This Week — The No. 6-ranked Bruins (15-7, 8-6 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action) will return to league play after a two-week hiatus to meet No. 11 USC (11-12, 5-9) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Bruins will then travel to Riverside to battle Cal Baptist (1-13, 6-18) on Saturday night at 7 p.m. The Bruins have won five straight and both opponents are also on win streaks (USC - 5 straight and CBU-3.UCLA returns home next week to close out the regular season with a pair of MPSF matches against No. 4-ranked Hawai'i (22-4) on Friday (5 p.m.) and Saturday (7 p.m.) in the Wooden Center.
Live Coverage — Fans can follow matches on UCLA's live Twitter feed @UCLAMVB and on:
*Wed. at USC ---Live TV - Pac-12 Network; Live stream --- http://pac-12.com/mens-volleyball/event/2017/03/29/ucla-usc; live stats ---http://www.usctrojans.com/gametracker/launch/gt_mvolley.html?event=1525641&school=usc&sport=mvolley&camefrom=&startschool=&; live internet radio ---http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/2016/8/16/live-audio.aspx (Denny Cline and Darren Preston)
*Sat. at Cal Baptist --- Live stream --- cbulancers.com/live; live stats --- https://portal.stretchinternet.com/cbulancers/; 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. 3 nationally in hitting percentage (.340), No. 4 in Aces per set (1.70) and No. 6 in kills per set (12.98), No. 6 in set assists/set (12.22), No. 12 in blocks per set (2.36), No. 26 in digs (8.33) and No. 21 in oppt. hitting % (.246) ... Individually, freshman Daenan Gyimah is leading the nation in hitting % (.494) ... 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 in a three-set match ... 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 16th in aces this week (0.39) ... Senior Michael Fisher's eight block assists vs. Princeton ties him for the 5th-most by a player this season in a three-set match.
By the Numbers - UCLA is 15-3 this season when serving up more aces than the opponent and have out aced opponents 26-4 in last three matches ... It registered a season-high 13 aces against Harvard ... Bruins are 14-1 record when winning first set of a match ... The Bruins have been even or out aced their opponent in all but the Ohio State, 2nd match at BYU, vs. Long 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 MPSF 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 10-2 at home and 4-5 in true road matches (1-0 neutral) ... 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.
*Mitch Stahl (7th in nation in aces, 0.53) has at least one ace in each of the last 14 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).
*Micah Ma'a sat out the last four matches ... In last 4 matches he played in: 21k-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 .
*Hagen Smith has set the team to a .380 hitting % over last four matches, including season-high .560 v. Harvard ... Tied his career high with 12 kills at Stanford (.429) ... Now 8th 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 and tied his career-best with 4 aces v. Lewis.
*Dylan Missry has 93 kills (11.7/match) in last 8 matches (93-26-180, .372), with a career-best 21 coming vs. CSUN ... Had career-best 4 aces at UC San Diego and has 13 in last 7 matches. He has started the last 12 matches and hit over .300 in 8 of them...Multiple aces in 6 matches.
*Daenan Gyimah began the week 3rd in the MPSF in hitting % with a .494 and hit .800 vs. Long Beach with 1 error in 15 swings to go with a team-best 13 kills. He has multiple blocks in 14/19 matches this season ... Had 10 kills each v. USC and Cal Baptist in first matches.
*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, .450 on 40 swings), came back to see action vs. Long Beach State after missing the previous six matches due to injury ... Arnitz has upped his hitting percentage from .227 as a freshman in 2015 to .313 in 2016 to .374 in 2017.
*Christian Hessenauer has started last 5 matches...Led team in kills 4 of last 6...73 kills in last 7 matches/ hitting .322 (73-26-146).
*Jackson Bantle is the only Bruin to appear in all 22 matches this season ... He is 10th on the all-time rally scoring digs list at UCLA, had season-highs of 14 digs vs. USC and 2 aces v. Harvard.
*Oliver Martin is hitting .636 in last 5 matches (31-3-44) he has played in ... Hit .213 in 2015, improved to .447 in '16 and is at .448 entering this week...His block per set mark improved from 0.4 to 0.9 to 0.95 this season ... Did not see action v. USC in first meeting of season.
*Eric Sprague has 10 kills in last 4 matches (10-0-15, 667) 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 12 matches ... Played both as a libero and a serving specialist this season...Season-best 8 digs v. Concordia.
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.
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.
Crosstown Cup - Currently, UCLA leads this season's Crosstown Cup competition between the two schools, 65-50, with the final five of the season's 10 men's volleyball points on the line in Wednesday's match.
Elsewhere in MPSF: Mar. 30 - UCSB at Cal Baptist, UCSD at Pepperdine; Mar. 31 - UC Irvine at Stanford, Concordia at Long Beach State, UCSB at USC; Apr. 1 - UC San Diego at Stanford; Apr. 6 - Cal Baptist at USC, BYU at UCSB; Apr. 7 - Stanford at UCI, BYU at UCSB, Pepperdine at UCSD; Apr. 8 - CSUN at Long Beach St., USC at Cal Baptist, Pepperdine at UC Irvine, Stanford at UCSD.
MPSF Standings (3/28)
Long Beach State 15-2 / 22-3
Brigham Young 14-2 / 21-3
Hawai'i 12-4 / 22-4
UC Irvine 10-5 / 16-6
UCLA 8-6 / 15-7
Stanford 6-8 / 11-10
Pepperdine 6-9 / 8-10
USC 5-9 / 11-12
UCSB 5-9 / 10-12
CSUN 5-12 / 12-14
UC San Diego 3-11 / 7-15
Cal Baptist 1-13 / 6-18
(Top 8 teams will advance to MPSF Playoffs;
Top 4 teams will host first round playoff match on Apr. 15)
Live Coverage — Fans can follow matches on UCLA's live Twitter feed @UCLAMVB and on:
*Wed. at USC ---Live TV - Pac-12 Network; Live stream --- http://pac-12.com/mens-volleyball/event/2017/03/29/ucla-usc; live stats ---http://www.usctrojans.com/gametracker/launch/gt_mvolley.html?event=1525641&school=usc&sport=mvolley&camefrom=&startschool=&; live internet radio ---http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/2016/8/16/live-audio.aspx (Denny Cline and Darren Preston)
*Sat. at Cal Baptist --- Live stream --- cbulancers.com/live; live stats --- https://portal.stretchinternet.com/cbulancers/; 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. 3 nationally in hitting percentage (.340), No. 4 in Aces per set (1.70) and No. 6 in kills per set (12.98), No. 6 in set assists/set (12.22), No. 12 in blocks per set (2.36), No. 26 in digs (8.33) and No. 21 in oppt. hitting % (.246) ... Individually, freshman Daenan Gyimah is leading the nation in hitting % (.494) ... 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 in a three-set match ... 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 16th in aces this week (0.39) ... Senior Michael Fisher's eight block assists vs. Princeton ties him for the 5th-most by a player this season in a three-set match.
By the Numbers - UCLA is 15-3 this season when serving up more aces than the opponent and have out aced opponents 26-4 in last three matches ... It registered a season-high 13 aces against Harvard ... Bruins are 14-1 record when winning first set of a match ... The Bruins have been even or out aced their opponent in all but the Ohio State, 2nd match at BYU, vs. Long 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 MPSF 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 10-2 at home and 4-5 in true road matches (1-0 neutral) ... 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.
*Mitch Stahl (7th in nation in aces, 0.53) has at least one ace in each of the last 14 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).
*Micah Ma'a sat out the last four matches ... In last 4 matches he played in: 21k-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 .
*Hagen Smith has set the team to a .380 hitting % over last four matches, including season-high .560 v. Harvard ... Tied his career high with 12 kills at Stanford (.429) ... Now 8th 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 and tied his career-best with 4 aces v. Lewis.
*Dylan Missry has 93 kills (11.7/match) in last 8 matches (93-26-180, .372), with a career-best 21 coming vs. CSUN ... Had career-best 4 aces at UC San Diego and has 13 in last 7 matches. He has started the last 12 matches and hit over .300 in 8 of them...Multiple aces in 6 matches.
*Daenan Gyimah began the week 3rd in the MPSF in hitting % with a .494 and hit .800 vs. Long Beach with 1 error in 15 swings to go with a team-best 13 kills. He has multiple blocks in 14/19 matches this season ... Had 10 kills each v. USC and Cal Baptist in first matches.
*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, .450 on 40 swings), came back to see action vs. Long Beach State after missing the previous six matches due to injury ... Arnitz has upped his hitting percentage from .227 as a freshman in 2015 to .313 in 2016 to .374 in 2017.
*Christian Hessenauer has started last 5 matches...Led team in kills 4 of last 6...73 kills in last 7 matches/ hitting .322 (73-26-146).
*Jackson Bantle is the only Bruin to appear in all 22 matches this season ... He is 10th on the all-time rally scoring digs list at UCLA, had season-highs of 14 digs vs. USC and 2 aces v. Harvard.
*Oliver Martin is hitting .636 in last 5 matches (31-3-44) he has played in ... Hit .213 in 2015, improved to .447 in '16 and is at .448 entering this week...His block per set mark improved from 0.4 to 0.9 to 0.95 this season ... Did not see action v. USC in first meeting of season.
*Eric Sprague has 10 kills in last 4 matches (10-0-15, 667) 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 12 matches ... Played both as a libero and a serving specialist this season...Season-best 8 digs v. Concordia.
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.
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.
Crosstown Cup - Currently, UCLA leads this season's Crosstown Cup competition between the two schools, 65-50, with the final five of the season's 10 men's volleyball points on the line in Wednesday's match.
Elsewhere in MPSF: Mar. 30 - UCSB at Cal Baptist, UCSD at Pepperdine; Mar. 31 - UC Irvine at Stanford, Concordia at Long Beach State, UCSB at USC; Apr. 1 - UC San Diego at Stanford; Apr. 6 - Cal Baptist at USC, BYU at UCSB; Apr. 7 - Stanford at UCI, BYU at UCSB, Pepperdine at UCSD; Apr. 8 - CSUN at Long Beach St., USC at Cal Baptist, Pepperdine at UC Irvine, Stanford at UCSD.
MPSF Standings (3/28)
Long Beach State 15-2 / 22-3
Brigham Young 14-2 / 21-3
Hawai'i 12-4 / 22-4
UC Irvine 10-5 / 16-6
UCLA 8-6 / 15-7
Stanford 6-8 / 11-10
Pepperdine 6-9 / 8-10
USC 5-9 / 11-12
UCSB 5-9 / 10-12
CSUN 5-12 / 12-14
UC San Diego 3-11 / 7-15
Cal Baptist 1-13 / 6-18
(Top 8 teams will advance to MPSF Playoffs;
Top 4 teams will host first round playoff match on Apr. 15)