MVB Hosts No. 7 UCI and UCSD

Thursday, January 12

Los Angeles, Calif.

7:30 PM

UCLA

UC Irvine

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Junior Oliver Martin (4) and the Bruins take on UCI on Thursday in Pauley

Photo by: Don Liebig, UCLA Photography

MVB Hosts No. 7 UCI and UCSD

January 11, 2017 | Men's Volleyball

MVB THIS WEEK — The No. 2-ranked Bruins (2-1) open MPSF play on Thursday in Pauley Pavilion against No. 7 UC Irvine (4-0, Jan. 11 match at UCSB). First serve is at 7:30 p.m.The Bruins will then welcome another MPSF foe, UC San Diego (0-2, Jan. 13 match at UCSB) on Saturday at 7:00 p.m. in Pauley.
Live Coverage — Fans can follow matches on UCLA's live Twitter feed @UCLAMVB.
*UCI Match---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 - live video stream http://pac-12.com/live/ucla
*UCSD---Live TV Pac-12 Networks - 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
In The Rankings — The Bruins are No. 2 in the weekly AVCA national rankings.
Recapping the week that was — Top-ranked Ohio State defeated No.2 UCLA in four sets to capture its 25th straight match last Saturday. Scores of the match were 22-25, 25-18, 21-25 23-25. Jake Arnitz registered a team-high 16 kills, while hitting .440 to lead the attack. Arnitz added two aces, five digs and three blocks. Dylan Missry recorded eight kills (.389) and tied his career-high with three blocks. Daenan Gyimah totaled five kills (.364), an ace and three block assists. Ohio State out hit the Bruins for the match by .381 to .256. UCLA won the blocking battle 10.0 to 8.0. The serving game went to the Buckeyes 9 to 4. UCLA had 18 service errors to 26 fo OSU.
UCLA dealt No. 13 Penn State a 3-0 setback on Friday at Columbus, Ohio. Scores were 25-18, 25-22, 25-17. The Bruins hit over .300 for each set and were led by freshman middle blocker Daenan Gyimah's 10 kills (.500). Mitch Stahl added nine kills (.467). JT Hatch totaled five kills, two aces and a couple of blocks. Fisher finished with four kills, two blocks, seven digs and an ace. Micah Ma'a also had four kills, seven digs and two blocks. Smith recorded two kills, 19 set assists and four blocks. UCLA out blocked PSU 9.5 to 2.0.
The Bruins swept past host #11 Loyola-Chicago in the season-opening match for both teams last Tuesday. Scores of the non-conference contest were 25-19, 25-18, 25-16. The Bruins were led by the 11 kills of Arnitz, who hit .400 for the contest. UCLA out blocked the Ramblers 11.0 to 2.0 for the match and out hit their hosts .384 to .167. Stahl, who had seven kills, and Oliver Martin, who had four kills, keyed the Bruin block with six and five stuffs each. Ma'a topped the Bruins with seven blocks for the match and added 19 set assists. Hatch recorded seven kills while Smith registered six kills (hitting .500), an ace, a block and five digs.
Scouting the Opponent — UC Irvine opened the MPSF season with a 3-0 win over UC San Diego last week. The Anteaters also have posted wins over Grand Canyon (3-0), IPFW (3-1) and Concordia (3-0). They play at UCSB on Wednesday night.
UC San Diego dropped its opening match of the season at UC Irvine last week (0-3). The Tritons also lost to Grand Canyon 1-3. UCSD will play at UCSB on Friday night.
Who's Back— All starters return for the Bruins - OH Jake Arnitz, MB Mitch Stahl, MB Oliver Martin, S/Opp Micah Ma'a, S/Opp Hagen Smith, OH JT Hatch, Libero Davis Gillett. In addition, first subs Opp Christian Hessenauer, OH Michael Fisher, OH Dylan Missry, MB Eric Sprague are also back. Veteran Jackson Bantle returns as well as a Opp./Libero. Incoming players added to the roster include: Opp./S Sam Kobrine, S Reece Salmons, Libero Sam Jones, MB Daenan Gyimah.
Last season, UCLA ranked 3rd in the NCAA in kills per set (13.20), set assists per set (12.46) and aces per set (1.77); placed 5th in hitting % (.313); 6th in blocks per set (2.51) and 18th in digs per set (8.75). Individuals in the top 20: Aces - Micah Ma'a 5th at 0.48 per set / JT Hatch 14th at 0.39 per set; Blocks - Mitch Stahl 6th at 1.19 per set.
A year ago, the Bruins participated in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since it captured the program's 19th title in 2006 when it took on Ohio State in the semifinals.
Honors — 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.
By the Numbers - Jake Arnitz upped his hitting percentage from .227 as a freshman to .313 in 2016 ... Mitch Stahl improved his blocking average from 0.9 per set to 1.19 and his hitting % from .365 in 2015 to .471 last season ... Hagen Smith upped his kills per set average from 0.1 in 2015 to 1.2 in 2016 ... Micah Ma'a had at least one ace in 15 of the last 17 matches of 2016; and at least one ace in 27 of the 32 total matches; he had seven matches with more than a pair of aces ... In the process, he destroyed the old freshman ace record of Gonzalo Quiroga (39 in 2011) with 58 ... Oliver Martin increased his hitting percentage from .213 in 2015 to .447 in 2016 and his block per set mark from 0.4 to 0.9 ... Davis Gillett totaled 26 matches in 2016 with five or more digs ... JT Hatch had at least one ace in 13 of the last 16 matches and 11 matches with multiple aces -- he had 13 aces in 2015 and finished with 39 in 2016... Arnitz posted double-digit kills in 16 of the last 19 (11 of last 13) matches he played in 2016 ... Martin hit over .500 in 11 matches last season ... Smith had seven matches with nine or more digs and 12 matches with at least five kills ... Jackson Bantle had 16 service aces last season ... Ma'a had an MPSF high 7 aces in match versus CSUN on Jan. 29, 2016 ... His triple-double v. BYU (4/2/16) 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 Bruins' 10-0 start last year was their best since the 1998 squad earned wins in the first 16 matches of that season.
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: Jan. 11 -UCI at UCSB, Long Beach at USC, CSUN at Cal Baptist, Grand Canyon at Hawaii; Jan. 12 -McKendree at BYU; Jan. 13 -Ohio St. at Stanford, Grand Canyon at Hawaii, UCSD at UCSB, Concordia at BYU, Long Beach at Cal Baptist, Pepperdine at Loyola-Chi.; Jan. 14 -CSUN at USC, Ohio St. at Stanford, McKendree at BYU, Pepperdine at Lewis; Jan. 18 - USC at UCSB; Hawaii at Long Beach.