Failure can demoralize.

But the Bruins did not waver.

No. 2 seed UCLA beach volleyball (28-5) clinched a spot to the MPSF Beach Volleyball Championship semifinal after defeating No. 5 seed California (23-13) 3-0 Thursday afternoon at Spiker Beach. The Westwood squad was forced into an elimination game after splitting its first two contests of the conference tournament, falling to No. 3 seed Texas (24-6) 3-1 Thursday morning after sweeping No. 7 seed LSU (22-16) 3-0 Wednesday afternoon.

“We use the past to learn from it,” coach Jenny Johnson Jordan said.

The Bruins are just one year removed from their premature elimination in the first-ever MPSF beach volleyball tournament last season, when they lost to the then-No. 3 seed Cardinal and the then-No. 5 seed Trojans.

And UCLA looked to be following the same path in this year’s conference postseason.

The Longhorns gutted out a three-set victory against the duo of sophomore Sally Perez and senior Maggie Boyd on court one to clinch the team triumph.

But the Bruins’ struggles extended beyond court one.

UCLA’s court two pair of redshirt junior Ensley Alden and redshirt sophomore Kaley Mathews lost in sweeping fashion, despite the Bruin duo having a 21-4 record ahead of the Thursday showdown.

And redshirt junior Kenzie Brower and freshman Mallory LaBreche, a tandem that emerged late in the 2026 campaign, did not fare any better on court five, also losing in two sets to put the Bruins in a two-point hole heading into the third set on court one.

Texas coach Stein Metzger, who led UCLA to its two national championships in 2018 and 2019 across his 11-year stint in Westwood, had already defeated his former squad once ahead of postseason play at the Texas Invitational on March 27.

And that advantage seemed to carry over into Thursday’s affair.

“We really wanted to beat Texas this morning, and so when it didn’t work out, it hurt,” Perez said. “Before going into the Cal match, whatever we feel post-loss, putting that in a paper bag is the analogy we use, and then throwing out the paper bag visually mentally … throwing out those emotions and getting a clear slate going into the next match.”

Despite failing to clinch a spot in the semifinals on their first attempt, the Bruins prevailed in a must-win game against the Golden Bears.

Perez and Boyd spearheaded the team triumph with a win against Cal court one duo Emma Donley and Portia Sherman, whom the 2025 MPSF Pair of the Year lost to in two sets April 10.

But the second-year pair dominated from the start, taking the first set 21-14 en route to a court one sweep.

The other Bruin pairs followed suit, and the squad did not drop a single game.

UCLA’s Thursday triumph mirrored its first match of the tournament.

The squad has not lost a single dual match to the Tigers throughout the 2026 campaign, boasting a 13-0 combined record across the teams’ three contests.

The Bruins’ top-three court pairings swept their respective opposing duos.

“We took it and learned from it, and knew that we had to bounce back and come out with all that energy – not forget it, but learn from it and move forward,” Brower said.

And LSU’s court three pairing, which fell to sophomore Alexa Fernandez and redshirt sophomore Harper Cooper, included Molly LaBreche – Mallory LaBreche’s twin sister.

USC derailed UCLA’s conference tournament aspirations last year after losing to Stanford, which was closely followed by the latter’s quarterfinal elimination at the NCAA tournament against then-No. 4 LMU.

This time, though, the Bruins responded.

“We’re in a great place in terms of where we are in the season again,” Jordan said. “We still have to show up and prove it in every single match.”