UCLA and USC win respective NCAA men’s volleyball and beach volleyball national championships
The GIST: If this natty round-up feels familiar, it’s because two teams bagged back-to-back ’ships this weekend. Do you get déjà vu?
🏐 Men’s volleyball: UCLA is so back. Last century’s uncontested powerhouse hadn’t won a national title since 2006, but they returned to the mountaintop with last year’s trophy — and this year, they doubled down on building a new dynasty: With their 3-1 win over host No. 2–seed Long Beach State on Saturday, the top-seeded Bruins won their second straight natty. Eight-freaking-clap.
🏖️ Beach volleyball: UCLA’s volleyball luck ran out in yesterday’s beach final: The No. 2–seed Bruins fell 3-0 to crosstown rival No. 1 USC for the third time in four national finals. The Trojans took home their sixth natty — pretty impressive for a sport that’s only awarded eight championships.
🎾 Tennis: Even though the 64-team women’s and men’s fields narrowed to 16 survivors each this weekend, there were only a handful of upsets: The unseeded Stanford and South Carolina men and Miami and Vanderbilt women are the only non-Top-16 teams to advance to next weekend’s Super Regionals.
▶️ Up next: Women’s golf Regionals, aka the national tournament’s first round, tee off today at various times. By Wednesday, the 72-team and 36-individual field will be slashed to 30 teams and six individuals, so track all six Regionals’ leaderboards here as you root for your team to survive the bloodbath.
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