Redemption is written all over the Bruins’ upcoming weekend.

After its last season ended with a loss to No. 1 USC in the NCAA championship, No. 3 UCLA beach volleyball will kick off its season against No. 2 TCU at the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic in Honolulu, Hawai’i on Thursday shortly before noon. Across the rest of the weekend, the squad will face a slate of top-ranked teams, including No. 5 Stanford, No. 7 LMU and the reigning national champions, USC, on the final day of contention.

“It’s super unique that we start off so strong playing such high seeds and such awesome teams and programs,” said freshman Sally Perez. “That’s such a blessing, and that’s one of the reasons why I chose to come to UCLA.”

Fierce competition at the Bruins’ opening tournament will help provide a gauge of the team’s ability to vie for another national championship and avoid yet another late-season Trojan defeat.

“This first tournament has a lot of really good competition,” said senior Natalie Myszkowski. “So we’ll get a good measure of what the season is going to look like from this very first weekend.”

Coach Jenny Johnson Jordan is entering her second season at the helm of the program, serving as the Bruins’ assistant head coach for seven years before assuming the head coaching mantle in 2023.

This year, UCLA competed in preseason matches in fall for the first time ever, allowing the team’s players to acclimate to the rigor of competition season. Perez and junior Maggie Boyd claimed UCLA’s inaugural AVCA National Collegiate Beach Pairs Championship title in November, where the duo defeated TCU’s Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno in the final.

“I think training for two whole quarters straight would be tough without any competition,” said Perez. “So it was super fun to get out there and compete against the teams and see where we were at, see what we could do even before we even started preseason.”

Myszkowski said she has enjoyed stepping into a new role as a leader on the team after key veterans departed last year’s squad.

“Last year, we had some really strong leaders who graduated, and they were a big energy on this team,” Myszkowski said. “ I’ve had a fun time finding my voice on this team and stepping into that leadership role and seeing what the leadership looks like with new voices.”

Perez said she is grateful for the opportunity to prove herself and show what she can do on the sand this season.

“I’m super excited to continue the legacy of the program and see if we can bring back the trophy to UCLA,” Perez said.