MVB This Week — The second-ranked UCLA men's volleyball team (11-1, 7-1) hosts No. 12 UC Irvine (3-7, 2-6) on Thursday night in Pauley Pavilion and UC San Diego (3-9, 0-8) on Saturday night in the Wooden Center. Both matches will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at the door.
Live Coverage — Fans can follow the matches on UCLA's live Twitter feed @UCLAMVB.          UCI Match Live stream: http://pac-12.com/live/ucla                     
Live stats --- on Thurs. http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla   and on Saturday at  http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla        

In The Rankings — The Bruins are No. 2 in the AVCA national rankings this week. UCLA fell from the top spot following the Friday loss at Hawaii after being ranked No. 1 for the three straight weeks. It was the first time the Bruins had held the top spot since being ranked first in two AVCA polls during the 2014 season. The Bruins were last sitting atop the AVCA poll in weeks #4 and #5 of the 2014 season after beginning that year by winning nine of the first 10 matches. UCI is ranked 12th this week.
Scouting the Opponents — UC Irvine (3-7, 2-6) has wins this season over George Mason, UCSB and USC. It has lost its two MPSF road matches, at Pepperdine and at USC, both by 1-3 scores. In the first meeting with the Bruins, UCLA came away with a hard-fought 3-1 win (25-19, 24-26, 25-23, 25-23). UCI hit .292 in that contest, but lost the serving (8 aces to 2) and  blocking (9.5-9.0) battles to the Bruins. Mitch Stahl and Jake Arnitz had 14 kills each in the win. UCI will play at #10 UC Santa Barbara on Wednesday night before meeting the Bruins.
UC San Diego, which will play at #10 UCSB on Friday before meeting the Bruins, lost a couple of MPSF matches last week at USC (25-19, 26-24, 19-25, 25-22) and at Cal Baptist (25-21, 21-25, 25-15, 25-23).  UCLA defeated UCSD 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-14) in the first meeting of the season. UCLA hit .407 for the match and JT Hatch led the team with 12 kills. Hatch added two aces for the Bruins who totaled 11 aces on the match. Micah Ma'a added six aces, seven kills and eight digs.
Recapping  — The Bruins snapped Hawaii's 17-match home court win streak with a five-set win in an MPSF match played last Saturday night. Scores were 22-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-18 and 15-9.  The Bruins rebounded from a poor first set hitting mark  (.097) to out hit the Warriors .374 to .208 for the match. UCLA also won the battle at the net, besting UH 19.5 (season-high) to 4.0 in total blocks. Micah Ma's blasted down a career-best 18 kills while hitting .500 on 32 swings. Jake Arnitz finished with 13 kills and a career-best 8 block assists. Mitch Stahl matched his career-best with nine block assists and two block solos. Hagen Smith had 30 set assists and seven kills. Oliver Martin totaled five kills, six block assists and a solo block.
UCLA dropped its first match of the season last Friday, in four sets, at now fourth-ranked Hawai'i. Scores were 18-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-18. For the match, Hawai'i out hit the Bruins .273 to .138 (season-low) and won the battle of the block 13.0 to 9.5. Ma'a led UCLA with nine kills, eight digs and two blocks. Smith finished with seven kills, six digs and four blocks. Stahl had five kills and five block assists.
The Bruins' 10-0 start was their best since the 1998 Bruins began with wins in their first 16 matches. As far as conference streaks go, the Bruins started 6-0 in league play in the 2014 season, 7-0 in 2012 and 10-0 in 1998. UCLA, under the direction of coach Al Scates, owns the only three unbeaten seasons in the history of the men's game (1984: 38-0; 1982: 29-0; 1979: 30-0).

NCAA Nat'l. Rankings - Mitch Stahl 5th in blocks (1.36/set); Micah Ma'a 9th in aces (0.60/s); Hit% Stahl 7th (.435); UCLA team 2nd Aces (1.91/s), 5th Blocks (2.67/s); 7th in Kills/s (12.74).
2016 Honors — Jan. 31 - Jake Arnitz, MPSF Player of the Week. Micah Ma'a Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Co-Freshman of the Week; Jan. 11 Mitch Stahl - AVCA National POW and MPSF POW. Micah Ma'a Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. Co-Freshman of the Week.
Coach Speraw: Year Four at UCLA — John Speraw (UCLA '95), who is in his fourth season as the head coach at his alma mater, has captured three NCAA titles as a head coach (2012, 2009, 2007 at UCI), three as an assistant coach (1996, 1998, 2000 at UCLA) and two as a player (1993, 1995 at UCLA). Also the head coach of the U.S. Men's National Volleyball Team, Speraw led that squad to the 2015 FIVB World Cup and automatic qualification for the 2016 Olympic Games. Speraw came back to UCLA after 10 seasons at UC Irvine where he led the Anteaters to three NCAA championships, and a 199-106 (.646) overall record. In winning that 2007 title, Speraw became the only individual to produce a championship as a head coach, assistant coach and player in collegiate men's volleyball history. On Mar. 25, 2013, he was named head coach of the U.S. Men's National Team for the next quadrennial ending at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janiero. In the summer of 2014, he guided the U.S. team to a win over top-ranked Brazil in the FIVB World League gold-medal match. In the summer of 2012, he had served as an assistant coach for the National Team, which advanced to the quarterfinals of the London Olympics. Speraw won the National Coach of the Year award in 2007.
              
Coming Up in the MPSF: F10-Long Beach at Cal Bapt., UCI at UCSB, CSUN at USC; F12-BYU at Princeton, Hawaii at Stan., Long Beach at USC, CSUN at Cal Bapt., UCSD at UCSB; F13-Hawaii at Stan., BYU at NJIT; F15-Hawaii at USC; F16-Hawaii at USC.