UCLA
LSU
UCLA Hosts East Meets West Invitational
March 09, 2017 | Beach Volleyball
Eight of the Top 12 teams in the country converge this weekend at the Manhattan Beach Pier.
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LOS ANGELESย -- The #4ย UCLA Bruins (2-2) host the premier tournament in the country this weekend inย the East Meets West Invitational at Manhattan Beach Pier on March 11-12. The field consists of four teams from the East Coast and five from the West Coast and eightย of the nineย areย rankedย in the Top 12 in the country. All four of the East Coast teams will face each of the West Coast teams with #1 USC only competing on Saturday and #3 Pepperdine only competing on Sunday. The Bruins will open with #10 LSU (1-2) on Saturday, March 11 at 9:30 a.m. and then end the day with #12 FIU (5-1) at 3:30 p.m. The Bruins will then return to action on Sunday, March 12 at 11:00 a.m. with #7 Georgia State (4-0) and will conclude the Invitational at 3:00 p.m. with #2 Florida State (2-0).
THIS WEEK'S UCLA SCHEDULE
Opponent:ย #10 LSU
Location:ย Manhattan Beach Pier
Date:ย Saturday, Mar.ย 11, 2017
Time:ย 9:30ย a.m. (PT)
Opponent:ย #12 FIU
Location:ย Manhattan Beach Pier
Date:ย Saturday, Mar.ย 11, 2017
Time:ย 3:30 p.m. (PT)
Opponent:ย #7 Georgia State
Location:ย Manhattan Beach Pier
Date:ย Sunday, Mar. 12, 2017
Time:ย 11:00ย a.m. (PT)
Opponent:ย #2 Florida State
Location:ย Manhattan Beach Pier
Date:ย Sunday, Mar. 12, 2017
Time:ย 3:00 p.m. (PT)
EAST MEETS WEST INVITATIONALย SCHEDULE
Saturday, March 11, 2017
| 8:30 AM | LBSU | vs. | FSU |
| 9:30 AM | UCLA | vs. | LSU |
| 10:30 AM | USC | vs. | FIU |
| 11:30 AM | CP | vs. | GSU |
| 12:30 PM | USC | vs. | LSU |
| 1:30 PM | CP | vs. | FSU |
| 2:30 PM | LBSU | vs. | GSU |
| 3:30 PM | UCLA | vs. | FIU |
Sunday, March 12, 2017
| 9:00 AM | CP | vs. | LSU |
| 10:00 AM | LBSU | vs. | FIU |
| 11:00 AM | UCLA | vs. | GSU |
| 12:00 PM | PEP | vs. | FSU |
| 1:00 PM | LBSU | vs. | LSU |
| 2:00 PM | CP | vs. | FIU |
| 3:00 PM | UCLA | vs. | FSU |
| 4:00 PM | PEP | vs. | GSU |
POLLING THE BRUINS
UCLA is ranked No. 4 this week in both the AVCAย Collegiate Beach Volleyball Poll andย in the DiG Magazine Poll, as released on March 6.
EARLY 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 #10 LSU, #12 FIU, #7ย Georgia State and #2ย 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. The are currently 3-1 on the year. 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 FOR FINAL SEASON
Seniorย 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 on court two, 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. She has a new partner in 2017, freshman Madi Yeomansย (Ocean Beach, Calif./Point Loma), and the duo is currently 3-1 on court two.
FRESHMAN PAIR ON COURT THREE
Court three this season for UCLA so far has featured a freshman tandem of Savvy Simoย (Ranco Santa Fe, Calif./Torrey Pines HS) and Torrey Van Windenย (Napa, Calif./Vintage HS). Van Windenย 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.
VETERANS HOLDING DOWN COURTย FOUR
Court four features junior Elise Zappia (Huntington Beach, Calif.) and sophomore Izzy Careyย (Westlake Village, Calif.). Last year,ย 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. This season, the duo is currently undefeated at 4-0.
ROOKIES SHINE ON COURT FIVE
A pair of freshmen, Lily Justine (Chico, Calif./Pleasant Valley HS) andย Chanti Holroyd (Mountain View, Calif./Mountain View HS) are currently 1-3 on court five this season.
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.
