No. 1 UCLA Opens 2019 with No. 6/5 Cal Poly

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LOS ANGELES -- No. 1 UCLA (0-0) opens the 2019 season with a tough test right out of the gate when it hosts No. 5/6 Cal Poly on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 8:00 a.m. PT at Sunset Canyon Recreation Center. The Bruins fly out later that night to Honolulu, Hawaii, to compete at the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic at Queen's Beach on Feb. 23 and 24. While in Hawaii, the Bruins will face three top 10 teams and one unranked team from California. The Bruins will open the tournament with No. 10/11 Stanford on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 11:00 a.m. PT at Queen's Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii. UCLA will also face Saint Mary's, No. 6/5 Hawai'i and No. 3/4 Pepperdine while in Hawaii.

THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
Opponent: No. 5/6 Cal Poly (0-0)
Location: Sunset Canyon Recreation Center
Date: Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019
Time: 8:00 a.m. (PT)

Opponent: No. 10/11 Stanford (0-0)
Location: Queen's Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii
Date: Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019
Time: 11:00 a.m. (PT)

Opponent: RV/RV Saint Mary's (0-0)
Location: Queen's Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii
Date: Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019
Time: 3:30 p.m. (PT)

Opponent: No. 6/5 Hawai'i (0-0)
Location: Queen's Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii
Date: Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019
Time: 12:30 p.m. (PT)

Opponent: No. 3/4 Pepperdine (0-0)
Location: Queen's Beach, Honolulu, Hawaii
Date: Sunday, Feb. 24, 2019
Time: 3:30 p.m. (PT)

POLLING THE BRUINS
UCLA was ranked No. 1 in both preseason polls in the AVCA Collegiate Beach Volleyball Poll (27-of-30 first-place votes) and in the DiG Magazine Poll (unanimous selection, all 15 first-place votes).

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
The Bruins return all four players from a year ago that played every dual on courts one and two, and three of them are seniors. One court one, three-time First Team AVCA All-American seniors Megan McNamara and Nicole McNamara (Vancouver, BC, Canada) were named First Team All-Americans and the court one Pair of the Year by VolleyMob in 2018. The duo set a UCLA record for wins in a season going 35-7 on the year, all on court one. The 5-foot-9-inch twin sisters are the shortest team on court one in the nation, but went 7-1 during postseason play including a 4-0 mark at the NCAA Championship in 2018, helping lead UCLA to its first-ever national title in beach volleyball. UCLA had arguably the toughest schedule in the nation, as evidenced by the McNamara's record of 30-7 against ranked teams (two more matches against ranked teams were truncated at the NCAA Championship). The twins were never swept on the season with all seven losses coming in three sets. Additionally, the duo was 31-0 in matches decided in two sets. Nicole McNamara was named the Pac-12 Player of the Year while she and Megan were named the Pac-12 Pair of the Year. The tandem was also tabbed to the Pac-12 All-Tournament Team and to the NCAA All-Tournament Team on court one. They also recorded a personal-best winning streak of 16 consecutive duals during the season. Both players were named First Team All-Pac-12. The pair also clinched 11 victories in dual matches on the year for the Bruins. The duo has a 79-26 all-time combined record.

On court two, the pair of junior Lily Justine (Chico, Calif.) and senior Sarah Sponcil (Phoenix, Ariz.) were also named First Team All-Americans and the court two Pair of the Year by VolleyMob a year ago. The duo went 33-8 on the year, all on court two. The pair also had a stellar postseason record of 6-1, going 3-0 in the Pac-12 Championship and 3-1 in the NCAA Championship. They posted both of the dual clinching wins on NCAA Championship Sunday, May 6, picking up victories over No. 3 Hawai'i and No. 4 Florida State. The Bruins faced 39 ranked opponents in the 44 duals with this duo going 28-8 against ranked teams, including going 16-1 against ranked squads to end the year. They were named to the Pac-12 All-Tournament Team and also recorded a personal-best winning streak of 15 consecutive duals during the season. Both players were named First Team All-Pac-12 and honorable mention AVCA All-Americans. The pair also clinched 12 victories in dual matches on the year for the Bruins to lead the team in that category.

DUAL PARTICIPATION
The Bruins have four crossover student-athletes on this year's roster -- one from each class from the indoor team -- that will lend their experience and expertise to the beach volleyball program in 2019. They include freshman Hawley Harrer, sophomore Mac May, junior Savvy Simo and senior Zana Muno. May went 25-10 overall on the year last year, starting on court four for most of the season with newly departed Elise Zappia (graduation). The duo went 22-6 overall (21-6 on court four). Simo and Muno paired together for most of the season on court three, going 25-5 overall (22-4 on court three). Simo also spent time with May, Chanti Holroyd and Madi Yeomans while posting a 33-10 combined record. Muno, who missed some time due to an undisclosed injury, only paired with Simo in 2018. May, Muno, and Simo were all named Third Team All-Americans last year by VolleyMob.

DEPTH PERCEPTION
Senior Izzy Carey (Westlake Village, Calif.) and sophomore Megan Muret (Encinitas, Calif.) were also named First Team All-Americans and the court five Pair of the Year by VolleyMob. The duo had the second-best overall record on the team at 34-8 (30-4 on court five and 4-4 on court four). The tandem also went 29-8 on the year against ranked teams. They were named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team on court five, going 5-3 in postseason play, including 3-1 at the NCAA Championship. They, along with courts one and two, were the only Bruin pair to play together all season. They set a UCLA record for most consecutive dual match victories at 28 (March 8 through April 28), which included wins over 23 ranked teams (10 in the top 10 and five in the top five). The pair also clinched four victories in dual matches on the year for the Bruins, which had a school-record 31 dual match winning streak that began when Carey/Muret began their 28 dual-match winning streak.

The Bruins also return the services of junior Madi Yeomans, who came on for the injured Zana Muno at the Pac-12 Championship, pairing with Savvy Simo to clinch the Bruins' first-ever Pac-12 Championship with a straight-set win over USC's Joy Dennis and Cammie Dorn, 21-19, 21-16 on court three. The duo was named to the Pac-12 Beach Volleyball Championship All-Tournament Team.

FRESH FACES
UCLA brought in a stellar recruiting class for 2019 that includes four of the eight First Team AVCA High School Beach All-Americans. The four UCLA Bruins named to the first team includes Abby Van Winkle (San Clemente, Calif./Santa Margarita Catholic HS), Lindsey Sparks (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison HS), Piper Monk-Heidrich (Manhattan Beach, Calif./Mira Costa HS) and Jaden Whitmarsh (Rancho Santa Fe, Calif./Torrey Pines HS). This year's recruiting class was later bolstered by Hawai'i sophomore transfer Lea Monkhouse, the 2018 Big West Freshman of the Year. All five newbies are vying for playing time this season in an already crowded lineup.

HALL OF FAME MENTORS
U.S. Olympian and UCLA Hall of Famer Stein Metzger is in his seventh season at the helm of the UCLA Beach Volleyball program. He sports an overall record of 100-37 (.730), including a 30-3 (.909) mark this season. His 100th career victory came in a 4-1 win at No. 13 Stanford on April 8, 2018. Metzger has been named the Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2017 and 2018 and was also named the USMC/AVCA National Coach of the Year in both of those seasons. Metzger now has four NCAA Championships to his credit (three as a player in 1993, 1995 and 1996 and one as a coach in 2018).

Entering her sixth year with the Bruins, Assistant Coach Jenny Johnson Jordan is also a U.S. Olympian and a recent UCLA Hall of Fame inductee (Oct. 5, 2018). Like Metzger, Jordan has also won NCAA titles as both a player (1991) and a coach (2018). Jordan was also recently inducted into the CBVA Hall of Fame (Nov. 3, 2018).

BRUINS COMPLETE COACHING STAFF WITH POLLOCK
Former TCU standout and current professional beach volleyball player, Irene Pollock, joins the Bruins' beach volleyball staff in 2019 as the Volunteer Assistant Coach. Pollock replaces Jeff Alzina, who was named the Associate Head Coach for indoor volleyball and beach volleyball at Santa Clara on Feb. 8, 2019.

PAC-12 BEACH VOLLEYBALL
In 2016, beach volleyball was added as the 23rd Pac-12-sponsored sport beginning in the 2015-16 academic year. Now with nine member institutions (Arizona, Arizona State, California, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC, Utah and Washington) currently fielding beach volleyball teams, the Conference of Champions was the first major conference to sponsor beach volleyball as an official sport. As part of the addition, the Pac-12 will also sponsor a Beach Volleyball Championship for the fourth straight season. This year, USC will serve as the hosts from April 25-27.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION
For the fourth straight season The NCAA® National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship will be held May 3-5 at the Gulf Shores Public Beach and will be hosted by the city of Gulf Shores, Alabama and Orange Beach Sports Commission. The host institution for the beach volleyball championship will be the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Beach volleyball is the fastest-growing NCAA sport with 69 sponsoring schools at the Division I level, which is up from 65 in 2017 and 47 from 2016. The addition of the beach volleyball championship in 2016 became the 45th NCAA championship administered for women and the 90th NCAA championship overall. The championship will have an eight-team bracket that will be played in a double-elimination format with teams consisting of five pairs of female student-athletes. After being placed on the list of emerging sports for women in 2009, beach volleyball is the fifth sport to succeed from the emerging sports program.

Tickets to the 2019 NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship are on sale now exclusively here.

RECAPPING 2018
UCLA won its first-ever NCAA Championship in beach volleyball in 2018 with an overall record of 40-4 (.909). The 40 wins were a school and NCAA single season record. UCLA also won a school-record 31 consecutive duals during the 2018 campaign and won its first-ever Pac-12 Conference Championship, defeating the defending champions USC twice on the same day to win the title. The Bruins beat the best all season long with 33 of their 40 victories coming in wins over nationally-ranked teams and going 5-1 on the year against the defending NCAA Champions, USC. Additionally, all four losses on the year were to teams ranked in the top four. The 2019 UCLA starting lineup could be very familiar as the Bruins return 9-of-10 starters from a year ago on the five courts. UCLA said goodbye to only one senior that played, Elise Zappia.