Coming Up— The UCLA men's volleyball team (25-6) earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and was awarded the second seed in the championship hosted by Penn State. The Bruins received a bye into the national semifinals and play third-seeded Ohio State (29-3) on May 5 (8 p.m. Eastern/ 5 p.m. Pacific).
BYU (26-3) is the top-seed in the tournament and will play Long Beach State (25-7) in the other national semifinal at 3 p.m. PT on Thursday. Both semifinal matches will be streamed on ncaa.com. The national championship match will be played on May 7 (8 p.m. Eastern/ 5 p.m. Pacific) and will be televised by ESPN2.

UCLA is returning to the NCAA championships for the first time since it captured the program's 19th title with a 3-0 win at Penn State in 2006. The Bruins own a 25-6 record this season under fourth-year head coach John Speraw which includes the most wins since that 2006 season produced 26 victories. Coach Speraw (UCLA '95) won three NCAA titles as the head coach (2012, 2009, 2007) at UC Irvine. He also earned three titles as an assistant coach to Al Scates while at UCLA (1996, 1998, 2000) and two more as a player for Scates (1993, 1995).
The Bruins head into this year's tournament having won 12 of their last 15 matches. The three setbacks in that stretch have all come at the hands of top-seed BYU. Ohio State, the winner of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) title advanced by winning Tuesday's NCAA play-in match over George Mason in four sets and has won 21 consecutive matches. Its last loss came in a five-set decision to Ball State on February 6. UCLA played the Buckeyes earlier this season. UCLA defeated Ohio State, 3-1, in a tournament contest played at Penn State on January 7.
Live Coverage — Fans can follow matches on UCLA's live Twitter feed @UCLAMVB.    
****NCAA Men's Volleyball Tournament Central site has links to stats and video ---  http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-volley/spec-rel/ncaa-championship-16.html  
In The Rankings — The Bruins are No. 3 in the AVCA national rankings. UCLA was in the top spot earlier this season for weeks 2,3 and 4 but fell following a Feb. 5 loss at Hawaii and then again moved to #1 in week 12, but lost a pair of matches to BYU. It was the first time the Bruins had held the top spot since being ranked first in the week 4 and 5 AVCA polls during the 2014 season, after beginning that year by winning nine of the first 10 matches.
Three Bruins Merit AVCA All-America honors - Mitch Stahl, Jake Arnitz and Micah Ma'a were selected to the AVCA All-America teams announced earlier this week. Ma'a earned first-team honors, while Stahl and Arnitz were named to the second-team.
Five Bruins Earns MPSF Honors —  Jake Arnitz and Micah Ma'a earned first-team All-MPSF honors in a vote of the league coaches. Mitch Stahl was selected to the second-team, while Hagen Smith and JT Hatch received honorable mention. Ma'a was also chosen to the MPSF All-Freshman squad.
Scouting the Opponents —  Vs. Ohio State -- A balanced attack was the key in a 3-1 win (24-26, 25-22, 25-22, 25-22) over Ohio State in a match played at the Penn State Tournament on Jan. 7. Dylan Missry (12, .286), Micah Ma'a (11, .391), Michael Fisher (11, .579) and Mitch Stahl (10, .600) each totaled double-digits in kills. The Bruins out blocked the Buckeyes 11.0 to 3.0 and out hit them .382 to .254.  Hagen Smith added three aces, four blocks and 32 set assists.

Vs. Long Beach State -- The Bruins swept the season series from the 49ers in MPSF play and also won a meeting in the MPSF Tournament semifinals. JT Hatch helped lead the Bruins to the semifinal win on Apr. 21 with a match-high 14 kills (.429) to go with nine digs. Jake Arnitz added nine kills and eight digs. Micah Ma'a had eight kills (.667) and three blocks. His lone ace on the night moved him past Adam Naeve (2001) and Gonzalo Quiroga (2014) and to the top of the Bruin single season rally scoring era list with 57 aces. Mitch Stahl totaled seven kills (.636), a couple of aces and three blocks. Hagen Smith recorded four kills, 16 set assists and a team-best four blocks. Oliver Martin had three blocks. Davis Gillett registered 10 digs, his seventh double-digit effort in the last 12 matches. On Jan. 27 in Pauley, Ma'a floated a serve to an opening in the 49'ers defense to terminate the match with an ace (23-25, 22-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-13). He finished with a then career-high 13 kills. Arnitz blasted 17 kills at a .429 hitting percentage and added a career-best 13 digs. Stahl finished with eight kills and five block assists. Hatch had nine kills, a pair of aces and a career-best 12 digs. Smith set 25 balls and added 11 digs, a career-high nine kills and a block solo. The Bruins hit .242 for the match to .219 for Long Beach and UCLA won the battle of the block 8.5 to 5.5. On Mar. 26 at Long Beach, UCLA won in three sets (25-22,25-22,25-22). Arnitz led the way for UCLA with 16 kills while hitting .400. Hatch added 10 kills (.348) and Eric Sprague recorded a season-high eight kills (.800). Smith totaled eight digs, three blocks, an ace and 19 set assists. Davis Gillett had 11 digs. The Bruins out hit the 49ers .323 to .250 on the night.
 

Vs. BYU--UCLA lost all three meetings with BYU this season. The Bruins owned an edge in most statistical categories in the MPSF championship match on Apr. 23 but could not overcome 27 service errors. UCLA out hit the Cougars .342 to .329, enjoyed a 56-41 advantage in kills and had a 4.0 to 3.5 margin in total blocks. BYU had a six service aces to one edge from the line. JT Hatch led four Bruins in double digits kills against BYU with 13 and had a career-best two block solos. Jake Arnitz added 12 (.429) while Mitch Stahl (.500) and Micah Ma'a (.400) each registered 10 kills. Ma'a also had 24 set assists and five digs. Hagen Smith recorded 26 set assists, five digs and four kills. Davis Gillett had 10 digs, his eighth double digit effort in the last 13 matches. Eric Sprague came off the bench to total seven kills (.545) and a block solo.
Ma'a joined Hatch in double digit kills with 10 (.529) and added three aces to go with a career best 14 digs and 24 set assists in the 1-3 loss to BYU (25-20, 20-25,18-25, 23-25) on Apr.2. Oliver Martin had five kills (.400) and three blocks. Stahl finished with seven kills (.364) and four blocks. Smith had 27 set assists, eight digs and a couple of blocks. BYU hit .301 for the contest, just the fourth time an opponent had surpassed the .300 level vs. the Bruins this season. UCLA hit. .266.   The previous night, UCLA totaled its second-lowest hitting percentage on the season, at .161, in the 1-3 loss to BYU on Apr. 1, (17-25, 25-19, 25-27, 13-25) including a -.200 mark in the fourth set. BYU managed to hit .337. BYU also recorded the highest total blocks of any opponent this season with 16.0. Arnitz, who had seven digs, led the Bruins with 11 kills (.238). Martin finished with seven kills (.500) and three block assists. Hatch, who had two aces, and Ma'a, who finished with three aces, rang up nine kills each.
Bruins By the Numbers - Jake Arnitz has upped his hitting percentage from .227 as a freshman to .315 this season ... Mitch Stahl has improved his blocking average from 0.9 per set to 1.21 and his hitting % from .365 in 2015  to .464 this season ... Hagen Smith has upped his kills per set average from 0.1 in 2015 to 1.23 in 2016 ... Micah Ma'a has at least one ace in 14 of the last 16 matches; and at least one ace in 26 of the 31 matches to date; he has seven matches with more than a pair of aces ... In the process, he has destroyed the old school freshman ace record of Gonzalo Quiroga (39 in 2011) ... Oliver Martin has increased his hitting percentage from .213 last season to .433 in 2016 and his block per set mark from 0.4 last year to 0.9 this season ... Davis Gillett has double digit digs in eight of the last 13 matches and totals 25 matches this season with five or more digs ... JT Hatch has at least one ace in 12 of  the last 15 matches and 10 matches with multiple aces -- he had 13 aces last season and enters the NCAA Tournament with 37 in 2016... Jake Arnitz has double digit kills in 15 of the last 18 (10 of last 12) matches he has played in ... Oliver Martin has hit over .500 in 10 matches this season ... Hagen Smith has six matches with nine or more digs and 12 matches with at least five kills ... 10 of the last 18 Bruin opponents have hit below the .200 mark ... Jackson Bantle has 16 service aces as a specialist this seasaon ... Ma'a had an MPSF high 7 aces in match versus CSUN on Jan. 29 ... His triple-double v. BYU (4/2) was the first by an MPSF player since Jonah Seif of UCSB on Feb. 6, 2014...The last time UCLA won more than 25 matches was when it captured 26 in 2006 on the way to an NCAA title...The last time it lost as few as 6 matches in a season was 2005 (26-6)...The Bruins' 10-0 start this year was their best since the 1998 squad earned wins in the first 16 matches of that season. 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).
 

Recapping Last Matches  —  The Bruins finished the regular season by winning 10 of their last 12 matches. The positive momentum continued in the MPSF Playoffs with a straight set semifinal win over Long Beach State on Apr. 21 and a quarterfinal victory over Hawai'i (3-1) on Apr. 16.  However, BYU dealt the Bruins a 1-3 setback in the MPSF Championship match in Provo on Apr. 23.
In the championship match, UCLA owned an edge in most statistical categories but could not overcome 27 service errors. UCLA out hit the Cougars .342 to .329, enjoyed a 56-41 advantage in kills and had a 4.0 to 3.5 margin in total blocks. BYU had a six service aces to one edge from the line. JT Hatch led four Bruins in double digit kills with 13 and had a career-best two block solos. Jake Arnitz added 12 (.429) while Mitch Stahl (.500) and Micah Ma'a (.400) each registered 10 kills. Hagen Smith recorded 26 set assists, five digs and four kills. Davis Gillett had 10 digs, his eighth double digit effort in the last 13 matches. Eric Sprague came off the bench to total seven kills (.545) and a block solo.
Hatch helped lead the Bruins to the semifinal win over Long Beach with a match-high 14 kills (.429) to go with nine digs. Arnitz added nine kills and eight digs. Ma'a had eight kills (.667), 19 set assists and three blocks. His lone ace on the night moved him past Adam Naeve (2001) and Gonzalo Quiroga (2014) and to the top of the Bruin single season rally scoring era list with 57 aces. Stahl totaled seven kills (.636), a couple of aces and three blocks. Smith recorded four kills, 16 set assists and a team-best four blocks. Oliver Martin had three blocks. Gillett registered 10 digs.
UCLA out aced the Rainbow Warriors in the MPSF quarterfinals 10 to 4 and won the blocking battle 11.0 to 2.0. Arnitz led UCLA with 16 kills (.483) and had two aces. Stahl topped Bruin blockers with six block assists, added two aces and hit .714 on seven swings. Martin had seven kills (.455) and five blocks. Ma'a recorded a pair of aces to tie for the school single-season record. Smith tallied five kills, nine digs, 22 set assists, an ace and three blocks. Hatch had eight kills and a couple of aces.    
NCAA Nat'l. Rankings - Mitch Stahl 5th in blocks (1.21/set); Micah Ma'a 4th in aces (0.49/s); JT Hatch 14th in aces (0.39); UCLA team 3rd Aces (1.80/s), 6th Blocks (2.52/s); 3rd in Kills/s (13.21); 3rd in set assists (12.45); 6th in hit % (.312).
All-Time Bruin Lists— Micah Ma'a moved into  first on school rally scoring era list for most aces in a season (57). He had shared the mark with Gonzalo Quiroga ('14) and Adam Naeve ('01) (the all-time season record is 63 by Mark Williams in 2000) ...Mitch Stahl is 9th on career block assist list (242)-No. 8 is Weston Dunlap, 2009-12 (248)...Stahl is  ninth in career total blocks (258), No. 8 is Dunlap (267)...Stahl is 10th on single season block assists list (110), 9th is Thomas Amberg, 2009  with 116....Stahl is No. 8 on school single-season total block list (120), Jamie Diefenbach had 123 in 2007 to place No. 7...Stahl is No. 5 on the career ace list with 86, Paul Johnson (2002-05) is No. 4 with 90.
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 d. USC 3-0 in championship match, 2009 d. USC 3-2 in championship match, 2007 d. IPFW  3-1 in championship match while at UCI), three as an assistant coach (1996 d. Hawai'i 3-2, 1998 d. Pepperdine 3-0, 2000 d. Ohio State 3-0 while at UCLA) and two as a player (1993 d. CSUN 3-0, 1995 d. Penn State 3-0 while 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.