This post was updated May 4 at 10:48 p.m.

It took until the end, but the Bruins survived an early upset bid.  

No. 3 seed UCLA beach volleyball (31-7, 8-0 Pac-12) defeated No. 14 seed Stetson (23-16) in the first round of the National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on Wednesday afternoon. With the score tied 2-2, the dual came down to the final points on court two. 

Coach Stein Metzger said while this was not an easy first round of the tournament, he is hoping the team will use this momentum to continue playing hard. 

“As the higher seed, there is a certain amount of pressure on you,” Metzger said. “Stetson was playing free and they were prepared. It wasn’t an easy match, but statistics show that if you can make it through a tough first round, you are better prepared later in the tournament.”

While all matches remained relatively close throughout their opening sets, court three’s pair, senior Lea Monkhouse and freshman Jessie Smith, raced to an early lead it would maintain, with its largest advantage reaching a score of 18-11. 

Monkhouse and Smith put the Bruins on the board first with a 21-14 victory over the Hatters’ Lauren Della and Gabriella Bramante. 

Stetson scored the final two points of the set on the second court, as sophomore Devon Newberry and redshirt sophomore Jaden Whitmarsh fell 21-19. Freshmen Natalie Myszkowski and Sophie Moore fell by one point more on court five, while sophomore Lexy Denaburg and junior Abby Van Winkle defeated their opponents on court one 21-17 shortly after.

Sophomore Rileigh Powers and graduate student Marlie Monserez were the last pair to complete set one – which went into overtime – but eventually fell short 23-21. Monkhouse and Smith carried their lead into the second frame, leading wire-to-wire in set two to win 21-13 with a kill from the senior. 

While the Bruins led 20-12 on court one, two consecutive out-of-bounds plays closed the gap to 20-14. However, Van Winkle knocked a kill to clinch the set 21-14, increasing UCLA’s overall lead to 2-0.

Meanwhile, Newberry and Whitmarsh bounced back and defeated their opponents in the second set 21-16.

Whitmarsh said the duo had a shift in mindset going into the second match that helped them to recover from falling short in the first set. 

“We decided to punch first and come out and be aggressive,” Whitmarsh said. “We told each other, ‘Our time is now and it’s just you and me.’”

With a loss on court five, and despite a comeback attempt from Powers and Monserez on court four, the game was to be decided by Newberry and Whitmarsh. 

In their final set, Newberry and Whitmarsh were tied 11-11. The lead went on to alternate between the Hatters and the Bruins. A kill by Whitmarsh brought the score to 12-11, which was later met with a Stetson attack down the line. However, Newberry closed out the match and dual 15-13 with a kill down the middle.

Newberry said she was ready to make the final play to give the Bruins the win.

“I knew they were going to serve me that ball and I could have gone up and shot it, but I know that I am a hitter and that is how I knew I wanted to end it,” Newberry said. “It felt so great to take that pressure off of Jaden for one point and to end it for our team.”

UCLA will advance to double-elimination play against LSU on Friday at 10 a.m.