Beach volleyball opens season against the nation’s top four teams

For the first time since 2012, Stein Metzger doesn’t have the same commitments that took him away from Westwood in the fall.

Over summer, the UCLA beach volleyball coach relinquished his assistant coach position with the women’s volleyball team, and with it went the days spent traveling to arenas of other Pac-12 teams and recruiting trips.

That time can now be spent with his team in the sand.

“Last year we only had him starting winter quarter on,” said sophomore Elise Zappia. “It’s nice getting the attention of three coaches instead of two; drills run a lot easier, and we’re just getting great input getting us ready for the season.”

As No. 6 UCLA gets ready to open up its season at the Pepperdine Kick Off event in Malibu, California, it’ll be hard to find a truer test of that offseason preparation than a weekend gauntlet against the top four teams in the nation.

The series begins Saturday morning with a face-off against No. 4 Long Beach State and No. 3 Hawai’i later in the day, followed by a one-two punch of No. 1 USC and No. 2 Pepperdine on Sunday.

But according to senior Kamila Tan, this shoot-for-the-moon style opening will be the perfect diagnostic to help pace her and her teammates throughout the next two months of competition.

“I think there’s no better way to start off the season,” Tan said. “It’ll set the tone for how much harder we need to work if we don’t match up against them, or give us the fire and motivation, if we’re beating them, to stay on top.”

Though the season is only beginning, each game against their regional rivals will have heavy postseason implications owing to the format of NCAA beach volleyball. Even the victor of the inaugural Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Championships is not guaranteed an automatic qualification for a chance to play for the NCAA tournament in Alabama, thus amplifying the importance of maintaining a stellar regular season record.

Metzger said he also plans to treat the Pepperdine Kick Off as a scouting opportunity, with scheduled rematches against the Waves, Rainbow Warriors and 49ers later in the season, and a potential meeting with the Trojans at the Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Championships waiting later in the year.

“Those later games, in addition to the weekend, could be deciding factors of which of these five teams get a chance to go represent the West Coast,” Metzger said.

The Bruin lineup that will travel to the beach in Malibu this weekend retains most of its 10 starters from last year’s team, which carved out the program’s first winning season, with the exception of two graduated seniors.

Zappia’s former partner, Madie Smith, still remains with the team, but has transitioned into a new role as the team’s director of operations. Instead, Zappia will be forming a new partnership with Izzy Carey to start the season.

“She’s a different kind of player than Madie. She brings a lot blocking-wise and offensively,” Zappia said. “It’s exciting too because she’s a freshman – we have the potential to stay together for a longer period of time.”

Tan, on the other hand, faces a different kind of situation that could potentially end up with her staring across the net at her former partner, Zoë Nightingale, who joined the Trojans this year as a graduate transfer student.

“It’s gonna suck seeing Zoë in red and gold over there at USC,” Tan said. “But I know all of her tricks now.”

UCLA, however, will not be in short supply of talent even with the departure of Nightingale and Smith as the team welcomes an influx of five new beach volleyball recruits, four players joining from the indoor team and one returning from an injury. And it’s this newfound depth that Metzger said will be advantageous as they tackle the best-of-five format throughout the season.

“The depth really helps because our teams, one through five, are all really strong; they can beat each other on any given day,” Metzger said. “It’s going to give us an opportunity for more overall wins.”

Email Yeo at [email protected] or tweet him @aubreyyeo.