#4 UCLA Beach Volleyball Heads Across Town for a Doubleheader Against Cal Poly and Southern Cal
The Bruins fell in the polls this week despite sweeping Stanford last weekend.
The #4 UCLA beach volleyball team returns to action today after sweeping a season-opening doubleheader against Stanford, 3-2 and 5-0. Despite winning both matches, UCLA still slipped from #2 to #4 in this week’s rankings.
The Bruins will play another doubleheader today. Though today’s matches will be against different opponents. First, at 10 am PT, UCLA will face the #6 Cal Poly Mustangs. Later, at 2:30 pm PT, the Bruins will take on #3 Southern Cal who is hosting today’s matches.
Last Time Out
On Saturday, the Bruins opened the 2021 season against #19 Stanford and the Bruins swept the doubleheader against the Cardinal.
In the first match, UCLA won 3-2. Court 4 was the first pairs to finish and UCLA’s pair of Rileigh Powers and Jaden Whitmarsh dropped their pairs match to Stanford’s Maddie Dailey and Amelia Smith, 21-18, 21-16. The Bruins got their first pairs win on Court 2 next when Devon Newberry and Lindsey Sparks defeated Xolani Hodel and Kate Reilly in three sets, 24-22, 20-22, 16-14. Over on Court 1, UCLA’s Lexy Denaburg and Savvy Simo beat Charlie Ekstrom and Sunny Villapando, 21-12, 21-14. Court 5 finished up next and UCLA’s pair of Lea Monkhouse and Maggie Walters sealed the win over Stanford by topping Jordan McKinney and Emmy Sharp in two sets, 21-18, 21-18. Unlike the NCAA Tournament where some courts don’t finish, the teams did finish play on Court 3 where Stanford’s Maya Harvey and Maddi Kriz defeated UCLA’s Megan Muret and Jacqueline Quade, 21-17, 21-19.
In the second match, the Bruins swept the Cardinal. On Court 4, Bruins’ head coach Stein Metzger decided to move Monkhouse up from Court 5 and pair her with Cami Sanchez. The change paid off as Monkhouse and Sanchez beat Dailey and Smith, 21-13, 21-17. Court 2 finished next and Newberry and Sparks beat Ekstrom and Reilly, 21-16, 23-21. Over on Court 3, Muret and Quade paid Harvey and Kriz back for their loss in the first match by beating them, 21-19, 21-16. While that sealed the win and the sweep for the Bruins, Court 5 and 1 did finish as well. On Court 5, Powers and Whitmarsh beat McKinney and Sharp, 21-14, 21-16. Last but not least, on Court 1, Denaburg and Simo finish the match by topping Hodel and Villapando, 21-18, 21-13.
Cal Poly Mustangs
Last weekend, Cal Poly opened their season in Tallahassee, Florida. On Saturday, the picked up wins against the University of Tampa, #18 Georgia State, and Southern Mississippi. On Sunday, they faced then-#3 Florida State, but they were swept by the Seminoles.
The Bruins should be able to win this match and I don’t think it will come down to a fifth pair.
Southern Cal Trojans
Southern Cal opened their season last Thursday with a doubleheader against #10 Pepperdine and the Trojans won the first match 4-1 and they followed by sweeping the second, 5-0.
This will be the tougher of today’s two matches and, while I’ll obviously hoping the Bruins beat ‘SC, I’m not sure how this one will turn out. It could easily come down to the final pair to finish.
#4 UCLA Beach Volleyball (2-0)
Match #1
Opponent: #6 Cal Poly Mustangs (3-1)
Game Time:Â 10:00 am PT, Thursday, March 4, 2021
Where:Â Merle Norman Stadium, Los Angeles, CA
TV/Live Stream:Â None
Live Stats:Â UCLA StatBroadcast
Match #2
Opponent: #3 Southern Cal Trojans (3-1)
Game Time:Â 2:30 pm PT, Thursday, March 4, 2021
Where:Â Merle Norman Stadium, Los Angeles, CA
TV/Live Stream:Â None
Live Stats:Â UCLA StatBroadcast
Official Preview
Go Bruins!
Thanks again for supporting The Mighty Bruin. Your paid subscriptions make this site possible. Questions, comments, story ideas, angry missives and more can be sent to to @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.