#1 UCLA vs #2 TCU 3-29-2025 BVB

 Dear Readers~

    Welcome to today's blog that's covering the matchup between #1 UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) and #2 TCU (Texas Christian University). I know my latest blog was about TCU but there's a reason UCLA and TCU are some of the top teams in the nation. Today's match up took place on Saturday, March 29th in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the Death Volley Invitational, hosted by LSU (Louisiana State University). The name 'Death Volley' is a play on words to Death Valley, a national park in the deserts of Southern California (and the lowest point in the western hemisphere for those geography lovers), if the name may sound familiar and also explains why the scoring is the way it is at the end of the game, so stay tuned for that.

    As for how the tournament went up to this point, UCLA played LSU, Texas, and Florida State. UCLA won all 3 of those and moving their record up to 22-1 for their season as well as 17 wins in a row since their last loss to crosstown rival, USC (University of Southern California) back in February at the Duke Kahanamoku Classic in Hawaii, where they also beat TCU 4-1. As for TCU, their record is sitting at 15-3 for the season as well as an impressive 12 wins in a row since their last loss, also to USC, at the same event in Hawaii as UCLA. Last time UCLA and TCU played each other, UCLA won but can TCU redeem themselves and beat UCLA to give them the #1 spot and knock UCLA down to #2? Let's get into this game to see how it plays out.

    For those who don't know, NCAA and Professional Beach Volleyball have the winner determined a little differently. In both sports the pair who wins has to win 2 sets whether it be by winning both sets, first to 21 in this case, or by winning 2 of the 3 sets, with the first two sets playing to 21 and the third playing to 15, with all three requiring a lead of 2 points or more when the set is finished. In the pros once a pair win their two sets, they have won the game and move on in the bracket, but NCAA is a little different, just because you've won two of your sets doesn't always mean you've won the game. In order for your school to win in NCAA your school has to win at least 3 of the 5 games they have going on against the other school. By that I mean each time a school plays against each other, they have their top 5 pairs playing each other and in order to win your school has to have at least 3 of your pairs beating 3 pairs of your opponents. Now let's get into the game of TCU taking on UCLA in Louisiana's capital city.

    This tournament went a little different and after the recap, I'll explain why. So the first game had TCU's Daniela Konstantinova and Olivia Clines taking on UCLA's Harper Cooper and Jessie Smith with 21-15 and 22-20 to get TCU up 1-0 for the overall score. The next game had UCLA's Kenzie Bower and Ensley Alden against TCU's Allanis Navas and Sofia Izuzquiza. This one ended at 23-21 and 21-8, both in favor of TCU, and putting TCU up 2-0 and only one win away from beating #1 ranked UCLA. The third game had TCU's Maria Gonzalez and Stacy Reeves taking on UCLA's Natalie Myszkowski and Peri Brennan at 21-18 and 22-20. Giving TCU a 3-0 victory over UCLA.

Week 5 of the 2025 NCAA Coaches Poll has UCLA at #1 and TCU at #2. Next week a new champion will be crowned but where will UCLA fall to? Give NCAA a follow over on Instagram to find out: @ncaavolleyball

UCLA's post for their tournament against TCU as well as Texas, Florida State, and LSU. Give them a follow over on Instagram to see how their season is going: @uclabeachvb

TCU didn't have a post for their game day but they did have a victory post after beating a team ranked #1 almost all season. Don't forget to give them a follow over on Instagram to see if they can stay #1 until the end of the season come the first weekend of May: @tcubeachvb

After an amazing upset, the NCAA put this on their Instagram

    As mentioned earlier, this tournament went a little different and I'm sure you can see that only 3 games were mentioned compared to the usual 5. That's because this tournament went until one school won 3 games instead of going until all 5 games were over. Other matchups that ended with 3-0 or 3-1 for the tournament include Florida State beating Long Beach State, UCLA beating Texas, LSU beating Long Beach State, and Stanford beating LSU, just to name a few examples.

    That concludes the coverage of the TCU and UCLA matchup in Louisiana. The next time these two teams play each other will be at the Center Effort Challenge in San Luis Obispo, California, which is about halfway between Los Angeles and Santa Cruz as you head north up the coast. San Luis Obispo is home to California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly for short), who will be the host of the tournament and whose head coach is 2008 Olympic gold medalist Todd Rogers. This is also the next tournament the teams will have after UCLA came off of 2 wins and 2 losses at the Best in the West tournament in Laguna Beach, California, just southeast of Long Beach, while TCU cam off of 4 wins and no losses in the Wildcat Spring Challenge held in Tucson, Arizona and hosted by the University of Arizona. Stay tuned for the next game to be covered. If there's a team or certain matchup you'd like to have covered, let me know and until next time, Miller out

~J. Miller