Lily Justine took care of business on the sand, but she had to switch gears quickly.
The sophomore and junior Sarah Sponcil trounced the Utes 21-11, 21-7 to put the Bruins up 4-0 – just in time for Justine to take her genetics midterm.
In the midst of its midterm season, No. 1 seed UCLA beach volleyball (32-3) swept No. 8 seed Utah (5-11) on Thursday afternoon to advance to the quarterfinal of the Pac-12 championship. All five matches concluded in straight sets, extending the Bruins’ win streak to 27.
UCLA clinched the dual on a straight-set win from its pair on court one. At just 5 feet 9 inches, junior Megan McNamara leapt for back-to-back blocks for the match and dual points to clinch the Bruins’ victory.
In the best-of-five dual, the Bruins’ jumped out to a 2-0 lead with wins on courts four and five, both in straight sets.
On court four, Utah kept the second set close, trailing just 13-12. However, the Bruins rallied for a 8-3 run to close out the match.
UCLA’s No. 5s also dominated to win 21-15, 21-13 as junior Izzy Carey cashed in with a kill off Utah’s Lauren Sproule’s overpass for the match point.
Sophomores Savvy Simo and Madi Yeomans escaped playing a third set, winning 21-14, 24-22.
The Utes knocked off the No. 9 seed Oregon Ducks before falling to the Bruins in the former’s second match of the day. However, because the tournament follows a double-elimination format, Utah will now have another chance in the contenders bracket.
UCLA will face No. 4 seed Stanford on Friday afternoon at 1:15 p.m. Stanford defeated No. 5 seed Arizona on Thursday afternoon.
