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Delta sports year in review: McNamaras end collegiate careers in grand style

Tsawwassen beach volleyball twins leave UCLA as two-time NCAA National Champions
McNamaras
After an outstanding four years at the university level, Tsawwassen's Megan and Nicole McNamara have now turned their attention to representing Canada at the pro beach volleyball level.

The Optimist is taking a look back at some of the top sports stories of 2019.  Here’s today’s story:

Tsawwassen beach volleyball twin standouts Megan and Nicole McNamara concluded a decorated collegiate career in grand style by helping the UCLA Bruins win their second straight NCAA National Championship.

 The Bruins defeated rival USC 3-0 in the final to finish the 2019 campaign with a 35-3 record.

When the South Delta Secondary graduates arrived at the renowned Los Angeles campus back in September 2015, beach volleyball was still in its infancy at the NCAA level.

The first Pac-12 Championship and national tournament was played in the spring of 2016. The twins proved to be the centre piece of head coach Stein Metzger’s rising program as the team’s number one pairing.

The Bruins finished third at the inaugural NCAA Championships and two years later earned their first title. That was followed by another impressive run at Gulf Shores, Alabama that saw the Bruins produce four straight victories to repeat.

“It’s been awesome to watch the sport grow, the talent sky rocket and number of schools that now have beach volleyball. It’s been incredible being part of it,” said Megan.

“Of course I just want thank my parents. Definitely wouldn’t have been possible without them supporting us. In high school, our mom drove us hours upon hours to different practices all over the Lower Mainland. We wouldn’t be here without their support and love.”

The McNamaras also became the first team in the history of the UCLA program to earn First Team All-American recognition for all four years. The have since have since turned their attention to representing Canada on the pro beach volleyball circuit and are now based in Toronto for training.