UCLA
AVCA Beach Pairs National Championship
Boyd, Perez Win AVCA National Collegiate Beach Pairs Championship
November 17, 2024 | Beach Volleyball
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HUNTSVILLE, Ala.ย โย UCLA Beach Volleyball freshman Sally Perez and junior Maggie Boyd took down the field of 64 to capture the Bruins' first-ever AVCA National Collegiate Beach Pairs Championshipย on Sunday morning.ย
Boyd and Perez were seeded fifth in pool play and posted two wins on Friday, Nov. 15, defeatingย
Maya McNabney andย Madeline Sigmon of Costal Carolina (60th seed), 21-14, 21-15 in the first match and then taking downย Kristin Bobay andย Millie Olsson of Texas A&M - Corpus Christi (37th seed), 21-14, 21-17, to win the pool with a 2-0 record.
The duo was then reseeded at No. 7 in the Champions Bracket and opened play on Saturday, Nov. 16 with a 21-18, 21-19 straight-set win over USC'sย Maya Gessner andย Kaileigh Truslowย (26th seed). The Bruin pair then defeatedย Maddison Parmellyย andย Karin Zolnercikova of Texas (10th seed) in their second match on Saturday, 21-17, 21-16. The third match of the day saw the Bruins win a quarterfinal bout against Long Beach State's second-seeded pair ofย Malia Gementera andย Taylor Hagenah in their only three-setter of the tournament, 21-18, 17-21, 15-12.
That set up a semifinal match on Sunday morning at 6:00 a.m. PT where the UCLA tandem took out 11th-seeded Cal Poly'sย Piper Ferchย andย Erin Inskeep in identical set scores of 21-16. Ferch and Inskeep defeated the three-seed from LMU to reach the semifinals.
All the Bruins had to do in the title match was take down the 10th-ranked pair in the world, TCU's top-seeded tandem of Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno. The duo from Spain finished fifth at the 2024 Olympic Games and has a combined collegiate career record of 88-14. The Horned Frogs pair hadn't dropped a set in the tournament and Boyd and Perez used timely blocking and aggressive serving to post a straight-set victory in the finals, 21-16, 21-17.
"This win feels really good," said Maggie Boyd. "They are an amazing team and we knew it was going to be a hard fight. We tried to come out and serve aggressive and get them out of system and I think we executed that really well."
Playing in her first season for the Bruins, Perez registered three blocks in the finals and was huge at the net. Boyd finished the match with four huge aces and put a lot of service pressure on the Horned Frogs.
"Honestly I'm speechless," said Perez. "I think we knew from the start that we could do it. We went in with a mindset that we had the total ability to do it. We came out strong and we fought to the end."
"It is always great to win, especially against a team like that," said UCLA Assistant Coach Jose Loiola. "We played well and we had a great strategy and we passed the ball well and sided out like we should."
The Bruins other pair of freshman Alexa Fernandez and senior Reagan Hope reached the finals
of the 17th bracket before officials decided not to play it out to completion. The duo had an impressive 5-1 record with a lot of hard-fought victories that went the distance.
Fernandez and Hope, originally seeded 10th, won their pool with a 2-0 record. They opened with a three-set thriller over FIU's (55th seed)ย Aleksandra Chudzik andย Arianna Franklin, 17-21, 21-15, 15-9 on Friday and closed the day with another three-setter, this time defeating Florida Atlantic's (23rd seed)ย Julie Honzovicova andย Kate McLaughlin, rallying for a 14-21, 21-19, 21-19 win.
They were reseeded 16th in the Champions Bracket and fell to the 17th-seeded duo from Stanford,ย Avery Jackson andย Taylor Wilson, 21-14, 21-19. That relegated them to the 17th Bracket, where their grit and toughness was put on display again winning three more matches, all in three sets, to reach the finals of the 17th Bracket.
Seeded first in the 17th Bracket, the Bruin duo opened with a 21-18, 32-34, 15-11 win on Saturday over GCU'sย (16th seed) Becca Drake andย Jessica Drake. Then on Sunday, they took down the eighth seed from LSU,ย Gabi Bailey andย Parker Bracken, 16-21, 21-14, 15-13, and the fourth-seeded pair from Florida State,ย Gella Andrew andย Myriah Massey, 21-15, 15-21, 15-12. They were expected to take on the 15 seed, Texas A&M - Corpus Christi'sย Madison Morrow andย Tess Spaansen. The Islanders' duo posted upsets of No. 2 Washington, No. 10 USC, and No. 3 Hawai'iย en route to the finals of the 17th Bracket.
