UCLA
CSU Bakersfield
No. 2 UCLA Opens 2017 Season at Pismo Beach
February 27, 2017 | Beach Volleyball
The Bruins will face CSU Bakersfield and Cal Poly on March 2.
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LOS ANGELESย -- The #2/3 UCLA Bruins open their fifth season of beach volleyball this week in Pismo Beach, Calif., and will face CSU Bakersfield (11:00 a.m. PT) and the hosts, Cal Poly (1:00 p.m. PT) on Thursday, March 2. The Bruins will then head to Zuma Beach in Malibu, Calif., forย the Pepperdine Kick-Offย on Saturday March 4 where three of the top four teams in the country will square off. UCLA will open with #4 Pepperdine at 10:00 a.m. PT and will finish with #1 USC at 11:15 a.m. PT. The Bruins enter the 2017ย season ranked 3rdย in the AVCA Preseason Poll and 2ndย in the DiG Magazine Women's Beach Volleyball Preseason Poll, the highest preseason rankings for the Bruins in school history.
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Opponent:ย CSU Bakersfield
Location:ย Pismo Beach Volleyball Courts
Date:ย Thursday, Mar.ย 2, 2017
Time:ย 11:00ย a.m. (PT)
Opponent:ย Cal Poly (RV)
Location:ย Pismo Beach Volleyball Courts
Date:ย Thursday, Mar.ย 2, 2017
Time:ย 1:00 p.m. (PT)
Opponent:ย #4 Pepperdine
Location:ย Zuma Beach
Date:ย Saturday, Mar. 4, 2017
Time:ย 10:00ย a.m. (PT)
Stream: FloVolleyball
Opponent:ย #1 USC
Location:ย Zuma Beach
Date:ย Saturday, Mar. 4, 2017
Time:ย 11:15 a.m. (PT)
Stream: FloVolleyball
POLLING THE BRUINS
UCLA is ranked No. 3 in the AVCA Preseason Poll released on Feb. 20 and at No. 2 in the DiG Magazine Preseason Poll as released on Feb. 23. Both rankings are the highest preseason rankings for UCLA in school history while the No. 2 ranking in DiG Magazine Poll is the highest-ever ranking in school history in any poll.
TOUGH SCHEDULE
In addition to playing two top four teams in collegiate beach volleyball in its opening week, the Bruins will face six-straight ranked opponents by the end of its second week in action as UCLA will take on #9/10 LSU, #11/12 FIU, #8 Georgia State and #2/3ย Florida State at the East Meets West Invitational in Manhattan Beach, Calif., March 11-12.
ALL-AMERICAN TWINS
UCLA returns itsย top pair from 2016 in sophomore twins Megan McNamara and Nicole McNamara (Vancouver, BC, Canada). The McNamara twins becameย the second and third AVCA Beach All-Americans at UCLA last year, joining Kelly Reeves from 2013. They are also one of four freshmen lastย season and one of eight freshmen in the history of the AVCA to be named a beach All-American.ย 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 last year. In addition to the AVCA All-American honors, they were also named 2016 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 USA's Sarah Sponcilย (LMU) and Torrey Van Winden (UCLA), 18-21, 23-21, 15-10.
KAMILA TAN RETURNS AS GRADUATE STUDENT
Graduate student Kamila Tan (San Diego, Calif.) returns for her final season on the beach for UCLA after an impressive 2016 season that saw her play the majority of the year with Ivey Schmitt, going 17-12 overall (17-10 in duals, 11-6 on court two and 6-4 on court three). Tan was named Second Team All-Pac-12 and 2016 Second Team All-American by DiG Magazine.
MUNO RETURNS TO BEACH
Fresh off an impressive sophomore indoor season and a stellar freshman beach campaign that saw her go 23-5 overall and finish the 2016 season with 14 straight victories (including two DNFs in the NCAA Championship), Zana Munoย (Hermosa Beach, Calif.) returns for her sophomore season on the sand. She played the majority of the early season with Reily Buechler, going 12-2 on court four in duals. She finished the season with Jessyka Ngauamo going 9-0 on court four (4-0 in Pac-12 Tournament and 3-0 in NCAA Tournament). Ngauamo is gone, but look for the sophomore to continue where she left off. She was named Second Team All-Pac-12, Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, Pac-12 Beach Volleyball All-Tournament Team and 2016 NCAA All-Tournament Team (No. 4 Pair).
BRUINS RETURN 10ย VETERANS
The Bruins return 10 letterwinners from last year's squad that won a school-record 22 duals (22-8), finishing third at the first-ever NCAA Championship in Gulf Shores, Ala. In addition to the McNamara twins and Tan and Muno, UCLA regains the services of its No. 2 pair from a year ago, junior Elise Zappia (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and sophomore Izzy Careyย (Westlake Village, Calif.). Zappia and Carey played the entire season together, posting an overall record of 21-12, which included goingย 7-6 on court two and 12-5 on court three. Junior Ivey Schmittย (Encinitas, Calif.) went 19-12 last season, playing the majority of theย year with Tan. The duo wentย 17-12 (17-10 in duals, 11-6 on court two and 6-4 on court three). Junior Reily Buechler (Del Mar, Calif.) completed her first beach season last year with an overall record of 15-5. She was paired with Munoย on court four, going 12-2. She also partnered with Karly Drolson on court four, going 1-0 and on court five, going 0-1 and was paired with Julie Consani on court five at the inaugural NCAA Championship, going 2-2. Another indoor player, senior Jordan Anderson (Flower Mound, Texas) completed her first beach seasonย last year and posted an overall record of 6-4. She had three different partners in 2016, playing withย Megan McNamara on court one (2-2), with Tan on court three (2-0) and with Munoย on court four (2-2). Junior Lexi Jasper-Baylin (Granite Hills, Calif.) saw limited action in 2016 going 0-2 at the USAV Collegiate Challenge.
NEWCOMERS READY TO MAKE AN IMPACT
The Bruins have seven newcomers (six freshmen and one junior) looking to make an immediate impact in 2017. Headlining the group is Torrey Van Windenย (Napa, Calif./Vintage HS), who finished third on the indoor team in kills (304, 2.87 kps) and third in blocks (69, 0.65 bps) in the fall. She also reached the semifinals of the 2016 FIVB U-21 World Championships last summer. Madi Yeomansย (Ocean Beach, Calif./Point Loma HS)ย is another freshman at UCLA ready to contribute. She was a 2016 High School Beach All-American. Four other freshmen looking for playing time include Lily Justin (Chico, Calif./Pleasant Valley HS), Remy Wilson (Newport Beach, Calif./Newport Harbor HS), Savvy Simo (Ranco Santa Fe, Calif./Torrey Pines HS) and Chanti Holroyd (Mountain View, Calif./Mountain View HS). Junior Jasmine Hogan (Seal Beach, Calif./Los Alamitos HS/Golden West College) is the only transfer into UCLA for the 2017 season. She earned first team All-Conference at Golden West College in 2015 and 2016.
PAC-12ย BEACH VOLLEYBALL
Last year, 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 second straight season. This year, Arizona will serveย as the hosts from April 27-30.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION
For the second straight season The NCAAยฎ National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship will be held May 5-7 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 inaugural beach volleyball championship will be the University of Alabama at Birmingham.ย Beach volleyball is the fastest-growing NCAA sport with 65 sponsoring schools, which is up 18 from a year ago. The addition of the beach volleyball championship last year 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 2017ย NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship are on sale now exclusivelyย here.
RECAPPING 2016
Easily its most successful season to date, UCLAย completed the 2016 season with an overall record of 22-8. The 22 wins were a school record for wins in a season and the Bruins finished third in the final polls (also a program-high) after a third-place finish at the first-ever NCAA Championship. At the NCAAs, the Bruins were seeded fourth and immediately fell into the contender's bracket after dropping its first match to No. 5 Hawai'i, 3-0. The Bruins survived its next match, 3-2, over No. 8 Stetson. Another thriller followed when UCLA eliminated No. 3 Pepperdine, 3-2. UCLA then gotย a chance to exact some revenge over Hawai'i and won the rematch, 3-0. That set up a contender's bracket final with No. 1 Florida State, which the Seminoles won 3-1.
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