2018-19 IN REVIEW NATIONAL CHAMPIONS! UCLA’s beach volleyball and softball programs captured NCAA titles in 2019. Beach Volleyball Repeats as NCAA Champs Softball Downs Oklahoma to Win NCAA Title No. 2-seed UCLA defeated USC to win second straight NCAA title. Kinsley Washington’s two-out single snapped a 4-4 tie at the WCWS The UCLA beach volleyball team entered the 2019 NCAA Tournament having lost three The UCLA softball team won in dramatic fashion against Oklahoma in Game 2 of the consecutive matches to crosstown rival USC, the Bruins’ only setbacks of the season. Women’s College World Series, as Kinsley Washington lined a run-scoring single with UCLA avenged those losses in the NCAA Championship match on Sunday, May 5, two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring Jacqui Prober from second base. repeating as NCAA champs with a 3-0 victory over No. 1-seed USC. The thrilling victory helped UCLA capture its 13 national championship in softball (12 The Bruins concluded their 2019 campaign with a 35-3 overall record after defeating NCAA titles) before a capacity crowd in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Tuesday, June 4. USC in the championship match at Gulf Shores Public Beach in Gulf Shores, Ala. Trailing 4-3 in the top of the seventh, Oklahoma belted a two-out solo home run to tie UCLA opened the dual against USC in style, winning in straight sets on courts four and the contest at 4-4. The Bruins responded in the bottom half of the frame. Taylor Pack five in the first of two flights. Juniors Madi Yeomans and Savvy Simo took down Joy reached safely with a base-hit, moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt and was Dennis and Maja Kaiser (21-16, 21-19) on court four to put UCLA ahead, 1-0. out on an ensuing fielder’s choice that allowed Colleen Sullivan to safely reach first Senior Izzy Carey and freshman Lindsey Sparks registered a 21-16, 21-15, triumph base. The first pitch to Washington got away on a wild pitch, allowing Sullivan to take over Cammie Dorn and Mollie Ebertin on court five, making the score 2-0 in UCLA’s second base before UCLA inserted Prober as a pinch-runner. Washington stroked the favor. next pitch to left field, allowing Prober to scamper home with the game-winning run. Needing just one win in flight two, consisting of courts one, two, and three, the Bruins “They were convicted and they bought into the process,” UCLA head coach Kelly got off to a great start, winning all three first sets. The championship-clinching victory Inouye-Perez said. “They had each other’s back. There were so many selfless took place on court three, as senior Zana Muno and freshman Abby Van Winkle teammates, as far as not everyone got to get what they wanted, but they were defeated USC’s Haley Hallgren and Alexandra Poletto (22-20, 21-13). The win for the committed to doing whatever they could to help this team. They’re a really gutsy, Bruins’ pair snapped a three-game losing streak to the Trojans’ pair, as well. relentless team, and I’m so proud that they enjoyed it.” Seniors Megan and Nicole McNamara took the first set against Tina Graudina and The Bruins had opened the 2019 WCWS Finals with a 16-3 victory against Oklahoma, Abril Bustamante, 21-18, and were tied 19-19 in the second set when the match tying the WCWS record with 16 runs scored and four home runs. The Bruins had was called. knocked off Minnesota (7-2), Pac-12 rivals Arizona (6-2) and Washington (3-0, 10 innings) to reach the best-of-three-game championship series versus the Sooners. Senior Sarah Sponcil and junior Lily Justine also took the first set against USC’s Sammy Slater and Terese Cannon, 21-18, and led 19-10 when the dual was truncated. UCLA led the WCWS field in 2019 in batting average (.310), earned run average (1.84), home runs (12), on base percentage (.392), runs scored (37) and slugging Both of the Bruins’ pairs on courts three and five, Muno and Van Winkle, and Carey percentage (.574). UCLA led the entire NCAA Tournament in average (.317), runs (79), and Sparks, were named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team. slugging percentage (.548) and home runs (18). After the season concluded, UCLA landed a program-best four first-team All-America Redshirt junior Rachel Garcia was named the WCWS Most Outstanding Player and selections, as selected by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (Megan was joined on the All-WCWS Tournament Team by Washington, junior Bubba Nickles McNamara, Nicole McNamara, Lily Justine and Sarah Sponcil). UCLA’s duo of Megan and redshirt sophomore Aaliyah Jordan. Garcia, the 2019 Honda Cup Award winner and Nicole McNamara became the first pair in program history to have secured All- and back-to-back USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, went 5-0 in the circle America honors in four consecutive seasons. at the WCWS with a 1.75 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 36 innings. She also hit .333 (5-for-15) with two homers and eight RBI, belting a three-run walk-off homer against Washington and one other round-tripper in game one of the WCWS Finals. 3 2018-19 IN REVIEW Kyla Ross, Maria Polyakova UCLA Men’s, Women’s Tennis Teams Capture Individual NCAA Titles Secure NCAA Doubles Championships K. ROSS – GYMNASTICS M. POLYAKOVA – DIVING Maxime Cressy/Keegan Smith, Gabby Andrews/Ayan Broomfield guided their Junior Kyla Ross became UCLA’s first Senior Maria Polyakova captured the respective programs to NCAA doubles championships. gymnast to have won NCAA titles on NCAA crown in 3-meter diving on Friday, all four individual events in her career, March 22, becoming the program’s first- having captured a share of the 2019 ever individual diving national champion vault and floor exercise titles with scores and UCLA’s first individual champion of 9.9500. Ross stuck her Yurchenko in any event since 1996. She won the 1.5 vault for a 9.9500, earning a 10.0 title with a score of 396.00, less than from one of six judges and 9.95s from three points behind her program record- the other five. On floor exercise, she had score of 398.75. The last Bruin to win the top mark in the first semifinal with an individual championship was Hall of a 9.9500. She set numerous records Famer Annette Salmeen, who won the in 2019, including NCAA records for 200 butterfly crown in 1996. Polyakova most perfect 10s in a season (14) and concluded her career as a seven-time consecutive meets with a perfect 10 (10). first-team All-America (1M, 3M diving). Maximme Cressy, Ayan Broomfield, Gabby Andrews and Keegan Smith The men’s tennis doubles team of Maxime Cressy and Keegan Smith and the women’s tennis duo of Gabby Andrews and Ayan Broomfield each won NCAA Championship doubles titles in 2019. This marked the first time in 31 years in which one school had swept both doubles titles at the NCAA Championships. Like their 1988 predecessors, men’s champions Kyla Ross Maria Polyakova Patrick Galbraith and Brian Garrow and women’s champions Stella Sampras and Allyson Cooper, the 2019 champs came from UCLA. Cressy and Smith achieved perfection in their only season as doubles partners. They Rachel Garcia Wins Fifth Honda Cup in School History didn’t even drop a set, en route to a 21-0 record. Cressy and Smith played exclusively Sensational season by Garcia ends with softball team’s national championship. on Court 1 in dual matches, going 16-0 in those contests. They surrendered three or Rachel Garcia, a redshirt junior, was the winner of the 2019 Collegiate Woman Athlete fewer games on 10 occasions. The tournament portion of the schedule proved more of the Year Award and the prestigious Honda Cup, as announced during a live television of the same, with Cressy and Smith storming through five top-50 opponents to secure ceremony at USC’s Galen Center on Monday, June 24. the 14th NCAA doubles title in program history and third in four years. Garcia was the back-to-back winner of the Honda Sport Award for Softball. She The deciding win for Cressy and Smith took place against Alabama’s tandem of became the third UCLA softball player to be named the winner of the Honda Cup, Patrick Kaukovalta and Mazen Osama. UCLA’s doubles duo dispatched the team from joining Lisa Fernandez (1993) and Natasha Watley (2003) and also became the fifth Alabama by a 6-3, 6-4 score at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. Bruin in any sport to have won the Honda Cup (joining former basketball player Ann “We’ve been working so hard, day in and day out for this moment,” Cressy said. “I Meyers, 1978, and track & field athlete Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 1985). dreamt of that moment from the moment I stepped in as a Bruin and from the moment The top three finalists for the 2019 award were selected by voting from nearly 1,000 I committed as a Bruin. Doing it with Keegan is definitely something very, very special NCAA member schools. The Honda Cup winner was chosen by the Board of Directors and I’m going to remember it for my entire life.” of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program. Garcia’s Honda Sport Award for Just two courts down and over one hour later, seniors Gabby Andrews and Ayan Softball marked the 11th time a UCLA softball player won the honor, joining Fernandez Broomfield capped their collegiate careers with another championship moment.