Robert Frost once said, “Nothing gold can stay.”
Senior Tessa Van Winkle and graduate student Jaden Whitmarsh worked together to prove Frost wrong Saturday.
In the final match of the Center of Effort Challenge first-place duel, Van Winkle and Whitmarsh took their USC counterparts to a three-set battle in which they walked away victorious after dropping the first set. They also secured No. 1 UCLA beach volleyball (28-4, 1-0 Pac-12) a 3-2 win over No. 2 USC (27-4).
Coach Jenny Johnson Jordan said it is always a battle against the Bruins’ crosstown rivals.
“Today was no different,” Johnson Jordan said. “They (Van Winkle and Whitmarsh) did a great job of collecting themselves after that first game and refocusing, resetting what they needed to do on their side and executing that.”
Alongside Van Winkle and Whitmarsh, two other Bruin duos defeated the Trojans: redshirt freshman Kenzie Brower and junior Jessie Smith, as well as graduate student Devon Newberry and senior Peri Brennan.
Brower and Smith were the first duo to finish, securing the first Bruin point.
“We just want to do everything to help our team,” Brower said. “We’ve been in the situation where we’ve been the last to finish. Knowing our teams have already finished helps so much, so we wanted to fill in that role.”
Prior to defeating the Trojans, the Bruins beat three other ranked opponents at the Center of Effort Challenge at Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex in San Luis Obispo, California.
On Friday, UCLA defeated both No. 10 LMU (22-11) and No. 4 Florida State (27-7) in tight fashion, winning 3- 2.
The only duo to win both of Friday’s matches was Newberry and Brennan.
Newberry said their defense pushed them to success.
“We always know that our defense is going to score most of our points,” Newberry said. “We passed really well and set really well, and we stayed really positive and patient. That’s something we’ve been working on.”
Then, on Saturday before defeating USC, UCLA defeated No. 6 Cal Poly (23-5) by a score of 3-2.
Two of the Bruins’ matches went to three sets, including Brower and Smith’s. Both three-set matches were won by UCLA.
Johnson Jordan said that the duo was impressive over the weekend.
“They had some very big moments today, especially their first round against Cal Poly,” Johnson Jordan. “That was a huge win for them, having it come down to them, having them come behind also on the third set is a big deal.”
The Center of Effort Challenge marks the end of the Bruins’ regular season tournament play. They will return to action on April 18 against LMU.
Comments are closed.