The Bruins will have their first home matches of the year after a 5-0 opening weekend in Hawaii.
No. 2 UCLA beach volleyball (5-0) will begin the 2022 home campaign with four matches at Mapes Beach. The blue and gold will face No. 1 USC (1-0) and No. 14 Long Beach State (1-3) on Saturday, followed by contests against No. 7 Grand Canyon (3-0) and No. 11 Cal Poly (1-3) on Sunday.
After picking up three top-10 wins last weekend in Honolulu, Hawaii – two against No. 10 Hawai’i and one against No. 7 Stanford – the Bruins will have a similar test this weekend, playing four teams all ranked in the top 15. However, the biggest matchup comes Saturday morning against the No. 1 ranked Trojans, the first matchup between the crosstown rivals this season.
Coach Stein Metzger said even though the USC matchup is looming large, it is important for his team to stay focused on all four opponents.
“We just have to prepare to play all teams equally well,” Metzger said. “It is easy to get focused on USC. But we have to keep our focus on Cal Poly, Long Beach (State) and GCU, as those are all quality teams that can beat us if we don’t show up to play well.”
Coming into this matchup, UCLA has the reigning Pac-12 Pair of the Week, as sophomore Devon Newberry and redshirt sophomore Jaden Whitmarsh earned the honors for their performance at the Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic. The duo went undefeated in its four matches on court three.
Newberry said it was extremely important for her team to get off to a strong start to build confidence.
“I didn’t get many preseason matches in so it was really nice to have a strong first weekend out,” Newberry said. “As a team, it is a big confidence booster to know that what you have been doing in practice has been working, so we are going to stick with it and play our game.”
This weekend will be the first opportunity for the Bruins to play at home in Mapes Beach, where they ammased a 15-1 record last season.
“We get to play at home every day so we are used to it and we will have that advantage early on, but teams will adjust,” Metzger said. “We know that we are going to have to face some teams that are going to be playing their best game all season, because when teams play UCLA they obviously want to beat us.”
Last weekend, six Bruins donned the blue and gold for the first time, with four of their 10 starters either being true or redshirt freshmen.
Whitmarsh said she keeps the freshman on the team focused by preaching gratitude.
“We always try to tell them to stay in the moment and be grateful for the opportunity because it goes really fast.” Whitmarsh said. “Just enjoy it, take it all in and have fun.”
UCLA kicks off the tournament against USC at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
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