Beach volleyball sinks sixth ranked opponent, sweeps three teams to stay undefeated
Freshman Lindsey Sparks paired up with senior Izzy Carey on court five at the Pac-12 South Tournament this weekend in Tucson, Arizona. (Alice Naland/Daily Bruin)
By Jacqueline Dzwonczyk
March 3, 2019 11:53 p.m.
The Bruins were perfect this weekend.
No. 1 UCLA beach volleyball (9-0) left Bear Down Beach, Arizona, with three sweeps over Arizona State (3-3), Washington (0-3) and No. 11 California (4-1). The Bruins dropped just two sets on the weekend and the win marked UCLA’s third consecutive sweep of the Pac-12 South Tournament.
“I was really happy with our performance (Saturday), I thought we played well – we played to our standard,” said coach Stein Metzger. “It’s hard, when you have a team that is this talented and has so much depth, to always play to a high standard and (Sunday) I thought we faltered.”
UCLA premiered two new pairs, with sophomore transfer Lea Monkhouse joining junior Savvy Simo on court four and freshman Lindsey Sparks playing alongside senior Izzy Carey on court five.
Metzger said he wants to try out different lineups so the team will be prepared in case of an injury.
“We’ve gone through some illnesses where we’ve been forced to play people, but in this situation, we opted to make these changes because we want to be ready in any situation as the season progresses,” Metzger said.
Both first-time partnerships dropped the first set in extended rallies to the Golden Bears on Sunday – with Monkhouse and Simo falling 23-21 on court four and Sparks and Carey falling 26-24 on five – but both pairs rallied to complete the Bruins’ third sweep of the weekend.
Sparks was moved from the right side to the left side after the first set. The freshman said she is more comfortable receiving on the right, but can be more aggressive from the left.
“Normally, I’m a right-side player,” Sparks said. “But we realized it was more about confidence, so we stuck to our guns and I went back to the left to get me more confident in my attacking.”
Abby Van Winkle is the only other freshman who has made a debut for UCLA, playing in all nine matches on courts two, three and four. She has been paired with senior Zana Muno for eight of those matches.
Muno played with Simo last year, making for a short team with both players standing at 5-foot-10. Muno said playing with 6-foot-2 Van Winkle at the net has freed her up to focus on defense.
“It’s definitely a different style of play since I’m used to split blocking with (Simo),” Muno said. “But it’s super fun because eventually when I go on I wanted to be just a defender, so this is preparing me for that.”
The pairing ran its record to 8-0 with three two-set wins this weekend.
Seniors Nicole and Megan McNamara on court one and senior Sarah Sponcil and junior Lily Justine on court two also won all three matches in two sets.
Sponcil and Justine – the reigning Pac-12 Pair of the Week – outscored their court two opponents 126-61 on the weekend.
“There’s a chance of (Sponcil and Justine playing on court one) – they are playing exceptionally well,” Metzger said. “Last year they battled some inconsistency, but they really seem to be hitting their stride right now and I think they’ve completely bought into our style of play, which is playing fast and running play sets – and they can do it because they’ve become so proficient at hand setting.”
The Bruins are 6-0 against ranked opponents and have won seven of their first nine matches without dropping a match.
But Metzger said there is room for improvement despite the results.
“In my mind, (Sunday) was a loss for us and a wake up call for our team to continue to improve themselves in practice and continue to get better,” Metzger said.
UCLA will face No. 3 Pepperdine in Malibu on Wednesday.
