UCLA to Compete at MPSF Beach Volleyball Championship Tournament

Wednesday, April 22

Huntington Beach, Calif.

1:30 PM (PT)

UCLA

LSU/San Jose State

Mallory LaBreche and Kenzie Brower

Photo by: Han Q Duong

UCLA to Compete at MPSF Beach Volleyball Championship Tournament

April 21, 2026 | Beach Volleyball

Game Notes (PDF)MPSF Championship Central

GAME INFORMATION
Venue: Spiker Beach (Huntington Beach, Calif.)
Dates: Wednesday-Friday, April 22-24, 2026
TV: Big Ten Plus / Big Ten Network (Semifinals/Final)
Live Stats: links on MPSF Championship Page

UCLA SCHEDULE
Wed., April 22, 1:30 pm: vs. Winner of LSU/San Jose State
Thu., April 23, 9 or 11 am: vs. TBD
Fri., April 24, 8 am: Semifinals
Fri., April 24, 10:15 am: Final

BRUINS TO COMPETE FOR FIRST MPSF BEACH TITLE
Top-ranked UCLA (27-4) is the No. 2 seed at the MPSF Beach Volleyball Championship Tournament, which takes place April 22-24 at Spiker Beach in Huntington Beach, Calif. The 2026 conference tournament features 17 matches amongst 10 teams, spanning three days in double-elimination format until the semifinals, when it switches to single-elimination. The semifinals and final will take place on Friday, April 24 and will be televised on Big Ten Network. The first two days will be streamed on Big Ten Plus. This is the second year of the MPSF Tournament. Stanford won the first in 2025, beating USC 3-2.

UCLA will open play on Wednesday, April 22 at 1:30 p.m. against the winner of the LSU/San Jose State match. LSU is the No. 7 seed and is 20-14 on the year. The Bruins have faced the Sandy Tigs twice this season, winning each match by a 5-0 score. San Jose State is the No. 10 seed in the tournament with a 9-19 record. UCLA and San Jose State have not met since 2017.

A LOOK AT THE FIELD
The MPSF Tournament will have eight Top 20 teams, including four of the Top 5 squads, vying for the title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. The ranked teams are No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Texas, No. 5 USC, No. 8 California, No. 11 Grand Canyon, No. 13 LSU and No. 20 Washington. This season, the Bruins are 1-2 vs. Stanford, 2-1 vs. Texas, 4-0 vs. USC, 1-0 vs. California, 2-0 vs. LSU and 1-0 vs. Washington. UCLA is also 1-0 vs. Oregon.

UCLA'S CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
UCLA has won a total of three conference championships, claiming Pac-12 titles in 2018, 2021 and 2023. In the first season of MPSF play in 2025, UCLA finished third at the conference tournament, beating California 3-0 in the opening match before falling to Stanford and USC by scores of 3-1.

IN THE RANKINGS
UCLA is on top of the AVCA poll for the sixth time this season and has been ranked No. 1 or 2 in every poll this year. Since 2018, no team has been ranked No. 1 for more weeks than the Bruins (48). USC has spent 27 weeks at No. 1 in the last seven years while TCU (10), Pepperdine (4), LSU (4), Stanford (4) and Florida State (1) round out the list. Overall, the Trojans have been ranked No. 1 a total of 50 times in the AVCA Poll, followed by UCLA (48), Pepperdine (17), TCU (10), Stanford (5), LSU (4), Hawai'i (1), and Florida State (1).

RANKED WINS
UCLA is 20-4 this season over ranked teams, including 8-2 against teams in the Top 5 and 14-3 against teams in the Top 10. The Bruins earned a 4-1 victory over top-ranked Stanford on March 7, a 4-1 win over No. 3 Cal Poly on Feb. 27 and, most recently, a 4-1 victory at USC on April 16.

LAST TIME OUT
No. 1 UCLA defeated No. 3 USC for a fourth time this season on April 16, downing the crosstown rivals on the road, 4-1. UCLA took the early advantage in the match thanks to two comeback victories on courts 4 and 2. On court 4, Ava Williamson and Jesse Dueck dropped the first set but won the last three points of the second set before cruising in the third to gain the first point for UCLA. On court 2, Kaley Mathews and Ensley Alden fought off three match points in the third set. On the third match point faced, at 15-16, Mathews tied it with a kill down the line, then put UCLA ahead 17-16 on a block. The Bruins did not waste their first match point opportunity, as Mathews won it on a point at the net. USC claimed its first point on court 5 to make it 2-1, but UCLA claimed straight-set wins by Sally Perez and Maggie Boyd on court 1 and by Alexa Fernandez and Harper Cooper on court 3 to secure the victory.

BOYD KEEPS CLIMBING UCLA'S ALL-TIME WINS LIST
Senior Maggie Boyd has moved into a tie for No. 4 on UCLA's career victories list with 119 wins, matching Savvy Simo, who totaled 119 from 2017-21.She needs just four more to tie Izzy Carey (123 from 2016-19) for third place. On Feb. 28, Boyd became the 11th Bruin to reach 100 career victories. She has 58 of her 119 wins with Perez, and the duo now ranks No. 3 in school history for career wins as a pair, one away from the No. 2 spot held by Sarah Sponcil and Lily Justine.

TOP PERFORMERS
Sally Perez/Maggie Boyd have posted a 27-3 record on court 1, and Kaley Mathews/Ensley Alden are 20-4 overall, mainly on court 2. Harper Cooper/Alexa Fernandez are 14-3 overall, mostly on court 3. Four Bruins have reached the 25-win mark – Perez (28), Boyd (27), Alden (27) and Cooper (26). Four more Bruins have reached 20 wins - Ava Williamson (25), Mathews (22), Mallory LaBreche (21) and Fernandez (20).

FOUR BRUINS IN TOP 25 FOR CAREER WINS
Four current Bruin players are in UCLA's all-time Top 25 for career wins. Senior Maggie Boyd ranks No. 4 (119). Redshirt junior Ensley Alden is No. 18 with 77, redshirt junior Kenzie Brower is No. 22 with 65, and sophomore Sally Perez is No. 25 with 59 in under two seasons. Boyd and Perez have the third-most pairs victories in school history with 58. With 20 victories, Alden and Kaley Mathews are three wins away from reaching the Top 25.

BOYD, PEREZ NAMED AVCA PLAYER OF YEAR SEMIFINALISTS
UCLA's Maggie Boyd and Sally Perez were selected as semifinalists for the AVCA Beach Player of the Year. The Bruins duo have occupied Court 1 for the past two seasons. This year, they have posted a 26-3 record and are 57-7 all-time as a pair, ranking tied for No. 3 all-time at UCLA in career pair victories. They were named the 2025 MPSF Pair of the Year and in Fall of 2024 became the first Bruins ever to win the AVCA Pairs National Championship.

Boyd, a senior from Flower Mound, Texas, is a three-time first-team All-American and all-conference selection. She was named the MPSF Player of the Year in 2025 and the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2023. Boyd holds a career record of 119-20 and earlier this season became the 11th Bruin to achieve 100 career wins. She currently ranks tied for No. 4 on UCLA's career victories chart and is also No. 3 on the career pairs victories list with Perez with 58 (and No. 4 with Lexy Denaburg with 57). Boyd is also a star in the classroom, earning second-team Academic All-America honors, a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award and two conference all-academic honors. She has also been on the Director's Honor Roll 10 times in her career.

Perez, a sophomore from Apex, N.C., is coming off an outstanding freshman campaign. In 2025, she earned first-team AVCA All-America honors and was named the MPSF Freshman of the Year while receiving first-team All-MPSF honors. She has earned Director's Honor Roll distinction every quarter she has been at UCLA. This fall, she won the FIVB U21 Beach Volleyball World Championship with Stanford's Avery Jackson. The duo became just the second-ever American pair to win gold at the event. Perez is 28-3 this year and has a career record of 59-7. After less than two seasons, she already ranks in the program's Top 25 for career victories, and she and Boyd rank No. 3 in career pairs victories with 57.

TWO DUOS WIN MPSF PAIR OF WEEK IN 2026
UCLA's top two pairs have each won MPSF Pair of the Week honors in 2026. The No. 1 duo of Maggie Boyd and Sally Perez claimed their third career MPSF honor when they were selected Pair of Week March 3 following wins over Cal Poly, Long Beach State, Boise State and Pepperdine. They were also selected the AVCA/CBVB National Pair of the Week. The win over Pepperdine was Boyd's 100th career victory, and her conference pair of the week honor was the fifth of her career, tying the school record held by Peri Brennan, Megan McNamara, Nicole McNamara and Savvy Simo.

The No. 2 pair of Ensley Alden and Kaley Mathews received their first MPSF Pair of the Week award on April 14 after they posted three wins to help UCLA win the Center of Effort Beach Volleyball Challenge. Alden and Mathews earned victories over No. 9 California, No. 13 Arizona State and No. 4 USC. The honor was the first ever for Mathews and the second for Alden, who previously won Pac-12 Pair of the Week in 2024 with Natalie Myszkowski.

SWEEPING SUCCESS
The Bruins have swept 14 opponents in their 27 victories this season. Of the 14 sweeps, 11 have been against ranked teams, including four against teams in the Top 10 (No. 6 Texas Feb. 19, No. 8 Arizona State March 13, No. 5 Texas March 14 and No. 10 Long Beach State Apr. 4).

CLOSE CONTESTS
UCLA has played eight matches that have been decided by 3-2 counts, winning four and losing four. The Bruins have all four of those wins in the month of April, winning 3-2 against Cal Poly and USC at both Best in the West and at the Center of Effort Challenge. UCLA's only losses have been 3-2 decisions, including two on the road at Hawaii and at Texas and both neutral site matches against Stanford.
NCAA RECORD HOME WIN STREAK EXTENDED
UCLA's 5-0 win over CSU Bakersfield on April 14, in its last home match of the season, extended the Bruins' NCAA record home winning streak to 37 matches. UCLA has not lost a home match since April 1, 2023 (3-2 to Florida State at the East Meets West Invitational in Manhattan Beach). The Bruins have not lost at Mapes Beach since March 31, 2022 (4-1 to TCU).

BRUIN COACHES
Entering her 13th year with the Bruins and third season as UCLA's head coach is Olympian, national champion and UCLA Athletics Hall of Famer Jenny Johnson Jordan. The 2025 MPSF Coach of the Year, Johnson Jordan sports an overall record of 94-18 (.839) as she continues her 2026 campaign after leading the Bruins to a 32-7 record and NCAA semifinal appearance in 2025. She guided the Bruins to the NCAA Championship finals in her first year, ending the 2024 campaign with a 35-7 record and a second-place finish at the Pac-12 Championship. As an assistant coach, she helped the Bruins win back-to-back NCAA titles in 2018 and 2019. Another Bruin national champion serves as an assistant coach. Kelly Reeves, the Bruins' first-ever beach volleyball All-American and a 2011 NCAA indoor volleyball champion, returns for her third season on staff. Former AVP Beach Volleyball star Theo Brunner is in his first year as an assistant coach.