UCLA Beach Volleyball Looks for Weekend Sweep as Pac-12 North Invite Concludes
The Bruins swept Arizona State, 5-0, and topped Stanford, 4-1, yesterday. Today, UCLA takes on Washington and Arizona.
The Bruins will wrap up play in the Pac-12 North Invitational today with matches against the Washington Huskies and the #12 Arizona Wildcats. UCLA ran its winning streak to 14 matches yesterday by defeating Arizona State and #7 Stanford. The match against Washington is slated for 9 am PT while the one against Arizona is scheduled for 2 pm PT. Neither will be televised or livestreamed.
Last Time Out
Both matches yesterday were relatively easy wins for the #1 Bruins. In the first match, UCLA swept Arizona State, 5-0.
Lexy Denaburg and Savvy Simo were the first pair to finish when they beat Katelyn Carballo and Lexi Sweeney on Court One, 21-11, 21-14. The second pair to finish was Devon Newberry and Lindsey Sparks who cruised past Emily Anderson and Kate Fitzgerald, 21-16, 21-14.
As a result, Lea Monkhouse and Abby Van Winkle were set up to clinch the match for UCLA on Court Two where they beat Cierra Flood and Sarah Waters, 21-17, 21-18.
That didn’t stop the final two duals. On Court Five, Rileigh Powers and Jaden Whitmarsh finished off Taryn Ames and Lauren Weintraub, 21-16, 21-19. Finally, Megan Muret and Jacqueline Quade wrapped up a three-set win over Lila Bordis and Samantha Plaster, 21-19, 19-21, 15-8, to give UCLA a 5-0 win.
In UCLA’s second match of the day, Simo and Denaburg finished off Charlie Ekstrom and Sunny Villapando first on Court One, 21-17, 21-14. Monkhouse and Van Winkle were the second pair to finish their dual when they beat Xolani Hodel and Kate Reilly, 22-20, 21-13.
The final three duals all went to three sets. Muret and Quade clinched the match for UCLA by winning their dual with Maddie Dailey and Jordan McKinney, 12-21, 21-12, 15-5. Powers and Whitmarsh also won their dual against Emmy Sharp and Amelia Smith, 18-21, 21-17, 15-12. That gave the Bruins a 4-0 lead. Unfortunately, Newberry and Sparks were edged on Court Three by Maya Harvey and Maddi Kriz, 22-20,16-21, 16-14. As a result, the final score in this match was 4-1 in favor of the Bruins.
Washington Huskies
The Huskies don’t appear to be very good. So far this season, they’ve lost to Arizona State, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Southern Cal and Arizona. Their lone win occurred at the Pac-12 South Invitational. This match should be an easy sweep for the Bruins.
Arizona Wildcats
By comparison, the Wildcats are a much better team than the Huskies. Arizona is 15-3 so far this season with losses coming against Cal Poly, Stanford and GCU. At the same time, the Wildcats have beaten Pepperdine and Stanford. As long as UCLA remains focused, they should be able to win this one too, but it probably won’t be a sweep and could even finish as a 3-2 Bruin win.
#1 UCLA Beach Volleyball (17-1)
Pac-12 North Invitational
Where:Â GCU Beach Volleyball Stadium, Phoenix, AZ
TV/Live Stream:Â None
Match #1
Opponent:Â Washington Huskies (1-5)
Game Time:Â 9:00 am PT, Sunday, April 11, 2021
Live Stats:Â UCLA StatBroadcast
Match #2
Opponent:Â #12 Arizona Wildcats (15-3)
Game Time:Â 2:00 pm PT, Saturday, April 11, 2021
Live Stats:Â UCLA StatBroadcast
Official Preview
Go Bruins!
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