UCLA Beach Volleyball Looks to Advance to Title Match

The Bruins began their Quest for 122 yesterday with an easy win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Grad student Lexi Denaburg and the Bruins will look to advance to tomorrow’s NCAA Championship match today. (Photo Credit: Marie Goldfarb/uclabruins.com)

UCLA’s Volleyball Championship Weekend begins this morning with the NCAA Beach Volleyball Tournament Quarterfinals starting at 9 am PT. That’s when the #2 seed Bruin beach volleyball team led by new head coach Jenny Johnson-Jordan will square off against the #7 seed UC Berkeley Golden Bears.

UCLA defeated the Bears in both regular season meetings between the two squads, winning 4-1 each time. The only Golden Bear pair to defeat a Bruin pair in those matches was UC Berkeley’s #4 pair of Lara Boos and Brooke Buchner who defeated Kenzie Brower and Jessie Smith in the first match and Jaden Whitmarsh and Tessa Van Winkle in the second match.

Based on yesterday’s lineup, expect Whitmarsh and Van Winkle to look for revenge this morning. Regardless, look for the Bruins to win the quarterfinal pretty easily.

Assuming UCLA defeats UC Berkeley, they will advance to the Semifinals this afternoon where they will face the winner of #3 seed Stanford and #11 LSU for the right to head to tomorrow’s National Championship.

Last Time Out

Yesterday, the Bruins easily disposed of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders 3-0.

Brower and Smith got the Bruins going with a quick 21-15, 21-17 win on Court #3. Over on Court #1, Lexy Denaburg and Maggie Boyd had a little tougher dual. After winning their first set, 21-16, they needed 24 points to win the second one, 24-22, to capture the point. Then, on Court #5, Natalie Myszkowski and Ensley Alden won their dual, 21-15, 21-17, to send the Bruins to today’s quarterfinals.

Court #2 and Court #4 ended at that point. Court #2’s Devon Newberry and Peri Brennan had dropped their first set, 19-21, before winning the second, 21-11. The dual was stopped with the pair trailing, 2-3, in the third. Jaden Whitmarsh and Tessa Van Winkle also lost their first set, 16-21, before winning the second set, 21-15. This dual was stopped before the third set began.

Here’s how to watch today’s UCLA matches.

NCAA Beach Volleyball Tournament Quarterfinals

Teams: #2 seed UCLA Bruins (33-6) vs. #7 seed UC Berkeley Golden Bears (22-13)
Scheduled Time: Saturday, May 4, 2024, 9:00 am PT
Where: Gulf Beach Place, Gulf Shores, AL
TV: ESPN2
Live Stream: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app

NCAA Beach Volleyball Tournament Semifinals

Teams: #2 seed UCLA Bruins (34-6) vs. #11 LSU (27-11)
Scheduled Time: Saturday, May 4, 2024, 12:30 pm PT
Where: Gulf Beach Place, Gulf Shores, AL
TV: ESPN2
Live Stream: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app


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 @TheMightyBruin on Twitter.