UCLA Beach Volleyball Plays Southern Cal for National Title
The Bruins are looking to bring home NC #122 and the second title in two days.
It’s a great day to be a Bruin!
Another day, another opportunity to add to UCLA’s title total. Just one day after the UCLA men’s volleyball team won the Bruins’ 121st NCAA title, the beach volleyball team will be looking to increase it to 122 when they play hated crosstown rival Southern Cal this morning with a natty on the line.
It’s Bruins vs. Trojans and it doesn’t get any better than this.
Since UCLA lost the initial meeting between these two schools this season, the Bruins have had the Trojans’ number. UCLA has won the last three matchups.
Of course, the top-seeded Bruins are the favorite in this one — and they should be. UCLA’s only loss to Southern Cal came on the Trojans’ home court while two of the Bruins’ three wins came on neutral courts with the third coming at Mapes Beach.
The biggest question for the Bruins is: How will Stein Metzger try to stop Southern Cal’s #1 pair of Megan Kraft and Laynie Maple? The Trojan pair have been a thorn in the Bruins’ side all year long as Metzger has yet to find a Court One pair who could beat them. The best the Bruins have done was to win a match before Court One could finish in the Pac-12 Tournament.
In that match, Metzger paired Lexy Denaburg with Kelli Greene-Agnew, a graduate transfer who joined the team this year after four seasons with LSU, but even with that matchup, UCLA trailed 8-11 in the third set when the match was won by the Bruins. Will Metzger give Green-Agnew the start today or will he stick with freshman Maggie Boyd who earned her way to a Court One pairing with Denaburg?
That pairing defeated Florida State’s Maddie Anderson and Paige Kalkhoff, 21-18, 24-22 yesterday.
Last Time Out
In addition to the Court One win, the Bruins easily dispensed of Florida State in yesterday’s semifinal match.
Flight #4 finished first when Marlie Monserez and Jessie Smith cruised past Audrey Koenig and Caitlin Moon, 21-14, 21-16.
Flight #2 saw Abby Van Winkle and Peri Brennan sweep Anna Long and Jordan Polo, 21-14, 21-18.
The win on Court Two stopped the match with the second sets on Courts Three and Five still in progress. On Court Three, Haley Hallgren and Rileigh Powers lost their first set to FSU’s Raelyn White and Morgan Chacon, 19-21 and the Bruins were up 20-17 in the second set when play was stopped. On Court Five, Devon Newberry and Jaden Whitmarsh took the first set against FSU’s Makenna Wolfe and Alexis Durish, 21-17 and they were tied 22-22 when play stopped.
NCAA Beach Volleyball National Championship
Teams: #1 seed UCLA Bruins (40-3) vs. #3 seed Southern Cal Trojans (31-5)
Scheduled Time: Sunday, May 7, 2023, 9:00 am PT
Where: Gulf Beach Place, Gulf Shores, AL
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app
Go Bruins!!! Beat $c!!!! Bring home NC # 122!
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Thanks so much for following and the updates, Bruinette. I missed all the volleyball this weekend, so it was nice once, and sad once, to get a feel for the matches.
Curses, foiled again. That makes triple drat against the Trogans in the finals.