Bounce-back weekend for Bruins

NCAA beach: UCLA restates its case to be No. 1 by taking down TCU, Loyola Marymount, Stanford

Apr 15, 2025

Florida International’s **Sophie Vogel** (scrambling to pick up a short ball) and **Ella Gray** had their hands full against the No. 1-rated pair in the NCAA (according to the TruVolley computer), **Malia Gementera** (21) and **Taylor Hagenah** of Long Beach State, during the Husky Invitational. The Beach stars swept 6 and 13 on Alki Beach in Seattle. (Photo for All Volleyball! by **Stephen Burns**)

With the clock ticking on the NCAA Beach Championship, no clear national-title favorite has emerged.

The Big Beach Dance in Gulf Shores, Alabama, is three weekends out (May 2 through 5) and every week seems to paint a new picture.

After going undefeated at the high-powered Center of Effort Challenge in San Luis Obispo on Friday and Saturday, the No. 2 UCLA Bruins (28-4) put their best paw forward. UCLA has held the top spot in the AVCA coaches poll the most in 2025 (Weeks 1 through 5) and figure to be back there again when the Week 8 rankings come out on Tuesday afternoon.

The Bruins topped No. 12 Arizona State (18-12) 5-0, No. 4 Loyola Marymount (27-6) 3-2 and (most tellingly) No. 1 TCU (21-5) 3-2 during pool play at Cal Poly’s state-of-the-art Swanson Beach Volleyball Complex. Then they got by No. 5 Stanford (23-8) by a 3-2 tally in the first-place match. That’s four “W’s” for UCLA, but the margins against the other top-five foes hardly indicate “domination.”

The second-day victories over TCU and Stanford each went to the last match, with UCLA’s 3s pair of senior Jessie Smith and redshirt sophomore Kenzie Brower (a Naperville Central product) scoring the clinching points in tiebreakers. Smith-Brower clipped the Horned Frogs’ Maria Gonzalez and freshman Deniela Konstantinova 18-21, 22-20, 15-11 and the Cardinal pair of Kelly Belardi and freshman Charlotta Bell 21-19, 20-22, 15-12.

UCLA had shown vulnerability during the Death Volley (falling to the Horned Frogs) and the Best in the West (going 2-2 with losses to Cal Poly and Loyola Marymount), but reasserted themselves at SLO. The Bruins’ top pair of Maggie Boyd and freshman sensation Sally Perez ran the table, including a three-set triumph (15-12 in the tiebreaker) over TCU’s Daniela Alvarez (a Spanish Olympian) and Hailey Hamlett, which squared the dual at 2.

Stanford’s 4s duo of sophomore **Chloe Hoffman** and freshman **Logan Tusher** won all four of their matches at the Center Effort and on Monday were named the **National Pair of the Week** by the AVCA. (Graphic courtesy of Stanford)

Stanford got to the first-place match by going 3-0 in its pool, handling No. 3 Cal Poly (22-6) and No. 7 Florida State (23-10) by 4-1 counts and sixth-ranked USC (23-7) 3-2. The four-time defending NCAA champion Women of Troy went 3-1 over the two days and topped Loyola Marymount 3-2 in the third-place match. LMU scored a significant “W” on Friday, knocking off TCU 3-2 with three of the matches going to third sets.

The Horned Frogs capped a break-even weekend with a 4-1 victory over Cal Poly in the fifth-place match. Arizona State picked up a 3-2 upset over Florida State, which went 0-4, in the seventh-place contest, prevailing at the 1s, 3s and 5s.

The bottom line from the Center of Effort is that UCLA, Stanford and USC bettered their resumes. TCU, FSU and host Cal Poly took major hits. Loyola Marymount’s victory over TCU likely helped more than the two losses hurt, while Arizona State picked up a surprise victory over a higher-ranked opponent that should at least hold its place in the rankings.

*Long Beach State’s **Taylor Hagenah** makes a one-hand rejection of a poke attempt by **Jade Sadeiko** of Washington on damp Alki Beach. (Photo for All Volleyball! by **Stephen Burns**)*

Productive weekend for the Beach

Ninth-ranked Long Beach State (22-10) enjoyed a 4-0 trip to Seattle, bouncing No. 19 Florida International (12-18) twice, No. 20 Washington (14-14) by a 3-2 score and Oregon during the two-day Husky Invitational.

Returning All-Americans Taylor Hagenah and Malia Gementera, ranked No. 1 among all collegiate pairs by TruVolley’s computer, improved to 28-4 and own an eight-match winning streak. They outscored their four opponents this weekend by a 168-to-103 margin.

The host Huskies went 3-1 and swept all courts against FIU, which only beat Oregon (5-16) 3-2.

Elsewhere over the weekend:

No 10 California (22-6) topped 13th-ranked Grand Canyon (19-8) and 16th-ranked Hawaii (12-19) twice each in Honolulu. Host Hawaii also dropped two duals to Grand Canyon.
No. 11 LSU (23-10) defeated Tulane (21-9, by a 3-2 count), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (18-11), Houston Christian (11-15) and New Orleans (4-28) in its Battle on the Bayou.
Florida Atlantic (14-13), ranked 15th, lost twice on home sand to Florida Gulf Coast (18-10) during its Capri Classic.
No. 17 North Florida (21-6) picked up two victories each against Mercer (21-11) and Jacksonville (10-17) during its invitational.
No. 18 Georgia State (17-13) prevailed in all five of its Diggin’ Duals in Atlanta, during which Beth Van Fleet notched her 250th coaching win. The Sandy Panthers handled No. 14 Stetson (20-10) 4-1 and also defeated North Alabama (15-12) twice, Louisiana-Monroe (12-17) and Eastern Kentucky (13-12).
At the Blazer Beach Bash in Birmingham, UT Chattanooga (19-5) roared through Southeastern Louisiana (19-16), Austin Peay (3-19), Missouri State (16-5) and Tennessee Tech (3-14) without dropping a match. Host Alabama-Birmingham (18-10) also went 4-0, but was extended to a 3-2 score by Missouri State.

My two cents …

I don’t have a vote in the AVCA beach poll, but if I did, here is how I would rank the Top 10: 1. UCLA; 2. Stanford; 3. USC; 4. Loyola Marymount; 5. TCU; 6. Cal Poly; 7. Texas; 8. Long Beach State; 9. California; 10. Arizona State.

In the second 10, Washington’s head-to-head victory should leapfrog the Huskies over the Panthers. Stetson lost to Georgia State, which might cause the Hatters to drop a few rungs. Florida Atlantic’s spot in the Top 20 appears tenuous.

Of the teams outside of the rankings looking in, Florida Gulf Coast greatly strengthened its case and Tulane (21-9) keeps hanging around. Boise State (19-10) has posted some solid results, including a 3-2 victory over Arizona (17-10) on Sunday.

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