#10-Seed Bruins Host Murray State on Friday

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Friday, Dec. 2
NCAA First Round
Baylor vs. San Diego
5:30 p.m.
Live Video
Live Stats

Murray State vs. #10-seed UCLA
8 p.m.
Live Video
Live Audio
Live Stats

Saturday, Dec. 3
NCAA Second Round
Baylor/San Diego Winner vs. Murray State/UCLA Winner
7 p.m.
Live Video
Live Audio (if UCLA advances)
Live Stats

All Matches at Pauley Pavilion
***Tickets***
***Note: New Clear Bag Policy***

10TH-SEEDED BRUINS HOST NCAA 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS
The Bruins, seeded 10th for the NCAA Championship, will host Murray State on Friday at 8 p.m. at Pauley Pavilion to open up the postseason. The first match on Friday will pit Baylor against San Diego at 5:30 p.m. The winners of Friday's contests will square off in the Second Round on Saturday at 7 p.m. Free live video and audio will be available for all three matches at UCLABruins.com.

WHAT'S NEXT
The winner of Saturday's second-round matchup will face either #7-seed North Carolina, Coastal Carolina, James Madison or High Point in the Round of 16 next Friday. The site for next weekend's Regionals will be at the highest seed remaining in that quadrant of the bracket.

BRUINS IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
UCLA is making its 34th appearance in the NCAA Championship and holds an all-time record of 85-30 (.739). Since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1998, the Bruins are 29-5 (.853) in the First and Second Rounds of the tournament, including a perfect 17-0 in the opening match. Including this season, UCLA has hosted the First and Second Rounds for 11 of the last 14 years. The Bruins are 22-2 (.917) in First and Second Round home matches since '98 and 47-6 (.887) in Westwood in NCAA Championship contests.

BRUINS IN THE POLLS
The Bruins stayed at eighth for the second week in a row in the final regular season AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll, announced on Nov. 28. Seven UCLA opponents are in the Top 25 (#7 Washington, #9 Stanford, #12 Hawai'i, #14 San Diego, #19 Oregon, #22 Utah and #25 Washington State), while Arizona (#29) and USC (#32) are receiving votes.

BACK-TO-BACK LIBERO OF THE YEAR FOR FORMICO
Senior Taylor Formico was named Pac-12 Conference Libero of the Year for the second straight season, as announced on Monday, and was one of five Bruins to earn league honors. Formico, senior Jennie Frager and freshman Torrey Van Winden were each named to the All-Pac-12 First Team, while senior Jordan Anderson and junior Reily Buechler picked up Honorable Mention accolades. Van Winden was also selected to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team.

Formico, who picked up her third consecutive All-Pac-12 award after earning Honorable Mention as a sophomore and junior, leads the Bruins and all conference liberos with 5.03 digs per set. She is also fourth on the team with 15 service aces, chipping in 121 assists and eight kills. Formico has double figures in digs in all but one match this season, surpassing the 20-dig mark on 14 occasions, including a season-best 36 at Arizona on Oct. 9. The senior, who was a three-time Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week, moved into third place on UCLA's all-time digs list this season and enters the playoffs with 1,599 as a Bruin.

Frager is tops on the squad with 1.13 blocks per set and a .358 hitting percentage and fourth with 2.25 kills per set, adding six aces. The senior, who earned her second All-Pac-12 award after picking up Honorable Mention plaudits a year ago, has double figures in kills in 14 matches, recording a career-best 16 against Colorado on Oct. 28. She has hit over .400 in 11 contests and was named Pac-12 Offensive POW on Aug. 29. Defensively, Frager has 11 matches with at least five blocks, setting a new personal-best with 10 at Loyola Marymount on Aug. 27. She ranks third in the Pac-12 in hitting and eighth in bps.

Van Winden is third on the team with 2.93 kills per set, adding 1.71 digs per set, 0.67 blocks per set, a .281 hitting percentage and nine service aces. She tallied three Pac-12 weekly honors in her maiden season, picking up conference Offensive POW on Oct. 17 and Freshman of the Week on Oct. 24 and Nov. 14. Van Winden enters the NCAA Championship with 17 straight matches of at least seven kills, totaling 14 double-figure kills contests. The freshman, who also has three double-doubles, has three matches this season with 19 kills (at Oregon, both contests vs. Stanford).

Anderson, who recorded her second conference honor (First Team in 2015), is tops on the squad with 21 double-figure kills matches and second with 3.15 kills per set, adding 1.12 digs per set, 0.41 blocks per set and five service aces. Her season best in kills came against Colorado on Oct. 28 when she had 18. Anderson also had a season-high 19 digs versus Washington State on Sept. 23, posting a double-double in that match, which was one of her three on the year.

Buechler, who has earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention accolades every season, leads the team with 3.18 kills per set, which ranks 10th among Pac-12 players. She is also second with 21 service aces and third with 2.22 digs per set. Buechler has reached the 20-kill mark twice this season, both in wins against USC (21 on Sept. 21 and 20 on Nov. 26). The junior has 18 double-figure kills matches on the year and eight double-doubles.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Junior Reily Buechler surpassed the 1,000-kill mark with her first kill of the third set at Arizona State on Nov. 5, becoming the 28th Bruin to reach that plateau. She has 1,079 for her career, ranking 27th in school history ... senior Taylor Formico moved into third place on UCLA's all-time digs list against Colorado on Oct. 28 and now has 1,599 for her Bruin career. She trails only Chrissie Zartman (2,064) and Lainey Gera (2,009). Formico's overall career total is now at 2,391 (792 at UCSB in 2012) ... senior Jordan Anderson's 3.79 kills per set would rank her seventh in Bruin history ... senior Claire Felix's .335 hitting percentage currently ranks tied for sixth in school history.

TEAM NOTES
UCLA started its season at 7-0, its best start since 2006 when it began with 20 consecutive victories. The previous two times the Bruins opened a year with at least six straight wins, they have reached the third weekend of the NCAA Tournament (2006 - National Semifinals; 2011 - National Champions) ... keeping with the 2011 parallel, UCLA swept its season series with Stanford for the first time since that championship campaign ... Oct. 9 against Arizona marked the only time this season that the Bruins lost when holding their opponent under a .200 hitting percentage (17-1 record) ... the Arizona loss was also the only time the Bruins were defeated when winning the hitting battle (24-1) ... UCLA is 14-0 when either leading or tying its opponent in blocks ... the Bruins are 21-1 when winning the third set.

PLAYER NOTES
Senior Jordan Anderson recorded her 21st double-figure kills match of the season against USC on Nov. 26 when she had 17. Anderson has at least nine kills in five straight and is posting 2.71 kills per set during that stretch. Her season best in kills came on Oct. 28 when she had 18 versus Colorado ... sophomore Kyra Rogers started five straight matches from Nov. 10-23 and has recorded 21 kills, 10 digs and six blocks in 18 sets. She has at least four kills in four of those five contests ... junior Reily Buechler posted her eighth double-double of the season last Saturday against USC when she had 20 kills and 12 digs. She has reached the 20-kill mark twice this year, with both of them coming versus the Trojans (season-best 21, Sept. 21). Buechler, who has double figures in digs in three of four, has a service ace in four in a row and six of her last seven ... freshman Torrey Van Winden has at least seven kills in 17 matches in a row, including tying a career high with 19 at Stanford on Nov. 12. She has also collected at least six digs in 10 straight, while adding eight aces in her last eight matches. Van Winden has hit over .300 in five of seven, while notching at least three blocks in five of six ... freshman Kylie Miller tallied her fifth double-double of the season against USC when she had 30 assists and 10 digs. She has at least five digs in five in a row. Miller, who is third on the team in aces, has 10 in her last seven contests ... senior Claire Felix had 19 kills in two matches last week, recording a .460 hitting percentage with only two errors in 37 attempts. Twelve of the kills came against USC, her first double-figure kills contest since Sept. 23. Defensively, Felix has eight matches this season with at least five blocks ... senior Jennie Frager has three double-figure kills matches in her last five, posting 10 against USC. On Nov. 18 versus Oregon, she had 15 kills and just one error in 22 swings (.636) with seven blocks. Defensively, Frager has at least four blocks in three of her last five ... senior Taylor Formico recorded her 14th match this season with at least 20 digs when she had 24 against USC. Formico saw her double-figure digs streak snapped at 50 at Washington last Wednesday, but still has 117 for her career and 29 this season. Formico also has at least four assists in five matches in a row ... senior Ryann Chandler has six aces in her last four matches, posting three against Oregon and two versus USC to maintain her team lead with 22. She has six matches with at least two aces. Defensively, Chandler has alternated six and seven digs in her last seven, posting six versus USC and seven at Washington.

BRUINS IN THE NATIONAL AND PAC-12 RANKINGS
Entering the postseason, UCLA ranks 11th in the nation in digs per set (17.49), 16th in assists per set (13.43), 27th in kills per set (14.14) and 43rd in opponent hitting percentage (.172). Individually, senior Taylor Formico is 32nd in dps (5.03). Among Pac-12 teams, the Bruins are first in dps, second in opponent hitting and aps and fourth in kps. Formico is first in dps, while senior Jennie Frager is third in hitting percentage (.358) and eighth in blocks per set (1.13). Senior Claire Felix is sixth in hitting (.343), senior Ryann Chandler is seventh in aps (7.55) and junior Reily Buechler is 10th in kps (3.18).

SCOUTING THE MURRAY STATE RACERS
Murray State (23-8, 15-1 Ohio Valley Conference) is playing in its second NCAA Championship over the last three seasons and its third all-time, earning a berth into the tournament by virtue of its victory in the OVC Tournament. The Racers are hitting .206 as a team, averaging 13.94 kills, 1.33 aces, 17.38 digs and 1.41 blocks per set. Senior Scottie Ingram is first on the team with 4.32 kps and second with 3.43 dps, senior Kristen Besselsen is second at 3.02 kps and freshman Rachel Giustino is third with 2.66 kps. Senior Hannah Stultz handles the setting duties and is posting 10.50 assists per set and a team-best 41 aces. Senior Ellie Lorenz is tops with 5.32 dps. The Bruins and the Racers will square off for the first time on Friday.

SCOUTING THE SAN DIEGO TOREROS
San Diego (24-5, 15-3 West Coast Conference) is making its 20th appearance in the NCAA Championship and seventh in a row. The Toreros finished second in the WCC, and similar to UCLA and Baylor, earned an at-large bid into the tournament. San Diego is hitting .273 as a team, averaging 15.03 kills, 1.21 aces, 13.95 digs and 1.90 blocks per set. Senior Lisa Kramer is tops on the squad with 4.21 kps, senior Lauren Schad is second at 2.79 kps and sophomore Lauren Fuller is third with 2.26 kps. Junior Kristen Gengenbacher (7.76 assists per set) and freshman Anna Newsome (5.25) share the setting duties. Senior Hunter Jennings is first with 4.03 dps, while sophomore Addie Picha leads with 1.00 bps. The Bruins are 8-1 all-time against USD, with the Toreros winning for the first time on Sept. 10 in San Diego in four sets. The teams have met three times in the postseason (2011 - 3-1; 2005 - 3-0; 2003 - 3-0), all at UCLA.

SCOUTING THE BAYLOR BEARS
Baylor (21-11, 9-7 Big 12 Conference) is appearing in its fifth NCAA Championship, as the Bears finished fourth in the Big 12. The Bears are hitting .217 as a team, averaging 13.04 kills, 1.15 aces, 15.60 digs and 2.44 blocks per set. Junior Katie Staiger accounts for over 40 percent of Baylor's kills, posting 5.53 per set to go with a team-best 32 aces. Sophomore Aniah Philo is second (2.19), while junior Camryn Freiberg is third (2.04). Senior Morgan Reed quarterbacks the offense and is notching 10.32 assists per set. Junior Jana Brusek is tops with 4.52 dps, while Freiberg is first with 1.15 bps. The Bruins and the Bears have played three times, with UCLA holding a 2-1 edge. The last meeting came in the Second Round of the 2009 NCAA Championship at Pauley Pavilion, with Baylor prevailing in four sets. It was the only postseason meeting between the two teams.

FORMICO NAMED PAC-12 DEFENSIVE POW FOR THIRD TIME
Senior Taylor Formico was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season, as announced by the conference on Nov. 21. The Bruins have won seven Pac-12 weekly honors this season, with Formico also earning DPOW accolades on Oct. 17 and 31. Freshman Torrey Van Winden is a three-time award winner, having claimed Pac-12 Freshman of the Week on Oct. 24 and Nov. 14, as well as Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 17. Senior Jennie Frager was the conference's Offensive POW on Aug. 29. Since 2011, when the conference started handing out Offensive, Defensive and Freshman of the Week honors, UCLA has won 11 Offensive, eight Defensive and six Freshman awards (25 total). The Bruins have 86 all-time Pac-12 weekly awards.

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#10-Seed Bruins Host Murray State on Friday

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