The UCLA men's volleyball team was listed No. 2 in the AVCA Division I-II Men's Coaches Top-15 Pre-Season Poll released last week and second in the MPSF Coaches Poll which was made public on Monday. Off the Block's panel of coaches and media issued its pre-season Men's Volleyball All-America squad on Monday, as well. Setter / hitter Micah Ma'a and middle blocker Mitch Stahl were named to the first-team. Outside hitter Jake Arnitz was a second-team selection.

 The Bruins are scheduled to play 11 matches this season against teams ranked among the top 10 in the nation, including opening week battles against top-ranked and defending national champion Ohio State (away on Jan. 7), No. 11 Loyola-Chicago (away Jan. 3) and No. 13 Penn State (away on Jan. 6) during the first week in January.

Coach John Speraw's team returns all six starters from a squad which advanced to the NCAA semifinals in 2016. It will begin MPSF league play on Jan. 12 with a home match against No. 8-ranked UC Irvine. The Bruins will also have home matches this season against No. 4 Long Beach State (Feb. 18), No. 6 Lewis (Mar. 8) and a pair of matches vs. No. 7 Hawai'i (April 7 and 8). UCLA plays on the road against top-10 teams from No. 3 BYU (away Feb. 3 and 4), No. 5 Pepperdine (away Feb. 11), No. 8 UC Irvine (away Feb. 24) and No. 9 Stanford (away Feb. 9).

Eight UCLA men's volleyball matches have been selected for television by the Pac-12 Networks – Jan. 14 – UCSD 7 p.m., Jan. 20 – USC 8 p.m., Jan. 25 – UCSB 7:30 p.m., Feb. 9 – at Stanford 6 p.m., Feb. 15 – CSUN 7:30 p.m., Mar. 29 – at USC 7 p.m., Apr. 7 – Hawai'I TBD.

For UCLA men's volleyball ticket information, go to http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/2013/4/17/208188848.aspx?path=mvball      

 

AVCA Rank	School (First-Place Votes)	Total Points	2016 Record	2016 Final Rank
1	Ohio State (23)	359	31-3	1
2	UCLA (1)	325	25-7	3
3	BYU	320	27-4	2
4	Long Beach State	291	25-8	4
5	Pepperdine	221	13-11	7
6	Lewis	211	19-13	9
7	Hawai'i	204	16-12	8
8	UC Irvine	159	10-20	NR
9	Stanford	150	19-6	6
10	George Mason	138	18-12	11
11	Loyola-Chicago	125	20-8	10
12	UC Santa Barbara	120	20-10	5
13	Penn State	95	19-10	12
14	CSUN	61	14-15	14
15	Ball State	47	20-9	13

MPSF Coaches Pre-Season Rankings
Team Points (First-Place Votes)
1 BYU 119 (9) 
2 UCLA 111 (3)
3 Long Beach State 103
4 UC Irvine 79 
5 Pepperdine 73 
6 Hawaii 63 
7 Stanford 61 
8 UC Santa Barbara 58
9 CSUN 53 
10 USC 36 
11 Cal Baptist 24 
12 UC San Diego 12