People often escape their problems in Waikiki.<\/p>\n
But the white sands of Hawaii exposed some of the Bruins\u2019 flaws. <\/p>\n
Yet, the squad seemingly shored up these mishaps in its Los Angeles homecoming. <\/p>\n
No. 2 UCLA beach volleyball (7-2) secured 4-1 victories against Boise State (4-4) and No. 3 Cal Poly (6-2) on Friday, sweeping No. 11 Long Beach State (4-2) and Pepperdine (2-6) 5-0 on Saturday at Mapes Beach in the Battle for LA tournament. The Bruins\u2019 achieved the tournament sweep after recording a 3-2 record at their season-opening tournament outing in Honolulu from Feb. 19-21.<\/p>\n
Coach Jenny Johnson Jordan said her players embraced the challenges at the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic, particularly with Honolulu\u2019s windy conditions, and improved in the areas that hindered them in the inaugural matches.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were exposed in some ways,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cWe were able to come back and work on those things, and we\u2019re excited to be back at home to do that. We handled it really well and grew a lot over the last week, and we have more to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Court one pair senior Maggie Boyd and sophomore Sally Perez lost just one set throughout the weekend, boasting straight-set triumphs against Boise State, Long Beach State and Pepperdine. The 2025 MPSF Pair of the Year has dropped only one game this season, falling to Stanford\u2019s Anna Pelloia and Tanon Rosenthal on Feb. 20. <\/p>\n
Although the duo helped spearhead the team\u2019s triumph last weekend, its four victories also solidified an individual milestone.<\/p>\n
Boyd reached her 100th career collegiate win in her and Perez\u2019s victory against Pepperdine\u2019s Emma Eden and Michaela Cyrani on Saturday. <\/p>\n
\u201cMaggie (Boyd) is one of one,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cThere are some times when I don\u2019t really have to tell her anything. I trust her implicitly in terms of game planning, and she\u2019s been a great example of somebody who puts in the work.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the Bruins\u2019 newcomers also achieved success at the Mapes Beach slate.<\/p>\n
![\"(Leydi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sp.bvb_.wrap_.3.2.26.LC_.B.jpg\")
Freshman Jesse Dueck jumps to hit the ball at the net. Dueck recorded an undefeated record across four games at the Battle for LA tournament. Her family boasts deep ties to beach volleyball, as the freshman has an older sister who played at Pepperdine along with a cousin who currently competes for Cal Poly. (Leydi Cris Cobo Cordon\/Daily Bruin senior staff)<\/p>\n
Freshman Jesse Dueck, whose sole outing in Honolulu ended in an unfinished result against USC on the final day of the competition, recorded a 4-0 record alongside junior Ava Williamson and redshirt sophomore Harper Cooper on court four last weekend. Dueck dropped just two sets across the two-day competition, and she helped close out two third-set stanzas against Cal Poly and Long Beach State tandems, respectively. In their one game as a duo, Dueck and Cooper clinched a dominant 21-14, 21-5 victory against Pepperdine\u2019s Ginerva Merlini and Emi Erickson in a match that lasted just 29 minutes. <\/p>\n
Dueck joined the Westwood squad as part of its five-player freshmen class. The Santa Cruz local \u2013 alongside fellow freshman Mallory LaBreche \u2013 is one of two first-year players who have played a match this season. <\/p>\n
And the freshman said the Bruins relied on their strong sense of support to harness their Honolulu struggles as motivation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe focused on letting the losses not take us down but to motivate us,\u201d Dueck said. \u201cWe\u2019re all in this together, and we have a huge army of support. Everybody showed how capable we are, and it showed with the games this weekend. It just motivated us more, never tore us down. \u2026 It was uplifting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fellow newcomer Williamson notched her first court three appearance on the competition\u2019s final day, pairing with redshirt junior Ensley Alden to claim a straight-set victory. The Arizona State transfer improved her record to 9-0 after boasting another untarnished weekend performance. <\/p>\n
![\"(Leydi](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/sp.bvb_.wrap_.3.2.26.LC_.C.jpg\")
Junior Ava Williamson spikes the ball over the net. The Arizona State transfer has yet to lose a match in her first campaign with the Bruins, boasting a 9-0 record on courts three and four. The Dripping Springs, Texas, local earned an AVCA Second Team All-American selection in 2024. (Leydi Cris Cobo Cordon\/Daily Bruin senior staff)<\/p>\n
UCLA will return to Mapes Beach from March 6-7 to host the MPSF Midseason Rumble, where it will face conference opponents such as Grand Canyon, No. 18 Washington, Oregon and No. 1 Stanford, a squad that defeated the Bruins 3-2 in Honolulu. <\/p>\n
But regardless of where the Bruins travel or who their opponent is, they are focused on using challenges to foster growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about growing and challenging ourselves, whoever we\u2019re playing, bringing the same mindset to every team,\u201d Boyd said. \u201cWe want to continue an upward trajectory each year and each tournament so we\u2019re at our best in May.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"People often escape their problems in Waikiki. But the white sands of Hawaii exposed some of the Bruins\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-201562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}