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UCLA beach volleyball falls to USC in Pac-12 tournament final

Members of No. 2 seed UCLA beach volleyball gather in a huddle. The blue and gold fell to No. 1 seed USC in the Pac-12 championship final. (Ariana Fadel/Daily Bruin staff)

beach volleyball


No. 3 seed Stanford0
No. 2 seed UCLA3
No. 2 seed UCLA1
No. 1 seed USC3
No. 4 seed California0
No. 2 seed UCLA3
No. 2 seed UCLA0
No. 1 seed USC3

By Shane Smith and Grace Whitaker

April 30, 2022 3:29 p.m.

This post was updated May 2 at 12:30 a.m.

The only thing that stood between the Bruins and another Pac-12 championship was a familiar foe – the Trojans.

After losing to the Women of Troy thrice in the past two weeks, the blue and gold matched up with its crosstown foes once more in the championship dual.

And like they were previously, the Bruins were ultimately defeated, handing the title back to their rivals.

No. 2 seed UCLA beach volleyball (31-7, 8-0 Pac-12) finished the final two days of the Pac-12 championship collecting victories over No. 3 seed Stanford (24-11, 10-3) and No. 4 seed California (26-13, 2-4) and two losses against No. 1 seed USC (32-1) from Thursday to Friday at Bear Down Beach in Tucson.

After the final loss to the Trojans, coach Stein Metzger said he was proud of the way his team played despite the Bruins’ defeat.

“It’s less about the wins and losses at this point and more about how we’re playing. Obviously, we want to win a Pac-12 championship,” Metzger said. “But our eye is on next week, and we’re going to continue to get 1% better over this next week.”

UCLA began Thursday by securing its 30th win of the season, a 3-0 victory over Stanford. The Bruins led in all five matches, including a court one battle between two AVCA All-American pairs, with first-teamers sophomore Lexy Denaburg and junior Abby Van Winkle defeating second-teamers Kate Reilly and Xolani Hodel 21-15, 21-12. The triumph improved UCLA’s all-time record against Stanford to a perfect 16-0.

Advancing to the winner’s bracket final, UCLA would face USC for the first time in the tournament, losing 3-1.

The Bruins took the early lead, securing a victory on court five where the freshman pair of Natalie Myszkowski and Sophie Moore defeated USC’s Sunny Villapando and Mollie Ebertin by a combined score of 42-25 across the two sets. The Women of Troy proceeded to take the next three matches by an average margin of victory of 3.5 points per set.

Prior to the tournament, Metzger said USC’s advantage came from its experience.

“In the closer games, we had opportunities, and that obviously comes with experience and age,” Metzger said. “There’s 11 seniors on their team, so that helps quite a bit.”

Moving to the contenders bracket, UCLA nabbed a 3-0 sweep over Cal. Court three’s pair of senior Lea Monkhouse and freshman Jessie Smith defeated the Golden Bears’ duo of Ella Dreibholz and Lexi McKeown in straight sets to strike first. Denaburg and Van Winkle and Myszkowski and Moore followed their teammates with straight-set victories on courts one and five, respectively, to grant the blue and gold a spot in the championship dual.

Denaburg said UCLA’s triumph over Cal gave it the confidence to take on USC in the final.

“We knew going into that dual that we had to focus on them first before we even thought about USC,” Denaburg said. “The team came out really strong. We played well.”

Court one’s pair of Denaburg and Van Winkle began by defeating Tina Graudina and Hailey Harward in the opening set. However, the duo’s match went unfinished as USC emerged victorious over UCLA with wins on courts two, three and four.

Metzger said his team has a positive outlook going into the NCAA tournament next week.

“The team remains confident. We know we can beat any team on a given day.” Metzger said. “’SC is certainly experienced and playing really well right now, but we’ll need to focus on some other teams as we enter the tournament.”

If given a bid, the Bruins will play next in the NCAA tournament beginning Wednesday in Gulf Shores, Alabama.

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Shane Smith | Sports contributor
Smith is currently a contributor on the beach volleyball beat. He was previously a contributor on the men's soccer beat.
Smith is currently a contributor on the beach volleyball beat. He was previously a contributor on the men's soccer beat.
Grace Whitaker | Sports senior staff
Whitaker is currently a senior staff writer on the football, men's basketball and women's basketball beats. She was previously an assistant Sports editor on the women's basketball, women's soccer, beach volleyball and cross country beats and a contributor on the women's basketball and beach volleyball beats.
Whitaker is currently a senior staff writer on the football, men's basketball and women's basketball beats. She was previously an assistant Sports editor on the women's basketball, women's soccer, beach volleyball and cross country beats and a contributor on the women's basketball and beach volleyball beats.
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