UCLA
Cal Poly
No. 2 UCLA Ends Regular Season at No. 1 USC
April 21, 2017 | Beach Volleyball
The Bruins will face Cal Poly at 11 a.m. and USC at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
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LOS ANGELESย -- No. 2 UCLA (25-2) closes out the regular season on Saturday, April 22, when it travels cross-town to face Cal Poly (12-19) and No. 1 USC (28-0)ย at Merle Norman Stadium. The Bruins will face the Mustangs at 11:00 a.m. PT and then take on the Trojans at 3:00 p.m.ย PT. UCLA enters the duals tomorrow sporting a UCLA-record 23-dual match winning streak.
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Opponent:ย #20 Cal Poly
Location:ย Merle Norman Stadium
Date:ย Saturday, April 22, 2017
Time:ย 11:00 a.m. (PT)
Opponent:ย #1 USC
Location:ย Merle Norman Stadium
Date:ย Saturday, April 22, 2017
Time:ย 3:00 p.m. (PT)
POLLING THE BRUINS
UCLA is ranked No. 2 this week in both the AVCAย Collegiate Beach Volleyball Poll andย in the DiG Magazine Poll, as released on April 17.
RECORD-SETTING BRUINS
UCLA opened the season at 2-2 after a pair of 3-2 defeats to current No. 1 USC and No. 3 Pepperdine at the Pepperdineย Kick-Off on March 4. Since then, the Bruins have reeled off 23 straight dual victories, a UCLA record (12 was the previous mark set last year). In that span, the Bruins have posted 11 sweeps of 5-0, seven wins by a count of 4-1 and fiveย by a 3-2 margin. Additionally, 16 of the wins have come against ranked teams, including two over then #2 and current #4 Florida State (3-2 and then 4-1). The streak also includes a pair ofย 3-2 wins over then #6 and later #5 Long Beach State, a 5-0 win over then #7 Georgia State and a 4-1 win over #8 Arizona. The Bruins have also won 19 straight matches on court three, which is the longest winning streak on any court in school history. The Bruins are 26-1 on court four in 2017.
CANADIAN ALL-AMERICAN TWINS
Sophomore twins Megan McNamara and Nicole McNamara (Vancouver, BC, Canada)ย becameย the second and third AVCA Beach All-Americans at UCLA last year, joining Kelly Reeves from 2013. The McNamaras are currently 23-3 on the year, having won their last seven matches, pairing only with each other and only on court one. 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 HAVING STELLAR SENIORย SEASON
Seniorย Kamila Tan (San Diego, Calif.) has played the majority of her final season with freshman Madi Yeomansย (Ocean Beach, Calif./Point Loma HS)ย and the two have combined to go 18-8 overall (17-8 on court two and 1-0 on court one). She was 17-12 overall last season (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.
NEW PAIR SEES SUCCESS ON COURT THREE
Court three this season began with a freshman pairย holding serve. An injury forced UCLA Head Coach Stein Metzgerย to split up a pair on court four, but ultimately, formedย two new formidable pairs. On court three, freshman Torrey Van Windenย (Napa, Calif./Vintage HS) and junior Elise Zappia (Huntington Beach, Calif.) have gone 15-1 since being paired together. Overall, the Bruins are 23-3 on court three in 2017.
UCLA DOMINANT ON COURT FOUR
The Bruins have posted a 25-1 overall record this season on court four. It began with Zappia and Izzy Careyย (Westlake Village, Calif.) going undefeated at 11-0 until an injury broke up the dynamic duo. Insert seniorย Jordan Anderson (Flower Mound, Texas) and the new pairing of Anderson/Carey has goneย 15-1 on court four, the same record as Zappia and Van Windenย on court three.
ROOKIES IMPROVING 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 11-7, mostly on court five this season. The duo got a slow start out of the gates, opening with aย 1-5 record, but have gone 10-2 since, including going 1-0 on court four. Another freshman, Savvy Simo (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif./Torrey Pines HS), is battling back from an injury and has gone 3-2 on court five. She is 2-1 with Justine and 1-1 with Holroyd. She has also gone 2-0 on court four with Anderson.
HALL OF FAME MENTOR
U.S. Olympian and UCLA Hall of Famer Stein Metzger is in his fifth season at the helm of the UCLA Beach Volleyball program. He sports an overall record of 65-30 (.684), including a 25-2 (.926) mark this season.
BRUINS RECEIVE TWO MORE COMMITMENTS
UCLA has received a Statementย of Intent to Register for next season from Hannah Phairย (Fountain Valley, Calif./Edison HS)ย and Alyssa Slagermanย (Los Angeles, Calif./Palisades Charter HS). The pair join an already stellar class that includesย Cami Sanchezย (Fountain Valley, Calif./Huntington Beach HS),ย Jamie McQuarrie (Redwood City, Calif./La Costa Canyon HS) and Megan Muret (Encinitas, Calif./La Costa Canyon HS) who signed NLIs during the earllyย signing period
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.
