At the 2023 National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championships on Friday, two local teams advanced, one was eliminated and another is on hold due to severe weather in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
In the first match of the day, top-seeded UCLA put together a 3-0 sweep of No. 17 seed Texas A&M Corpus Christi, which had swept the Tennessee-Martin on Wednesday to advance to the 16-team, single-elimination tournament.
The team of Peri Brennan and Abby Van Winkle got the Bruins started with a 21-11, 21-12 win, followed by Lexy Denaburg and Maggie Boyd’s 21-1, 21-8 win. Marlie Monserez and Jessie Smith finished it 21-11, 21-11 for UCLA’s program-record 24th sweep this season.
The Bruins (38-3) will take on eighth-seeded Cal (29-9) in a quarterfinal on Saturday at 7 a.m. PT, a rematch of the Pac-12 tournament championship match won by the Bruins.
After a nearly two-hour rain delay, the Golden Bears dispatched ninth-seeded Long Beach State, 3-2, for their first NCAA tournament victory. LBSU’s Maggie Walters and Christine Deroos pushed the decisive match to three sets before Cal’s Lexi McKeown and Ella Dreibholz came away with a 21-14, 19-21, 15-8 win. Long Beach finished the season 24-15 after winning its first Big West championship.
Third-seeded USC swept Georgia State (20-17) to claim its spot in the quarterfinals. The two-time defending national champions got on the board thanks to Olivia Bakos and Gabby Walker recording a 21-17, 21-11 victory. Megan Kraft and Delaynie Maple won their match, 21-18, 21-18 and twins Audrey and Nicole Nourse secured the sweep with identical 21-18 scores as well.
Next up for the Trojans (29-5) is the winner of the match between sixth-seeded Loyola Marymount (28-8) and 11th-seeded Hawaii (27-8). Their match, the last of the day scheduled for 2 p.m. PT, was postponed after several weather delays. The Lions and the Rainbow Wahine will play Saturday at 6 a.m. PT, with the Trojans awaiting the winner at 10 a.m.
The other quarterfinals feature fourth-seeded Florida State (31-8) vs. fifth-seeded LSU (27-12) at 8 a.m. PT, followed by second-seeded TCU (36-2) vs. 10th-seeded Stanford (29-12) at 9 a.m.
The semifinals are Saturday at 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. with the final scheduled for Sunday at 9 a.m. PT.
