#1 UCLA Beach Volleyball Faces #6 Cal Poly and #2 Southern Cal Today

The Bruins need to sweep today to keep their number one ranking.

Abby Van Winkle (left) and Lea Monkhouse have won their last four matches on Court Two. (Photo Credit: George Davison/uclabruins.com)

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The UCLA beach volleyball concludes a very good week today with a pair of matches. First up is a match against #6 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo at 2 pm. Later, the Bruins will square off against crosstown rival Southern Cal at 6:30 pm to conclude play in the Center of Effort Challenge in San Luis Obispo. Neither match will be televised and, while there will be a livestream for both matches only the action on Court One will be streamed.

This Week in Beach Volleyball

It’s been another good week for the UCLA beach volleyball team. So far, the team has gone 6-0 since Sunday. The week began with the Bruins wrapping up play in the Pac-12 North Invitational where UCLA swept both Washington and Arizona.

On Wednesday, the Bruins hosted a doubleheader against #5 Loyola Marymount. UCLA won the first match, 3-2, and took the second one, 4-1.

Yesterday, UCLA took down #8 Grand Canyon, 3-2, in their first match at the Center of Effort Challenge and they followed that up by defeating LMU for the third time this week, 3-2.

Cal Poly Mustangs

This will be the second meeting of the season between UCLA and Cal Poly. The Bruins won the first match back on March 4, 5-0. Cal Poly faced Southern Cal yesterday and lost, 5-0, before defeating GCU, 3-2, in their second match of the day. There’s really no reason today’s match should end any differently than the last time. I’m expecting another 5-0 sweep.

Southern Cal Trojans

The Trojans are still the only team to have beaten the Bruins this season. They are ranked #2 in the country behind UCLA who took over the top spot after Southern Cal split doubleheaders against Florida State and LSU two weekends ago.

This match will be a knock-down, drag-out fight. UCLA needs to win today in order to retain the top spot in next week’s poll. This one looks to be a toss-up. Neither team will dominate, but I think the Bruins will take it 3-2.

#1 UCLA Beach Volleyball (17-1)

Center of Effort Challenge

Where: Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex, San Luis Obispo, AZ
TV: None
Live Stream: BigWest.org (Court One Only)

Match #1

Opponent: No. 6 Cal Poly Mustangs (17-6)
Game Time: 2:00 pm PT, Saturday, April 17, 2021
Live Stats: None

Match #2

Opponent: #2 Southern Cal Trojans (20-2)
Game Time: 6:30 pm PT, Saturday, April 17, 2021
Live Stats: None

Official Preview