UH beach volleyball earns split after losing to No. 3 UCLA

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Three was the key.

On Saturday, Flight 3 clinched the match for No. 5 Hawaii against No. 3 UCLA when the SandBows took a 3-0 lead in the Rainbow Wahine Classic dual.

On Sunday, Flight 3 proved to be the match-clincher as well when the Bruins led 2-1 in the rematch at the Ching Complex beach volleyball courts. The teams split the remaining two flights, giving UCLA a 3-2 win over Hawaii.

“Certainly yesterday was a wake-up call,” Bruins coach Stein Metzger said of being swept Saturday. “They smacked us down, they played great.

“Today we had to band together, be aggressive. I actually told Jenny (assistant coach Johnson Jordan) that whoever wins (at Flight 3) would win that match. Thought it would be hard for either team to win both (the last two flights).”

With the match tied at 1, eyes turned to the battle between Hawaii’s Morgan Martin-Lea Monkhouse and UCLA’s Elise Zappia-Madi Yeomans. Martin-Monkhouse won easily on Saturday 25-7, 25-11.

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Sunday was another matter, with the Bruin pair taking Set 1 21-13 and the SandBows answering with a 21-15 win in Set 2. Set 3 was incredibly tight with 14 ties through 16-16.

A kill by Monkhouse gave Hawaii match point at 15-14, but the SandBows were unable to close. The Bruins earned their third chance at ending it at 17-16 when Monkhouse served wide, and Zappia put down a crosscourt shot to give UCLA what would be the deciding point.

The teams split the final two flights. Hawaii won at No. 2 with Ka‘iwi Schucht-Emily Maglio’s 21-13, 21-13 sweep of Lily Justine-Sarah Sponcil, and UCLA winning at No. 1 21-18, 21-16 (twins Nicole and Megan McNamara over Carly Kan-Laurel Weaver).

“We knew they’d come back hard after we crushed them (Saturday),” Schucht said. “We should have been better at realizing that they were going to change their game. We didn’t do a good job at that.”

The biggest change was at No. 5, where UCLA moved up freshman Mac May from Saturday’s exhibition pair. Teamed with Savvy Simo, the Bruin pair swept Hawaii’s Hannah Zalopany-Paige Dreeuws, 21-14, 21-17.

“They were more dynamic,” Hawaii coach Jeff Hall said. “We did not show up for that match.

“UCLA played great today, they were better than us. We know we can play better. We’ve got to coach better.”

In Sunday’s tournament finale, Hawaii (3-1) hung on for a 3-2 win over No. 17 Stanford (0-4). The SandBows took the deciding point at No. 2 when Schucht-Maglio swept Amelia Smith-Morgan Hentz, 21-17, 21-16.The Cardinal lost to the Bruins (3-2) in Sunday’s first match.

The SandBows next compete in the East Meets West Invitational, March 10-11, in Manhattan Beach, Calif. Hawaii will face TCU, Florida State, LSU and Florida International.