 2021 but played last year, mostly on court one with Brooke Nuneviller (16-11). She finished the season with an overall record of 19-12 (18-12 on court one and 1-0 on court two). She also partnered with Madelyn LaFollette, going 3-1 on the year. Hope and Nuneviller took a set off of the Bruins' court one pair of Lexy Denaburg and Abby Van Winkle on April 10. The duo also posted an impressive three-set win over No. 7 GCU, defeating Anaya Evans and Jess Vastine on court one, 18-21, 21-18, 15-7 (March 28).

"We are excited to welcome Reagan (Hope) to the team," Metzger said. "She comes highly recommended from many of her previous coaches. She is going to be a great culture kid. At 6-foot-2, her height is a premium for the sport of beach volleyball. She is an agile athlete and has an incredible up-side. She has decided to forego her indoor career and focus solely on beach volleyball and she will have a big impact on our team over the next few years.