For the second-straight week, the Monday college beach schedule carried an unusually-good slate of matches, with 3 ranked teams (#3 UCLA, #6 Long Beach State and #14 Florida Atlantic), another nearly ranked (Cal, who was the top team out of the latest polls), and Florida Gulf Coast all in action.
The 3rd-ranked UCLA Bruins swept their competition on the west coast at the Mizuno Invitational, with a 3-2 win over #6 Long Beach State and 5-0 sweep of Cal. UCLA has now won its last 11 matches, and its only losses of the season are to #1 USC and #2 Pepperdine – both of which were narrow 3-2 defeats.
In the rubber-match, Long Beach State also beat Cal to kick off a week where they’ll face all 5 possible Big West opponents to see who has the inside track early in the season on the conference title.
As for Cal, their 2nd and 3rd straight losses won’t help them get back into the top 15, and the week doesn’t get any easier for them. They play the defending NCAA champs USC on Tuesday before playing Loyola Marymount on Thursday. Cal isn’t quite in a do-or-die situation just yet, but a loss in the LMU game would be a significant hurdle to overcome if the Golden Bears hope to earn an invite to the NCAA Championship tournament in May.
To get back-on-track, Cal will rely heavily on their #5 line Bridget Gustafson and Teya Neff. The two opened the season with a 7-0 record, including a run of 14 consecutive set wins: a school record. The pair is just 1-3 in the four games since, however, which matches Cal’s record as a team in that same period.
In the lone division 1 matchup on the East Coast on Monday, Florida Gulf Coast made the short drive east to Boca Raton to play #14 FAU, but the Owls defended home sand with a 4-1 win. That gives FAU 17 straight victories.
“The girls played great, coming off of an undefeated weekend,” said FAU head coach Capri Gotowski. “We had to get to work today, because FGCU held their own. (We) stayed the course and played well.”
“FAU played a great match today, and their depth across the five pairs was just too much to overcome,” said FGCU head coach Matt Botsford. “Obviously we are very encouraged with what Katie and Karissa were able to do today against a tough opponent, but overall there were just to many unforced errors. I really thought the serve and pass game let us down as we could not pressure FAU the way we would have liked to.”
Full Monday, March 27th Scoreboard:
| Winning Team | Losing Team | Score | Winning Team Recap | Losing Team Recap |
| #3 UCLA | Cal | 4-1 | Link | Link |
| #3 UCLA | #6 Long Beach State | 3-2 | Link | Link |
| #6 Long Beach State | Cal | 5-0 | Link | Link |
| #14 FAU | FGCU | 4-1 | Link | Link |
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