UCLA (5-0), which will host the 2018 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship in May, opened play this week with a straight set win (25-23, 25-18, 25-18) at the University of San Diego on Tuesday night. The Bruins now return home to Pauley Pavilion to play host to the 2018 AVCA Men's Volleyball Showcase and begin a stretch of six matches vs. Top 10-ranked opponents in the next seven contests.

The Showcase action, which will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network, begins on Thursday night in Pauley with No. 13 USC (3-2) meeting two-time defending champ No. 3 Ohio State (2-1) at 5 p.m.(live stats: uclalivestats.com), followed by the Bruins vs. No. 9 Penn State (2-0) at 7:30 p.m. (live stats:  uclalivestats.com; audio: http://ucla.leanplayer.com/ ) On Saturday, USC will play Penn State at 11 a.m. (live stats: uclalivestats.com) and the Bruins and the Buckeyes will battle beginning at 1:30 p.m.  (live stats: uclalivestats.com; audio: http://ucla.leanplayer.com/ ) All four teams in the Showcase own NCAA Men's Volleyball Championships --- UCLA (1970, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2006), Ohio State (2011, 2016, 2017), Penn State (1994, 2008), USC (1977, 1980, 1988, 1990).

The Bruins have opened play in the 2018 season with five straight wins --- last Wednesday, the Bruins rallied from two sets down to take out No. 6 UC Irvine 21-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-16, 16-14. UCLA began the season with a 25-17, 25-22, 25-20 win over New Jersey Institute of Technology from the Eastern Intercollegiate VB Association (EIVA); the Bruins then topped King University from Conference Carolinas 25-17, 25-16, 25-11, and McKendree from the Midwest Intercollegiate VB Association (MIVA) 25-21, 25-22, 29-27 in the Wooden Volleyball Classic.

JT Hatch had a season-high 13 kills (.480) and Daenan Gyimah tied his career-best with six block assists in the road win earlier this week at UCSD. Christian Hessenauer (13 kills-.524), Hatch (9 kills, 2 aces, 7 digs) and Gyimah (13 kills-.684, 3 blocks) helped lead the Bruins to the comeback win over UC Irvine last week. Jake Arnitz led the Bruin attack in week one by totaling 31 kills over three matches while hitting .390 on 59 swings. He added four aces and four blocks. Micah Ma'a set the Bruins to a .379 team hitting % for the opening week and a 5-match total of .357 which ranks sixth in the nation. 

UCLA moved up to No. 2 in this week's AVCA poll after being picked No. 4 in the AVCA Preseason Poll and second in the Coaches' Preseason Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) poll.  In 2017, UCLA finished fifth in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) standings and was No. 6 in the final AVCA National Poll. Head Coach John Speraw is closing in on a couple of milestone victories - #300 overall and #100 at UCLA as his current records are 298-164 overall as a collegiate head coach and 99-53 as head coach at UCLA. The Bruins enter the week ranked second in the nation in aces per set (2.64), set assists per set (12.65) and kills per set (13.82). JT Hatch is 9th in the nation in hitting % at .459. Daenan Gyimah, Micah Ma'a and Dylan Missry are tied for 10th in the nation in aces per set (0.58)

Penn State, from the EIVA, started the season with wins last week over Mt. Olive (3-1) and Alderson-Broaddus (3-0). The Bruins defeated Penn State last season in the AVCA Showcase event 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-17), led by Daenan Gyimah's 10 kills and 5 block assists. Ohio State, from the MIVA, is 2-1 on the year after dropping a five-setter over the weekend to BYU in a rematch of the last two NCAA Championships matches. OSU owns wins over Stanford (3-1) and North Greenville (3-0). UCLA lost a 1-3 decision (22-25,25-18, 21-25, 23-25) to Ohio State last season in the 2017 Showcase hosted by the Buckeyes. Jake Arnitz hit .440 in that contest with 16 kills and a couple of aces. 

Next up in the MPSF:
Jan. 17 - CSUN at Stanford
Jan. 18 - Penn St at UCLA, USC vs. Ohio St, NJIT at Grand Canyon
Jan. 19 - Concordia at CSUN, Barton College at BYU
Jan. 20 - Ohio St at UCLA, Penn St vs. USC, UC Irvine at Grand Canyon, UC Santa Barbara at Pepperdine, Concordia at UCSD, Long Beach St. at Stanford, Barton College at BYU