This Week — The No. 7-ranked Bruins (11-7, 8-6 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action) will play non-league home matches on Wednesday vs. No. 5 Lewis (15-3) and on Saturday vs. Harvard (5-7). Both matches will be played in Pauley Pavilion, beginning at 7 p.m.
Live Coverage — Fans can follow matches on UCLA's live Twitter feed @UCLAMVB and on---
*Wed. v. Lewis ---Live stream --- http://pac-12.com/sports/schedule; live stats ---http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla; live internet radio (Darren Preston and Denny Cline) --- http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/2016/8/16/live-audio.aspx
*Sat. v. Harvard ---Live stream --- http://pac-12.com/sports/schedule; live stats --- http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla; live internet radio ---http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/2016/8/16/live-audio.aspx
This Week's NCAA Stats— To begin the week, UCLA was listed No. 5 nationally in hitting percentage (.331)...No. 7 in Aces per set (1.57) and No. 7 in kills per set (12.81), No. 7 in set assists/set (12.09), No. 10 in blocks per set (2.37), No. 21 in digs (8.57) and No. 25 in oppt. hitting % (.260) ... Individually, freshman Daenan Gyimah is 2nd in hitting % (.491) and tied for 19th in blocks per set (1.0) ... His .800 hitting percentage vs. Long Beach is the second-highest in the nation this season by a player with at least 15 hitting attempts ... Micah Ma'a, who had six aces at BYU, tied for the most by a player this season in a five-set match, is ranked 14th in aces this week (0.39) ... Senior Michael Fisher's eight block assists vs. Princeton ties him for the fourth-most by a player this season in a three-set match.
By the Numbers - UCLA registered a season-high 12 aces against CSUN, the Bruins have been even or have out aced their opponent this season in all but the Ohio State, 2nd match at BYU, vs. Beach matches ... 47 of the team's aces in MPSF play this season have come from Mitch Stahl (22) and Micah Ma'a (25, 16 in last 8 matches)... The 0-3 loss in second match at BYU was the first time the Bruins had been swept in a match since April 25, 2015 vs. UCI ... UCLA is now 6-2 at home and 4-5 in true road matches this season ... A year ago, the Bruins participated in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since it captured the program's 19th title in 2006 (playing Ohio State in the 2016 semifinals)...Top 8 teams head to MPSF Playoffs to fight for automatic bid to NCAAs.
*Micah Ma'a has started all 49 career matches ... In last 4 matches: 21 kills-6-39, .385) with 7 aces, 21 digs, 16 blks ... Ma'a had at least one ace in 27 matches last season and destroyed the old freshman ace record of Gonzalo Quiroga (39 in 2011) with 58 ... Ma'a had a 2016 MPSF high 7 aces last season versus CSUN ... His triple-double v. BYU (4/2/16) was the first by an MPSF player since Jonah Seif of UCSB on Feb. 6, 2014.
*Hagen Smith tied his career high with 12 kills at Stanford (.429) ... Begins the week 9th on the all-time rally scoring school list for digs.
*JT Hatch had a season-high 24 kills and career-best 16 digs at Pepperdine.
*Dylan Missry has 53 kills in last 4 matches (53-14-106, .368), with a career-best 21 coming vs. CSUN ... Had career-best 4 aces at UC San Diego and 8 in last four matches.
*Daenan Gyimah began the week 2nd in the NCAA in hitting % with a .491 and hit .800 vs. Long Beach with 1 error in 15 swings to go with a team-best 13 kills. He has had multiple blocks in all but three matches this season.
*Mitch Stahl has at least one ace in each of the last 10 matches he has played in and is 2nd on the all-time school rally scoring list for aces and is 3rd on the all-time career block assist list (rally scoring era 2001-present) ... Missed last three matches due to injury.
*Michael Fisher's 8 block assists in three sets vs. Princeton ties for the 3rd most by a Div. I-II player this season in three-set match.
*Jake Arnitz, who became the first Bruin to hit the 20-kill mark this season vs. USC (20), came back to see action vs. Long Beach State after missing the previous six matches due to injury ... He has 30 kills in last three matches ... Arnitz has upped his hitting percentage from .227 as a freshman in 2015 to .313 in 2016 to .351 in 2017.
*Christian Hessenauer has 35 kills in last three matches, while hitting .379 (35-10-66).
*Jackson Bantle, 10th on the all-time rally scoring digs list at UCLA, has 32 digs in last 7 matches and season-high of 14 vs. USC.
*Oliver Martin hitting .571 in last 2 matches (10-2-14)... Hit .213 in 2015 and improved to .447 in 2016 and is at .372 entering this week's matches ... His block per set mark improved over the years from 0.4 to 0.9 to 0.91 this season.
*Eric Sprague has 7 kills in last 2 matches (7-0-9, .778) he played in ... Saw action in 11 matches in '16 with 0.5 blocks per set and hit .403. *Davis Gillett has seen action in last 8 matches and in 36 sets this season as both a libero and a serving specialist...23 digs in last 4 matches.
Honors — Micah Ma'a was named the Sports Imports / AVCA Div. I-II Men's Volleyball National Player of the Week on Jan. 17 for his play in wins over UC I (8 kills, .800, 17 set ast., 3 aces, 7 digs, 1 blk) and UCSD (3 kills, .333, 21 set ast., 3 aces, 6 digs, 2 blk) ... Daenan Gyimah was named the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Freshman of the Week for his play vs. UCI (14 kills, .737, 2 blk) and UCSD (2 kills, .500, 4 blks) ... 2017 Watch Listees: Karch Kiraly Award (best outside attacker) JT Hatch, Jake Arnitz/ Erik Shoji Award (best libero) Davis Gillett / Ryan Millar Award (best middle attacker) Mitch Stahl / Lloy Ball Award (best setter) Micah Ma'a...Three Bruins were named to the 2016 AVCA All-America squad - 1st team Micah Ma'a; 2nd team Mitch Stahl, Jake Arnitz. Earning 1st team All-MPSF honors were Ma'a and Arnitz; 2nd team was Stahl; Honorable Mention went to JT Hatch and Hagen Smith. Arnitz was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team. Ma'a was named Off the Block's Server of the Year and a Freshman All-American.
Scouting the Opponent — Lewis is ranked No. 5 and owns a record of 15-3 and has won seven in a row and 9 of the last 10 ....The Flyers have a win over MPSF member Pepperdine (3-1) and a loss to BYU (0-3) ... Other losses to Grand Canyon (2-3) and Ohio State (1-3) ... Lewis has six five-set wins this season ... The Flyers are second in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assoc. (MIVA) standings behind Ohio State. Harvard is sixth in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assoc. (EIVA), where Penn State and Princeton currently share first place.
Coach Speraw: Year Five at UCLA — John Speraw (UCLA '95), who is in his fifth 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 where his squad took home the Bronze medal. 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 first individual to produce a championship as a head coach, assistant coach and player in collegiate men's volleyball history. He was named head coach of the U.S. Men's National Team on Mar. 25, 2013. 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. He was also an assistant on the gold medal winning U.S. squad in the 2008 Beijing Games. Speraw won the National Coach of the Year award in 2007.
Elsewhere in MPSF: Mar. 8 - UC Irvine at St. Francis, CSUN at UCSB; Mar. 9 - Lewis at USC; Mar. 10-BYU at Pepperdine, Stanford at Hawai'i, George Mason at Long Beach St., UC Irvine vs. Ball St., UCSD at Ohio St., Loyola-Chi. v. CSUN; Mar. 11-UCSD v. Ball St., Lewis at UCSB, BYU at Pepperdine, UC Irvine at Ohio St., Loyola-Chi. at Long Beach St., Concordia at Cal Bapt., Stanford at Hawai'i, George Mason v. CSUN; Mar. 13 - George Mason at USC, Harvard at UCSB; Mar. 14 - Harvard at USC, Cal Bapt. at UCSD; Mar. 15 - Pepperdine at CSUN; Mar. 16 - Concordia at UCSB; Mar. 17-Hawai'i at BYU, Cal Bapt. at Penn St., Long Beach St. at CSUN, Concordia at UCSD; Mar. 18 - Sacred Heart at Long Beach St., Hawai'i at BYU, Cal Bapt. at St. Francis; Pepperdine at Stanford.
MPSF Standings (3/5)
Long Beach State 13-1 17-2
BYU 9-1 15-2
Hawai'i 8-2 18-2
UC Irvine 9-5 12-6
Stanford 6-5 11-7
UCLA 8-6 11-7
Pepperdine 4-6 6-7
CSUN 5-7 12-7
USC 5-9 6-12
UC Santa Barbara 4-9 8-10
UC San Diego 2-11 5-13
Cal Baptist 1-12 3-14
Live Coverage — Fans can follow matches on UCLA's live Twitter feed @UCLAMVB and on---
*Wed. v. Lewis ---Live stream --- http://pac-12.com/sports/schedule; live stats ---http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla; live internet radio (Darren Preston and Denny Cline) --- http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/2016/8/16/live-audio.aspx
*Sat. v. Harvard ---Live stream --- http://pac-12.com/sports/schedule; live stats --- http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla; live internet radio ---http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/2016/8/16/live-audio.aspx
This Week's NCAA Stats— To begin the week, UCLA was listed No. 5 nationally in hitting percentage (.331)...No. 7 in Aces per set (1.57) and No. 7 in kills per set (12.81), No. 7 in set assists/set (12.09), No. 10 in blocks per set (2.37), No. 21 in digs (8.57) and No. 25 in oppt. hitting % (.260) ... Individually, freshman Daenan Gyimah is 2nd in hitting % (.491) and tied for 19th in blocks per set (1.0) ... His .800 hitting percentage vs. Long Beach is the second-highest in the nation this season by a player with at least 15 hitting attempts ... Micah Ma'a, who had six aces at BYU, tied for the most by a player this season in a five-set match, is ranked 14th in aces this week (0.39) ... Senior Michael Fisher's eight block assists vs. Princeton ties him for the fourth-most by a player this season in a three-set match.
By the Numbers - UCLA registered a season-high 12 aces against CSUN, the Bruins have been even or have out aced their opponent this season in all but the Ohio State, 2nd match at BYU, vs. Beach matches ... 47 of the team's aces in MPSF play this season have come from Mitch Stahl (22) and Micah Ma'a (25, 16 in last 8 matches)... The 0-3 loss in second match at BYU was the first time the Bruins had been swept in a match since April 25, 2015 vs. UCI ... UCLA is now 6-2 at home and 4-5 in true road matches this season ... A year ago, the Bruins participated in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since it captured the program's 19th title in 2006 (playing Ohio State in the 2016 semifinals)...Top 8 teams head to MPSF Playoffs to fight for automatic bid to NCAAs.
*Micah Ma'a has started all 49 career matches ... In last 4 matches: 21 kills-6-39, .385) with 7 aces, 21 digs, 16 blks ... Ma'a had at least one ace in 27 matches last season and destroyed the old freshman ace record of Gonzalo Quiroga (39 in 2011) with 58 ... Ma'a had a 2016 MPSF high 7 aces last season versus CSUN ... His triple-double v. BYU (4/2/16) was the first by an MPSF player since Jonah Seif of UCSB on Feb. 6, 2014.
*Hagen Smith tied his career high with 12 kills at Stanford (.429) ... Begins the week 9th on the all-time rally scoring school list for digs.
*JT Hatch had a season-high 24 kills and career-best 16 digs at Pepperdine.
*Dylan Missry has 53 kills in last 4 matches (53-14-106, .368), with a career-best 21 coming vs. CSUN ... Had career-best 4 aces at UC San Diego and 8 in last four matches.
*Daenan Gyimah began the week 2nd in the NCAA in hitting % with a .491 and hit .800 vs. Long Beach with 1 error in 15 swings to go with a team-best 13 kills. He has had multiple blocks in all but three matches this season.
*Mitch Stahl has at least one ace in each of the last 10 matches he has played in and is 2nd on the all-time school rally scoring list for aces and is 3rd on the all-time career block assist list (rally scoring era 2001-present) ... Missed last three matches due to injury.
*Michael Fisher's 8 block assists in three sets vs. Princeton ties for the 3rd most by a Div. I-II player this season in three-set match.
*Jake Arnitz, who became the first Bruin to hit the 20-kill mark this season vs. USC (20), came back to see action vs. Long Beach State after missing the previous six matches due to injury ... He has 30 kills in last three matches ... Arnitz has upped his hitting percentage from .227 as a freshman in 2015 to .313 in 2016 to .351 in 2017.
*Christian Hessenauer has 35 kills in last three matches, while hitting .379 (35-10-66).
*Jackson Bantle, 10th on the all-time rally scoring digs list at UCLA, has 32 digs in last 7 matches and season-high of 14 vs. USC.
*Oliver Martin hitting .571 in last 2 matches (10-2-14)... Hit .213 in 2015 and improved to .447 in 2016 and is at .372 entering this week's matches ... His block per set mark improved over the years from 0.4 to 0.9 to 0.91 this season.
*Eric Sprague has 7 kills in last 2 matches (7-0-9, .778) he played in ... Saw action in 11 matches in '16 with 0.5 blocks per set and hit .403. *Davis Gillett has seen action in last 8 matches and in 36 sets this season as both a libero and a serving specialist...23 digs in last 4 matches.
Honors — Micah Ma'a was named the Sports Imports / AVCA Div. I-II Men's Volleyball National Player of the Week on Jan. 17 for his play in wins over UC I (8 kills, .800, 17 set ast., 3 aces, 7 digs, 1 blk) and UCSD (3 kills, .333, 21 set ast., 3 aces, 6 digs, 2 blk) ... Daenan Gyimah was named the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Freshman of the Week for his play vs. UCI (14 kills, .737, 2 blk) and UCSD (2 kills, .500, 4 blks) ... 2017 Watch Listees: Karch Kiraly Award (best outside attacker) JT Hatch, Jake Arnitz/ Erik Shoji Award (best libero) Davis Gillett / Ryan Millar Award (best middle attacker) Mitch Stahl / Lloy Ball Award (best setter) Micah Ma'a...Three Bruins were named to the 2016 AVCA All-America squad - 1st team Micah Ma'a; 2nd team Mitch Stahl, Jake Arnitz. Earning 1st team All-MPSF honors were Ma'a and Arnitz; 2nd team was Stahl; Honorable Mention went to JT Hatch and Hagen Smith. Arnitz was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team. Ma'a was named Off the Block's Server of the Year and a Freshman All-American.
Scouting the Opponent — Lewis is ranked No. 5 and owns a record of 15-3 and has won seven in a row and 9 of the last 10 ....The Flyers have a win over MPSF member Pepperdine (3-1) and a loss to BYU (0-3) ... Other losses to Grand Canyon (2-3) and Ohio State (1-3) ... Lewis has six five-set wins this season ... The Flyers are second in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assoc. (MIVA) standings behind Ohio State. Harvard is sixth in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assoc. (EIVA), where Penn State and Princeton currently share first place.
Coach Speraw: Year Five at UCLA — John Speraw (UCLA '95), who is in his fifth 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 where his squad took home the Bronze medal. 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 first individual to produce a championship as a head coach, assistant coach and player in collegiate men's volleyball history. He was named head coach of the U.S. Men's National Team on Mar. 25, 2013. 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. He was also an assistant on the gold medal winning U.S. squad in the 2008 Beijing Games. Speraw won the National Coach of the Year award in 2007.
Elsewhere in MPSF: Mar. 8 - UC Irvine at St. Francis, CSUN at UCSB; Mar. 9 - Lewis at USC; Mar. 10-BYU at Pepperdine, Stanford at Hawai'i, George Mason at Long Beach St., UC Irvine vs. Ball St., UCSD at Ohio St., Loyola-Chi. v. CSUN; Mar. 11-UCSD v. Ball St., Lewis at UCSB, BYU at Pepperdine, UC Irvine at Ohio St., Loyola-Chi. at Long Beach St., Concordia at Cal Bapt., Stanford at Hawai'i, George Mason v. CSUN; Mar. 13 - George Mason at USC, Harvard at UCSB; Mar. 14 - Harvard at USC, Cal Bapt. at UCSD; Mar. 15 - Pepperdine at CSUN; Mar. 16 - Concordia at UCSB; Mar. 17-Hawai'i at BYU, Cal Bapt. at Penn St., Long Beach St. at CSUN, Concordia at UCSD; Mar. 18 - Sacred Heart at Long Beach St., Hawai'i at BYU, Cal Bapt. at St. Francis; Pepperdine at Stanford.
MPSF Standings (3/5)
Long Beach State 13-1 17-2
BYU 9-1 15-2
Hawai'i 8-2 18-2
UC Irvine 9-5 12-6
Stanford 6-5 11-7
UCLA 8-6 11-7
Pepperdine 4-6 6-7
CSUN 5-7 12-7
USC 5-9 6-12
UC Santa Barbara 4-9 8-10
UC San Diego 2-11 5-13
Cal Baptist 1-12 3-14