The Bruins are headed to the postseason with a near-perfect record.
A loss to crosstown rival No. 2 USC (24-4) on April 7 stripped No. 1 UCLA beach volleyball (28-1) of its perfect record.
But senior Sarah Sponcil said the timing of that loss was perfect.
“(The loss) really did kind of come at the perfect time and it kind of let the pressure off – like yeah, we’re not undefeated anymore, so it doesn’t matter,” Sponcil said. “Everybody just wants to win at the end, and that’s what counts.”
The Bruins opened the season with a 25-0 winning streak that included two victories over the Trojans. The total streak from the end of last season was good for 29 consecutive dual wins.
“If you’re going to take that one loss, you want to take it during the regular season, not during the postseason,” said coach Stein Metzger. “Who knows what’s going to happen in postseason, but I think we’re definitely going to take some lessons from losing.”
UCLA had two weeks off from competition following the loss before returning to action in its last home matches of the season.
Metzger said his team treated the time off as an opportunity to improve.
“It gives us an idea that you can still be vulnerable no matter how good you are or what your record looks like,” Metzger said. “I think it’s a good lesson that we have to continue to improve and get better and prepare as best we can for every matchup.”
The Bruins bounced back to win the next three matches – all against top-20 opponents. Only one UCLA pair dropped a match during the three duals and the rest of the wins came in straight sets.
“I think we learned a lot from our losses on the season because it’s always helpful to see where you can go wrong in certain situations and learn from it,” said senior Izzy Carey.
The Bruins finished 2-1 against the Trojans in the regular season, with their two wins coming on Feb. 27 and April 3.
The court two match decided the first meeting, with Sponcil and junior Lily Justine prevailing over USC’s Terese Cannon and Sammy Slater.
UCLA took an early 3-0 lead in the second meeting before losing on court five to post a 4-1 victory. Carey and freshman Lindsey Sparks – the Bruins’ court five pair – fell only once prior to the match with the Trojans.
“I think (USC) is definitely the team to beat at Pac-12s for us and they’re probably feeling a bit more confident because we beat them the first two times, but they beat us in our last match,” Carey said. “But we’re really excited to play them again.”