Beach volleyball
Sam Barbir, Daily Bruin contributor
Staying at the top can sometimes be more difficult than getting there.
No. 1 UCLA beach volleyball (9-1) will head up to Stanford, California, to compete in the MPSF Midseason Rumble against Oregon (3-4), No. 5 Stanford (7-3), No. 16 GCU (7-1) and No. 9 California (7-1) this weekend.
The Bruins open conference play against both familiar and new opponents. Having already faced the Cardinal in the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic two weeks prior, the team is the Bruins’ highest ranked opponent. Fresh faces like GCU, California and Oregon present new challenges for the team.
“Tournaments like that are always interesting because it’s a variety of play,” said coach Jenny Johnson Jordan. “We prepare for anything but that variety of play challenges us.”
Coming off a weekend at home in the Battle for LA where the Bruins went undefeated and swept two out of their four opponents, freshman Sally Perez said the team hopes to keep the momentum rolling.
“Going into Stanford, we want to just come out and bring that exact same energy and fight for every point day by day,” Perez said. “Take advantage of every game that we can play to better each other and our team.”
With UCLA heading into the weekend as the top-ranked team in the country, each opponent presents a challenge against its 9-1 record. These challenges, however, are ones that redshirt sophomore Kenzie Brower is excited for.
“There’s so many great teams, and we love the challenge of other people challenging us, and then we challenge people,” said Brower. “It’s really cool because we just get to grow every day, no matter what team we play.”
The Bruins will first face the Ducks at 2 p.m. Friday.
Men’s tennis
Cypress Ohebsion, Daily Bruin contributor
A fresh start in a new conference could be just what the Bruins need to turn the tide on their worst start to a season since at least 1981.
UCLA men’s tennis (2-6) opens its inaugural Big Ten campaign amid a four-match losing streak, facing Indiana (9-2) on Friday and Purdue (8-1) on Sunday at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Billy Martin said his team hasn’t lacked effort despite the skid. Instead, the coach said his players must continue to improve and maintain confidence during the late stages of competition.
“Every player has got a few things they need to work on. There’s no doubt about that,” he said.
Indiana started the season hot with nine-straight wins but has since cooled off, dropping matches at Boise State and against Memphis ahead of its trip to Westwood.
Like the Hoosiers, the Boilermakers have found consistent success this season, having gone undefeated at home and currently riding a four-match winning streak heading into Friday.
Though the Bruins have not garnered a team win since January, seniors Alexander Hoogmartens and Giacomo Revelli won the 136th Annual Pacific Coast Men’s Doubles Championships at La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club over the weekend.
Both Revelli and Martin said the pairing could find its way into the doubles lineup with the resumption of dual-match competition.
“I’ll definitely bring a lot of confidence from these victories,” Revelli said. “Could be a turning point in our season.”
Meanwhile, Hoogmartens has won five of his last six singles matches and continues to express confidence in his team’s future.
“A lot of the guys are still young, so we’ll only get better,” Hoogmartens said.
Women’s tennis
Lori Garavartanian, Daily Bruin contributor
It’s been a tale of two Bruin teams this season.
At home, they’re undefeated. But they’re 1-3 away from Westwood.
And while UCLA’s women’s tennis (5-3) will remain in Los Angeles this weekend, it is set to head across town, USC (5-2) at the David X. Marks Tennis Stadium on Friday. Despite being less than a 14-mile drive from the Bruins’ Los Angeles Tennis Center, the Trojans’ home could be the most hostile territory the team will have to venture into this season.
UCLA, however, is unfazed by the asymmetry in its road record and USC’s supposed home-court advantage.
“We’ve played USC over there (David X. Marks Tennis Stadium) a couple times,” said No. 16-ranked junior Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer. “It’s just going to be about communication among ourselves as a team.”
Coach Stella Sampras Webster added that the Bruins’ road woes are merely coincidental and that the team is fully capable of winning away from Westwood.
Meanwhile, the Trojans approach the last leg of an eight-game homestand to open their 2025 dual match campaign, facing Washington in Seattle next Friday.
UCLA is coming off a 4-3 road loss Saturday to San Diego State. And a defeat to the Trojans would earn the Bruins their second losing streak of the season – something the team only had one of in 2024.
But the last time UCLA lost to USC was in April 2022 by a score of 4-3 at David X. Marks Tennis Stadium. The only remaining members of that Bruin team are seniors Kimmi Hance and Elise Wagle. Otherwise, UCLA is 9-1 against USC over their last 10 dual matches.
“I’m really, really excited for the energy, especially as an away team,” said freshman Kate Fakih, who earned her third Big Ten Freshman of the Week award on Wednesday. “I’m sure it’s going to be a little brutal for us, but it’s going to be so so fun and I can’t wait.”
Track & field
Aaron Doyle, assistant Sports editor
The star runners have already gotten multiple chances this season.
This weekend provides an opportunity for the Bruins’ up and comers to prove themselves.
Some of UCLA track and field’s less experienced bunch will compete at the Long Beach Opener on Friday and Saturday, commencing the start of the outdoor season. The team will compete against six Division I schools, including UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara, alongside Division II and junior college teams.
Most of UCLA’s star sprinters, like sophomore Taylor Snaer, who broke the school record in the 200-meter dash at the Big Ten championships last weekend, will miss the competition as the squad prepares for the indoor national championships starting March 14.
Newcomers, like freshman Olivia Foody, will take advantage of the opportunity to kick off the outdoor season on a strong note. Foody, who picked up Big Ten All-Freshman team honors after the 2024 cross country season, heads into the 3000-meter run with the highest seed time of the field.
However, a majority of UCLA’s competitors will tackle the field events, including graduate student pole vaulters Ka’Leila Abrille and Katerina Adamiec. The duo is fresh off a pair of top-12 finishes at the Big Ten championships with Abrille leading the Bruins with a seventh place finish after clearing 4.26 meters on her second jump.
Action at Jack Rose Track begins at Friday 9 a.m.
Comments are closed.