UCLA beach volleyball loses undefeated streak after defeat at Mapes Beach Invitational

In the first battle between the top two teams this season, the Bruins emerged victorious.

On Thursday, the reverse occurred.

No. 1 UCLA beach volleyball (19-1, 3-0 Pac-12) fell to No. 2 TCU (26-0, 4-0 CCSA) by a score of 4-1 before sweeping No. 9 Hawai’i (15-8) in Westwood at the Mapes Beach Invitational. Thursday’s loss to the Horned Frogs comes after the blue and gold took down then-No. 1 USC in the first top-two matchup of the season March 5.

Coach Stein Metzger said his team’s performance Thursday was won and lost on the mental side.

“There’s a psychological factor of being undefeated and being scared of losing,” Metzger said. “As soon as we lost that game, we turned around, and we played the way I know we can play.”

In the first wave of matches against the Horned Frogs, the Bruins’ court two and four pairs dropped their opening sets by a combined 13 points. While court two’s duo of senior Lea Monkhouse and sophomore Rileigh Powers reached set point first in their second frame, TCU went on a 3-0 run to clinch the first point of the dual.

Entering their match against the Horned Frogs’ court four pair, the Bruins’ duplet of Natalie Myszkowski and Sophie Moore held an undefeated record through 17 contests. The freshmen nabbed a 21-19 second-set triumph to force a decisive third frame, but despite having won their six other third-set tiebreakers, they fell 15-12 for their first loss of the year.

UCLA’s courts one and five pairs couldn’t buck the trend, as both fell 21-15 in their respective opening periods. Graduate student Marlie Monserez and freshman Jessie Smith took a 21-18 second-set loss on court five, sealing the Bruins’ first defeat of the season.

The Horned Frogs’ court five featured Rochelle Scott and Megan Muret – a four-year Bruin starter from 2018 to 2021. Scott and Muret’s dual-clinching win also marked the blue and gold’s first-ever loss to TCU in program history.

Sophomore Devon Newberry, who partnered with Muret for five duals in the 2020 season, said Thursday’s contest was an interesting reunion for the former teammates.

“It’s so weird seeing somebody who you’ve been with for so long on a different team celebrating with different people,” Newberry said. “It’s also really cool to see her succeed and to see both of our teams play each other.”

Court three’s pair of Newberry and redshirt sophomore Jaden Whitmarsh flipped a court against TCU with a straight-set victory, but it would mark UCLA’s lone point of the dual as sophomore Lexy Denaburg and junior Abby Van Winkle lost a third-set tiebreaker on court one to close the contest.

The Bruins won the second dual of the afternoon within their first three matches, eventually grabbing a 5-0 win over the BeachBows. UCLA previously took two victories over Hawai’i on Feb. 26, a 3-2 triumph before a 4-1 win in Honolulu.

Metzger said his team’s victory over Hawai’i started with the previous loss to TCU.

“​​We’ve actually been thinking a loss at some point might help us,” Metzger said. “It certainly seemed like today it did, because we played our best volleyball against Hawai’i that we’ve played in a couple of weeks.”

Thursday’s win began with a straight-set victory on court two – with each frame decided by at least eight points – and was secured with sweeps from both courts four and five.

Following their teammates’ wins on court one, Newberry and Whitmarsh – the only Bruin pair to win both of their matches Thursday – beat their opponents 21-16, 21-18 to pick up the fifth and final sweep of the dual.

“Devon and I made our intention to play aggressive, play free,” Whitmarsh said. “That started right from the first serve. We just wanted to try new things and go for it.”