Things are obviously going to be different this year in NCAA women’s beach volleyball, as evidenced by Wednesday’s results at USC, where the top-ranked Women of Troy lost to No. 3 UCLA and No. 5 Pepperdine.
There was just one NCAA Division I-II men’s match on Wednesday, but it was a big one in the MIVA as No. 6 Loyola swept visiting No. 7 Lewis.
There are three men’s matches on tap for Thursday, two in the MPSF, as No. 3 UCLA goes to Stanford and No. 5 BYU plays host to No. 8 Pepperdine. Also, No. 15 UC Santa Barbara of the Big West plays at USC of the MPSF.
UCLA goes 2-0: The Bruins also beat Pepperdine, winning both matches 3-2. In both cases, twins Nicole and Megan McNamara won their matches at No. 1, defeating Pepperdine’s Corinne Quiggle and Deahna Kraft and then USC’s Terese Cannon and Abril Bustamante.
At day’s end, UCLA was 5-1, USC 4-1 and Pepperdine 3-2. In Pepperdine’s 3-2 win over USC, Kraft and Quiggle won at No. 2.
This is the first time USC has lost two straight matches at home since the program began in 2012. It is also the first time the Trojans have lost two matches in a row since 2013 when they lost three in a row.
Click here for the UCLA recaps and results.
Click here for Pepperdine’s account and results, and here for USC’s summary.
The same three teams gather Saturday in Malibu.
Loyola sweeps Lewis: The 25-17, 25-19, 25-10 victory left the Ramblers alone atop the MIVA standings. Loyola is 13-3 overall, 6-1 in the conference, while Lewis is 11-5, 5-2. Idle Ohio State and Ball State are tied at 4-2.
Loyola hit .449 as Ricky Gevis had 16 kills with one error in 21 attacks. He hit .714, had an ace, a block and six digs. Collin Mahan had 11 kills and seven digs and Ryan Jamison and Jeff Jendryk had eight kills each. Jamison had three of Loyola’s six aces, two block and 11 digs.
Lewis hit .151. Ryan Coenen led with 10 of his team’s 20 kills.
