#1 UCLA vs #16 UTC 5-2-2025 BVB First Round
Dear Readers~
Welcome to the first blog of the 2025 NCAA Beach Volleyball National Championships taking place in Gulf Shores, Alabama. This blog will cover just one of the 8 match ups between the 16 teams competing in the first round. The game I chose to cover was #1 UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) taking on #16 University of Tennessee Chattanooga (UTC).
Back in both 2018 and 2019 UCLA won back-to-back national championships here in Gulf Shores with legendary coach Stein Metzger (who now coaches Texas (who played against Berkeley only a few hours after this game)) so they're looking to do it again with current head coach Jenny Johnson Jordan along with assistant coaches Jose Loiola and Kelly Reeves. Johnson Jordan and Loiola both competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics for the US and Brazil respectively. All 3 coaches played on the AVP during their time as players but have all since retired and stick to coaching. The AVP is where I met and got a picture with Reeves during the 2022 AVP Manhattan Beach Open. Going into the national championships, UCLA has a record of 30-6 with a loss streak of 2 after losing to both Stanford and USC 1-3 during the MPSF conference championships that Stanford would go on to win.
As for UTC, their program started much later in 2019 and who's head coach is Darin Van Horn, who is the only head coach the program has had and is also the assistant indoor coach, while the volunteer assistant coach on the beach is Juliana Van Horn, his wife. Juliana not only helps on the beach but also helps the indoor team during their season as well. Going into the national championships, UTC has a record of 26-5 along with a win streak of 11, the only team of the 16 to have a double-digit win streak. Will they make that 11 into a 12 and take out the #1 team? Let's find 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 UCLA taking on UTC in their first, and only, matchup of the 2025 season.
This game will go in order of which pairs finished first so up first is the 3's, or the third best pair of each team. This game had UCLA's Jessie Smith and Kenzie Brower against UTC's Kit Gresham and Paige Gallentine. The first and second sets both ended 21-12 and both in favor of UCLA, giving them a 1-0 lead over UTC. The next game to finish was the 1's, or the top pair of each team. This game had UCLA's Sally Perez and Maggie Boyd taking on UTC's Neva Clark and Corina Vale. The first set ended 21-17 for UCLA while the second set ended 21-10, also in favor of UCLA and giving them a 2-0 lead over UTC, The third game to finish was the 4's, or the fourth best pair of each team. This game had UCLA's Alexa Fernandez and Kaley Matthews against UTC's Joy Courtright and Julia Lawrence. The first set ended 21-11 in favor of UCLA while the second set ended 21-16, also in favor of UCLA and giving them the 3-0 victory over UTC they needed to move on to round 2. Let's see how the 2's and 5's did. The 2's, or the second best pair of each team, had UCLA's Perri Brennan and Natalie Myszkowski against UTC's McKenna Faychak and Maddie Lecik. The first set ended 21-18 in favor of UCLA. The second set was unfinished but ended at 16-11 with UCLA in the lead. The last game was the 5's, or the fifth best pair of each team. This game had UCLA's Harper Cooper and Ensley Alden agisnt UTC's Ansley Gulledge and Sydney Jackwin. The first set ended 21-18 in favor of UCLA while the second set was unfinished ending at 15-11 with UCLA in the lead. The reason these last two are unfinished is because you only need to win 3 games against the other school so once UCLA got the three wins needed, there was no need to finish the other two.
That concludes today's coverage of round 1. UCLA would go on to play #9 Florida State in Round 2. The other teams that would go on to win round 1 along with UCLA and Florida State include LMU, USC, Texas, TCU, Stanford, and Cal Poly.
Stay tuned for next week as I cover round 2 and the game between #4 LMU and #5 USC (the 4-time national champions). Who do you think will win that match up? Tune in next week to find out and until next time, Miller out
~J. Miller
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