UCLA

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LOS ANGELES -- The UCLA Bruins are ranked No. 1 in the DiG Magazine preseason beach volleyball poll that was released today. In a unanimous vote, the defending NCAA Champions received all 15 first-place votes. The Bruins return nine of 10 starters on the five courts, losing only Elise Zappia to graduation last year.

Then top-seeded UCLA made history on May 6, 2018, winning the first NCAA Championship in program history. UCLA defeated fourth-seeded Florida State, 3-1, avenging an earlier loss to the Seminoles that put the Bruins in the elimination bracket. They proceeded to win four matches in two days, which gave UCLA its 116th overall NCAA Championship.

The Bruins won 35 of their final 36 matches to complete their historic season with a 40-4 overall record. The 40 wins represent a single-season NCAA record, previously set by USC during the 2017 season (38). The win marked UCLA's first over Florida State in an NCAA Championship setting, with the Bruins having been eliminated by the Seminoles in 2016 and 2017.

Stein Metzger was named the USMC/AVCA National Coach of the Year for the second straight season while Megan McNamara and Nicole McNamara were named AVCA All-Americans for the third-consecutive season. Lily Justine and Sarah Sponcil picked up honorable mention All-America acclaim from court two.

The Bruins will find out how they stack up early on with the nation's top teams as they host No. 5 Cal Poly in the season opener on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 8:00 a.m. at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center. Later that weekend, UCLA heads to Honolulu, Hawaii to take part in the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic on Saturday, Feb. 23 and Sunday, Feb. 24. The Bruins will face No. 10 Stanford, Saint Mary's, No. 6 Hawai'i and No. 3 Pepperdine in Hawaii. Then the Bruins return to Los Angeles to take on No. 2 USC on Wednesday, Feb. 27 in their 2019 television debut at USC on the Pac-12 Networks at 3:00 p.m. PT.

DiG MAGAZINE COLLEGIATE BEACH VOLLEYBALL POLL (Preseason - Jan. 15, 2019)

Rank	School	2018 Record	2018 Final Rank
1	UCLA (15)	40-4	1
2	USC	27-14	4
3	Pepperdine	25-5	5
4	Florida State	33-7	2
5	Cal Poly	27-7	8
6	Hawai'i	37-5	3
7	LSU	27-14	6
8	Long Beach State	26-8	7
9	South Carolina	24-9	9
10	Stanford	17-13	13
11	California	24-8	11
12	Florida International	23-10	10
13	Arizona	20-12	14
14	Georgia State	24-12	12
15	Stetson	30-8	18
16	Loyola Marymount	22-14	17
17	Tulane	23-14	15
18	Grand Canyon	13-16	19
19	Florida Atlantic	18-15	16
20	TCU	10-22	NR

Also receiving votes: St. Mary's, Arizona State, Utah, Washington, Nebraska (First-place votes in parentheses).

Bruins Enter 2019 Season Ranked First