UCLA
Florida State
Fresh Off Finals, No. 2 UCLA Heads to Death Volley Invitational
March 28, 2024 | Beach Volleyball
LOSย ANGELESย -- No. 2 UCLA (15-4) heads to Baton Rouge, La., this week to take part in the Death Volley Invitational (March 29-30) at LSU Beach Volleyball Stadium.ย The Bruins will open the tournament on Friday, March 29 at 8:15 a.m. PTย with another bout against No. 5 Florida State (19-2). The four, five, and six pairs take to the sand first in each dual, followed by the second wave of courts one, two, and three. UCLA will also face No. 4 TCU (18-2) on the first day at 2:30 p.m. PT. The Bruins take on No. 17 Florida Atlantic (12-7) on Saturday, March 30 at 12:15 p.m. PT and then conclude play with the hosts, No. 10 LSU (12-5) at 2:45 p.m. PT. VBTV will provide a live stream of all six courts with play-by-play being provided for pairs one and fourย (links provided below).
THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Opponent:ย No. 5 Florida State (19-2) |ย WATCH
Location:ย LSU Beach Volleyball Stadiumย |ย Baton Rouge, La.
Date:ย Friday, Marchย 29, 2024
Time:ย 8:15ย a.m. PT
Series History:ย UCLA leads 15-9 |ย Streak:ย Won 2
Last Meeting:ย W 4-1 (March 16, 2024ย - East Meets West Invitational - Manhattan Beach Pier - Manhattan Beach, Calif.)
Opponent:ย No. 4 TCU (18-2)ย |ย WATCH
Location:ย LSU Beach Volleyball Stadiumย |ย Baton Rouge, La.
Date:ย Friday, Mar. 29, 2024
Time:ย 2:30 p.m. PT
Series History:ย UCLA leads 5-4 |ย Streak:ย Won 1
Last Meeting:ย W 3-2 (April 14, 2023ย - Center of Effort Challenge - Swanson Beach Volleyball Complexย - San Luis Obispo, Calif.)
Opponent:ย No. 17 Florida Atlanticย (12-7) |ย WATCH
Location:ย LSU Beach Volleyball Stadiumย |ย Baton Rouge, La.
Date:ย Saturday, Mar. 30, 2024
Time:ย 12:15 p.m. PT
Series History:ย UCLA leads 8-0 |ย Streak:ย Won 8
Last Meeting:ย W 5-0 (March 12, 2023ย - Battle for LAย - Mapes Beachย - Los Angeles, Calif.)
Opponent:ย No. 10 LSU (12-5)ย |ย WATCH
Location:ย LSU Beach Volleyball Stadiumย |ย Baton Rouge, La.
Date:ย Saturday, Mar. 30, 2024
Time:ย 2:45 p.m. PT
Series History:ย UCLA leads 17-2 |ย Streak:ย Won 9
Last Meeting:ย W 4-1 (March 15, 2024ย - East Meets West Invitationalย - Manhattan Beach Pier - Manhattan Beach, Calif.)
LAST WEEK'S LINE IN THE SAND
The Bruins were off last week for finals week. The last time UCLA took to the sand, it was in a 5-0 sweep of No. 15 Georgia State on March 16 at the Manhattan Beach Pier in the Bruins' annual East Meets West Invitational. UCLA also took down No. 4 Florida State, 4-1, on March 16 after defeating No. 8 LSU, 4-1, and No. 17 Grand Canyon, 5-0, on March 15.
BRENNAN, NEWBERRY NAMED PAC-12ย PAIR OF THE WEEK
Seniorย Peri Brennanย (Laguna Beach, Calif.)ย and graduate studentย Devon Newberryย (Santa Monica, Calif.) of UCLA Beach Volleyball were named the Pac-12 Pair of the Week as announced by the league office on March 19. This marks the third time Newberryย has been named part of the Pac-12 Pair of the Week and the second for Brennan.
- After helping No. 2 UCLA to four ranked wins at the East Meets West Invitational over the weekend, the duo ran their season record to 17-2.ย
- The pair isย on a six-match win streak without dropping a set in the last six duals.ย
- Newberry and Brennan held their weekend opponents to under 15 pointsย in four of the eight sets.ย
- Playing solely on court two, the duo took down No. 4 Florida State, No. 8 LSU, No. 15 Georgia State and No. 17 Grand Canyon to add four more wins to the Bruins' 14 ranked wins this season.ย
- Newberry and Brennan contributed the first point of the dual in all four matches.
- This is the third career Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Pair of the Week award forย Devon Newberryย (Marchย 1, 2022; April 9, 2021), second career Pair of the Week award forย Peri Brennanย (Marchย 21, 2023) and first of the season for the pair.
BOYD, DENABURG NAMED AVCA/CBVB PAIR OF THE WEEK
Sophomoreย Maggie Boydย (Flower Mound, Texas / Marcus HS) and graduate studentย Lexy Denaburgย (Merritt Island, Fla. / Merritt Island HS) were named the AVCA/CBVB Collegiate Beach Pair of the Week as announced by the AVCA on March 3. It is the first AVCA/CBVB weekly national honor for Boyd and the second for Denaburg.ย Denaburg and Boyd were instrumental in UCLA's victories over four ranked teams during the Battle for LA at Mapes Beach (Mar. 1-2).ย On the first day, they went 2-0,ย dominating No. 8 Cal's No. 1s in straight sets and sealing the deal with a hard-fought, three-set win over No. 18 Cal Poly's top pair, clinching the dual. Their momentum carried into the second day, when they picked up wins in the matches against No. 13 Washington and clinching the dual victory against No. 9 Long Beach State.
BOYD, DENABURG NAMED PAC-12 PAIR OF THE WEEK
Sophomoreย Maggie Boydย (Flower Mound, Texas) and graduate studentย Lexy Denaburgย (Merritt Island, Fla.) of UCLA Beach Volleyball wereย named the Pac-12 Pair of the Week as announced by the league office on March 4. This marks the fourth time Denaburgย has been named part of the Pac-12 Pair of the Week and the second for Boyd.
- The No. 1 Bruins' pair helped UCLA to a weekend sweep (4-0) over four ranked opponents.ย
- The court one pair began the Battle for LA with a win in straight sets against No. 8 California's top pair (21-18, 21-12), going on to secure a dual-clinching win against No. 18 Cal Poly's No. 1 duo (13-21, 21-17, 15-12).
- Against No. 13 Washington, Boyd and Denaburg played to another three-set win (21-14, 16-21, 15-11), closing out the weekend with yet another dual-clinching performance against No. 9 Long Beach State.
- The Bruins are now 8-3, with all 11 duals coming against ranked opponents, while stretching its win streak to seven (five against top-10 opponents).ย
- Named the AVCA Beach Volleyball Pair of the Week, the first in Boyd's career and second in Denaburg's.
BOYD, DENABURG NAMED UCLA STUDENT-ATHLETESย OF THE WEEK, PRESENTED BY READY
Sophomoreย Maggie Boydย and graduate studentย Lexy Denaburgย of UCLA Beach Volleyball were selected the UCLA Student-Athletes of the Week, presented by Ready, for the week of Feb. 26-Mar. 3.ย The top-ranked Bruins' court one pair of Denaburg and Boyd helped UCLA go 4-0 at the Battle for LA with four wins over AVCA Top 20 teams this week (Mar. 1-2). The Bruins improved to 8-3 on the year, with all 11 duals coming against ranked opponents, while UCLA stretched its winning streak to seven (five against Top 10 foes). Denaburg and Boyd were also named the AVCA National Pair of the Week on Monday. The duo had two dual-clinching wins over #18 Cal Poly and #9 Long Beach State. At the Battle for LA in rainy conditions, the Bruins defeated No. 9 California, 4-1, No. 18 Cal Poly, 4-1, No. 13 Washington, 5-0, and No. 9 Long Beach State, 4-1.ย ย Boyd and Denaburg secure their first-career UCLA student-athlete of the week awards.
RETURNING STARTERS
The Bruins return seven of 10 starters from last year's second-place teamย at the NCAA Championship that saw UCLA end the year with an overall record of 40-4 (tied for the most wins in UCLA, Pac-12, and NCAA history). The Bruins lost the services of Abby Van Winkle (35-7 overall, 128-34 career), Haley Hallgren (32-4 overall, 116-38 career), and Marlie Monserez (27-5 overall, 48-17 career). UCLA also lost the services of reserve Kelli Greene-Agnew (10-4ย overall, 87-48 career).ย The sevenย starters returning include:ย from court one, All-Americans Lexy Denaburg (32-7 overall, 100-29 career)ย and Maggie Boyd (27-6 overall and career),ย from court two, Peri Brennan (34-5 overall, 37-5 career), from court three Rileigh Powers (31-4 overall, 92-28 career), from court four Jessie Smith (26-6 overall, 53-17 career), and from court five Jaden Whitmarsh (24-3 overall,85-16 career)ย and Devon Newberry (13-0 overall, 71-20 career).
RETURNING BRUINS LOOKING TO MAKE AN IMPACT
The Bruins also return two players that started most of the 2022 season in Sophie Moore (13-4 overall, 41-11 career), Natalie Myszkowski (11-2 overall, 39-9 career), and Tessa Van Winkle (21-9 overall, 30-11 career). There are five additional players coming back from last year's team and ready to compete for a spot in the Bruins' lineup.ย This group includes Madeline Bonanni (0-0), Kenzie Brower (0-0), Reagan Hope (0-0), Jayla Shanks (0-0), and Ky Vaickus (0-0).
FRESH FACES
The Bruins also brought in several young players that will all debut in 2024. The class includes Harper Cooper (Rowlett, Texas/Parish Episcopal), Hannah Fleming (Santa Cruz, Calif./Scotts Valley HS), Taylor Ford (Danville, Calif./Monte Vista HS), and Kaley Mathews (Marin County, Calif./Redwood HS).
NO DUAL PARTICIPATION
For the fourth time in program history (and fourth consecutive year), the UCLA beach volleyball program does not have a single player from the Bruins' indoor volleyball team currently playing on the roster. UCLA only has oneย playerย with collegiate indoor experience in juniorย transfer Reagan Hope (Oregon in 2021-22).
A NEW ERA BEGINS
Entering her 11th year with the Bruins and firstย season as UCLA's Head Coach, Jenny Johnson Jordan spent the previous three seasons as the Associate Head Coach at UCLA. She is currently 11-4 (733) in her first season, getting her first victory as a head coach in a 5-0 sweep at No. 9 Hawai'i on Feb. 22, 2024. She also picked up her win over a No. 1 team and her first win over USC when the Bruins took down the Trojans, 4-1, to win the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic on Feb. 24, 2024. An Olympian, a National Champion, and a UCLA Hall of Famerย (2018), Johnson Jordan wonย NCAA titles as both a player (1991 - indoor) and a coach (2018 and 2019 - beach). Jordan was inducted into the CBVA Hall of Fame (Nov. 3, 2018) and was named theย AVCA National Assistant Beach Coach of the Year on May 9, 2019.
Johnson Jordan completed her staff during the off-season and brought backย beach volleyball Hall of Famerย (CBVA in 2014 and International Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2017)ย and USA Beach Volleyball National Team head coach Jose Loiola as an assistant coach. Loiola was a volunteer assistant coach for the Bruins in 2021, helping guide UCLA to a Pac-12 Championship and NCAA runner-up finish.ย After Loiola's previous season with the Bruins, he went on to coach 2020 Olympian Tri Bourne and also served as head coach of the USA Volleyball squad that won gold at the 2021 U19 World Championships. In 2022, he coached Miles Partain and Andy Benesh to gold at the FIVB Challenger Dubai. ย
She then completed her coaching staff with the Bruins' first-ever All-American in beach volleyball (2013), UCLA standout Kelly Reeves.ย In addition to her playing career, Reeves has developed a coaching career in all levels of the sport, including juniors, collegiate, USAV development, and amateurs. In 2022, Reeves helped the LMU Lions finish 4th at the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship, the best finish in the program's history. That same year, Reeves was a recipient of the Thirty Under 30 Beach coaches award from the AVCA. Reeves is also a National Champion, helping the Bruins win the indoor title in 2011. She has played on the AVP since 2016 and has also competed on theย NORCECA Tour and FIVB World Tour.
PAC-12ย BEACH VOLLEYBALL, THE FINAL SEASON
In 2016, beach volleyball was added as the 23rd Pac-12-sponsored sport beginning in the 2015-16 academic year. 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 has also sponsored a Beach Volleyball Championship, which the Bruins won last year, and have won two of the last three and three of the last five. This year's final Pac-12 Championship will be hosted by Arizona Stateย at the new Sun Devil Beach Volleyball Facility April 24-26.
PAC-12 CHAMPIONS (2023)
No. 1ย UCLA (37-3) came all the way back through theย contender's bracket with three straightย 3-0 sweeps of No. 3 USC (28-5), No. 8 Stanford (28-12) and No. 9 California (28-9)ย on Friday (Apr. 28)ย to capture its third Pac-12 Conference Championship atย Stanford's Beach Volleyball Stadium. UCLA earned its 21st-23rdย sweep of the year, whichย ties for the most in program history, which was established by the NCAA Championship team of 2019. The Bruins opened with a 3-0 sweep of Utah on Apr. 26 and then dropped its first-ever dual to Stanford, 3-2, on Apr. 27. The Bruins advanced to the semifinals of the contender's bracket with a 3-0 sweep of Arizona on Apr. 27 before making their Championship run the following day.ย UCLA became just the second team to come from the contender's bracket to win a title (USC did it in 2017 against the Bruins).
PAC-12 ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
The UCLA Bruins had two pairs named to the Pac-12 Championship All-Tournament Team in 2023. Both pairs went 5-0 during tournament play and they included Peri Brennan and Abby Van Winkle on court two and Jaden Whitmarsh and Devon Newberry on court five.
LEXY DENABURG IS MOVING ON UP
Last year, 2023 Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year,ย Abby Van Winkle,ย became the UCLA all-time leader in career victories with a win over USCย in the semifinals of the contender's bracket of the 2023 Pac-12 Championship. The two-timeย All-American (2022 and 2023) finished with 128ย career victories to her credit. This year, graduate student and three-time All-American, Lexy Denaburg is going to challenge that mark as she currently sits in fifth place with 115ย career wins on the Bruins' top court.
1.ย Abby Van Winkle (128, 2019-23)
2. Izzy Carey (123, 2016-19)
3. Savvy Simo (119, 2017-21)
4. Lea Monkhouse (117, 2019-22)
5. Lexy Denaburg (115, 2020-24)
6. Megan McNamara (111, 2016-19)
7. Nicole McNamara (109, 2016-19)
8. Elise Zappia (102, 2015-18)ย
Other current Bruins and their career totals in wins (Jaden Whitmarsh - 93, Rileigh Powers - 93, Devon Newberry - 84).
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE RECORD BOOK
Lexy Denaburg isย on pace to break the Bruins' all-time career wins mark, established last season by Abby Van Winkle at 128. Graduate students Lexy Denaburg (fifth place with 115ย wins) isย in her final seasonย with the Bruins in 2024. Denaburg had 32 wins a year ago and already has 15ย this year.
UCLA AS NO. 1 AND VS. NO. 1
As the No. 1 team in the country, UCLA has gone 105-15 (.875) all-time, but justย 7-7 (.500) against USC when the Bruins are No. 1. The first time UCLA was ranked No. 1 came in April of 2018 and since then, UCLA has been ranked No. 1 for multiple weeks every season, including goingย 16-1 in 2018, 31-3 in 2019, 7-2 in 2020, 13-3 in 2021, 12-2 in 2022, 19-3 in 2023, and 7-1 in 2024 as the nation's top-ranked team.
The UCLA Bruins are 10-17 (.370) all-time against the top-ranked teams in the country. UCLA began 0-5 against the nation's top-ranked programs (2013-16) before breaking through with its first-ever win over a No. 1 team in the 3-2 home win over then top-ranked Pepperdine on March 30, 2016. Here's a breakdown of the Bruins against the No. 1 teams: Pepperdineย 2-3; TCU 1-0; USC 7-14.
The Bruins have been involved inย No. 1ย vs. No. 2 matchups 23 times with a 9-14 record (.391) in those meetings. Interestingly, UCLA is just 2-9 (.182) as the top-ranked team in those matchupsย but 7-5 (.583) as the underdog.
MORE ON RANKINGS
Since 2018, no team has been ranked No. 1 for more weeks than the UCLA Bruins (31). USC has spent 23 weeks at No. 1 in the last six years while TCU (6), Pepperdine (4), LSU (4), andย Florida State (1) round out the list. Overall, the Trojans have been ranked No. 1 a total of 45 times in the AVCA Poll, followed by UCLA (30), Pepperdine (17), TCU (6), LSU (4), Hawai'i (1), and Florida State (1).
POLLING THE BRUINS
UCLA remained steady atย No. 2ย in this week's 2024 AVCA Collegiate Beach Volleyball Pollย (Marchย 26).
AVCA COLLEGIATE BEACH VOLLEYBALL POLLย (Mar. 26, 2024)
|
Rank |
School (First-Place Votes Adjusted) |
Total Points Adjusted |
Record |
Previous Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
USC (20) |
493 |
18-2 |
1 |
|
2 |
UCLA (3) |
474 |
15-4 |
2 |
|
3 |
Stanford (2) |
455 |
14-2 |
3 |
|
4 |
TCU |
405 |
18-2 |
4 |
|
5 |
Florida State |
402 |
19-2 |
5 |
|
6 |
California |
376 |
12-4 |
6 |
|
7 |
Cal Poly |
367 |
20-2 |
9 |
|
8 |
Long Beach State |
295 |
18-4 |
7 |
|
9 |
LMU |
283 |
13-8 |
10 |
|
10 |
LSU |
278 |
12-5 |
8 |
|
11 |
Hawai'i |
258 |
14-9 |
12 |
|
12 |
Arizona State |
255 |
14-4 |
11 |
|
13 |
Washington |
185 |
9-9 |
14 |
|
14 |
FIU |
159 |
14-7 |
13 |
|
15 |
Georgia State |
157 |
13-8 |
15 |
|
16 |
GCU |
124 |
7-9 |
18 |
|
17 |
FAU |
114 |
12-7 |
16 |
|
18 |
Stetson |
66 |
11-5 |
17 |
|
19 |
Arizona |
47 |
14-3 |
19 |
|
20 |
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi |
29 |
19-4 |
20 |
Others receiving votes:ย Tulane (5), FGCU (5), South Carolina (4), and Boise State (3)
Next Poll:ย April 2
