Stein Metzger has been with the Bruins’ beach volleyball team since the beginning.
The 10th-year coach has won multiple national championships and two national coach of the year honors.
On Sunday, Metzger garnered another accolade.
Securing Metzger’s 200th and 201st wins, No. 2 UCLA beach volleyball (9-0) came out with a 3-2 triumph over No. 7 Grand Canyon (5-2) and took down No. 11 Cal Poly (2-6) by a score of 4-1 on the final day of the Battle for LA at Mapes Beach.
“No one has worked harder for this program than Stein has,” said associate head coach Jenny Johnson Jordan. “He’s just the best of the best. The 200 wins doesn’t surprise me.”
With the 200th win on the line against the Antelopes, the Bruins saw an early 2-1 deficit after dropping a straight-set match on court two and a three-set tiebreaker on court five. The tiebreaker defeat would mark the first of two losses for freshman Jessie Smith and graduate student Marlie Monserez, a duo that debuted Saturday with a pair of victories against USC and Long Beach State.
Despite their winless end to the weekend, Smith said Monserez’s energy kept her spirits up.
“I’m so grateful that she’s my partner because she’s super positive all the time,” Smith said. “No matter what, if we’re losing, she’ll be positive.”
The dual would be decided on court one and court three, both of which resulted in UCLA sweeps to claim win No. 200 for Metzger.
Metzger said his team’s results showcased a spectrum of performances, which he expects to address before UCLA’s next tournament.
“We definitely saw the top end of what we can play – which is really well,” Metzger said. “We also had moments where we didn’t play well at all, and we won ugly. Certainly, we’re going to want to get back to the drawing board to a degree over the next two weeks.”
As two of the three Bruin freshman starters this weekend, Natalie Myszkowski and Sophie Moore got the ball rolling against the Mustangs, winning 21-15, 21-11 on court four. Having played in every contest for UCLA this season, the duo has yet to drop a match.
Together with Smith and Moore, Myszkowski said her role as a starting freshman on the No. 2-ranked team in the country was years in the making.
“It’s really incredible, and I feel so lucky to be here,” Myszkowski said. “This was the goal for all of us coming in. We worked hard all through high school, and it was like, ‘Let’s get to school and let’s play – let’s start.’”
Following the victory on court four, the outcome would be decided before the dual’s conclusion. Senior Lea Monkhouse and sophomore Rileigh Powers avenged a morning defeat with a three-set win on court two, and court three’s pair of sophomore Devon Newberry and redshirt sophomore Jaden Whitmarsh nabbed its third straight sweep for the Bruins’ third point of the contest.
Sophomore Lexy Denaburg and junior Abby Van Winkle one-upped their teammates, picking up their fourth straight sweep as a duo in as many tries to push the final score to 4-1.
UCLA will return to the sand at the March to May tournament on March 18, a six-dual contest held at Gulf Shores, Alabama – the NCAA national championship tournament site.
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