USC, UCLA take beach volleyball weekend off as TCU, Florida State keep winning
Second-ranked USC and No. 3 UCLA took the weekend off as No. 1 TCU and No. 4 Florida State kept on winning.
TCU stayed home and had victories over No. 9 Cal, No. 15 FIU and No. 6 Grand Canyon.
FSU went to LSU and had wins over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Washington, Southern Miss, Spring Hill College and No. 5 LSU.
UCLA plays host to No. 8 Hawai’i on Wednesday and then college game focuses in on the East Meets West Invitational on Manhattan Beach where USC and UCLA play No. 15 FIU, LSU, FSU and No. 11 Georgia State.
TCU is skipping that one in favor of a trip to Jacksonville, Florida, where the Horned Frogs will play No. 18 Pepperdine, No. 17 Stetson, North Florida and FGCU, the last team outside the top 20.
TCU (20-0) beat Cal 4-1, swept FIU 5-0, battled to a 3-2 win over GCU and then swept Texas 5-0. TCU is 30-0 all time against programs from Texas, including the first-year Longhorns. Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno improved to 16-1 for TCU this season at No. 1.
Florida State (21-2) swept TAMUCC, beat Washington 4-1, did the same to Southern Miss, took a 3-0 win over Spring Hill, and then beat LSU 3-2.
That included a victory at No. 1 by Maddie Anderson and Paige Kalkhoff over Kylie Deberg and Ellie Shank 35-33, 21-14. FSU also won at No. 2 with Anna Long and Jordan Polo and No. 5 with Alexis Durish and Makenna Wolfe.
The Tigers dropped to 17-5, which includes two losses each to TCU and FSU and one to UCLA.
“This is a big week to get ready for an important trip out to California,” LSU coach Russell Brock said. “ … we have pinpointed some things that we know can help us be better by Friday. We only have Tuesday and Wednesday before we leave, so focus and energy in training will be crucial.”
GCU (15-5) had 3-2 wins over FIU and Cal and swept Texas before losing to TCU. The Lopes had wins at No. 2 with Samaya Morin and Allanis Navas and at No. 3 with Cami Sanchez and Anaya Evans.
Seventh-ranked Loyola Marymount (16-1) went 20-0 in four matches at the West Coast Conference Challenge in Santa Cruz. The Lions swept Pacific, Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s again.
No. 8 Hawai’i (20-3) went 6-9 in the Big West Challenge with sweeps of CSUN and Cal Poly, a 3-2 win over UC Davis, 4-1 victories over Sacramento State and CSU Bakersfield, and 3-2 win over No. 12 Long Beach State. Hawai’i has won 18 matches in a row, the second-longest win streak in program history. UH clinched the win over Long Beach at No. 1 when Brooke Van Sickle and Kaylee Glagua beat Sydney Stevens and Julia Westby 21-15, 27-25.
No. 9 Cal is 14-5 after bouncing back from its losses to TCU and GCU with 5-0 wins over FIU and Missouri State.
No. 10 Stanford (11-6) had the weekend off but on Monday plays host to San Francisco and San Jose State.
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