No. 2-ranked UCLA (7-0), which will host the 2018 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship in May, travels to play this Friday (9 p.m. PT/7 p.m. HT) and Sunday (7 p.m. PT /5 p.m. HT) nights at No. 3 Hawai'i (6-0). Live Stats will be available for the matches at:
1/26 http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=201030; 1/28 http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=201031  
A streaming video feed is available for the matches at BigWest.tv  http://bigwest.sidearmstreaming.com/watch/?Live=676

Hawai'i, which moved over to the Big West Conference this season, dealt the Bruins a pair of home losses last season, each in four sets. Jake Arnitz (.395) had 20 killls in the first meeting, but UH outhit the Bruins .304 to .244 and won the block battle 10.0 to 8.0. In the second match, Arnitz blasted a team-high 14 kills (.385) and UCLA outhit the visitors .287 to .195, but could not overcome 31 service errors. UH advanced to the NCAA Championships and won the play-in game over Penn State before dropping a 0-3 decision in the semis to Ohio State.

Over the past weekend, UCLA captured its seventh straight win to open the season and handed Coach John Speraw victory No. 100 as head coach of the Bruins in a four-set win over No. 9 Penn State (25-15, 19-25, 25-20, 25-22) and then career-win No. 300 in a five-set victory over No. 3 Ohio State (25-18, 22-25, 27-25, 24-26, 16-14) in matches played at the 2018 AVCA Men's Volleyball Showcase in Pauley Pavilion. The wins kicked off a stretch of six matches vs. Top 10-ranked opponents over the next seven contests. The Bruins opened play last week with a straight set win (25-23, 25-18, 25-18) at the University of San Diego on Tuesday night. 

Christian Hessenauer led the attack versus the Buckeyes with 19 kills, 13 digs and four blocks. Daenan Gyimah added nine kills (.500) and a career-best seven block assists. JT Hatch and Hessenauer paced the Bruins vs. Penn State with 11 kills each. Gyimah added seven blocks. Micah Ma'a set the team to a .359 hitting percentage. Hatch had a season-high 13 kills (.480) and Gyimah added six block assists in the road win at UCSD. Gyimah was named the MPSF/Molten Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts in the three matches.
  
UCLA held steady at 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. The Bruins return home next week to face Princeton on Feb. 1 in the Wooden Center and will play at No. 6 UC Irvine (8-1) on Feb. 3.

BY THE NUMBERS 
• This season will mark the 15th time UCLA has played host to the NCAA men's volleyball championship - 1970 (UCLA champ), 1971 (UCLA), 1975 (UCLA), 1977 (USC), 1979 (UCLA), 1984 (UCLA), 1985 (Pepperdine), 1987 (UCLA), 1989 (UCLA), 1993 (UCLA), 1996 (UCLA), 1999 (BYU), 2005 (Pepperdine), 2013 (UC Irvine). The Bruins have captured nine NCAA championships in Pauley.
• Head Coach John Speraw secured victory milestones (100 wins at UCLA- vs. Penn State; and 300 career wins vs. Ohio State) at last week's AVCA Showcase ... His current records are 300-164 overall as a collegiate head coach and 101-53 as head coach at UCLA.
• The 7-0 start is the best by Bruins since the 2016 squad opened at 10-0 before losing at Hawai'i on February 5.
• The Bruins enter the week fourth in the nation in aces per set (1.92) with Daenan Gyimah and Dylan Missry tied for 8th in the NCAA at 0.50.
• The Bruins have held four opponents under .200 hitting percentage for match, including the last 3 contests (OSU .113/PSU .186/UCSD .160).
• Daenan Gyimah began the week 4th in the nation in hitting % at .484...Micah Ma'a is 10th in the NCAA in set assists per set (10.19).
• The Bruins are hitting .333 for the season which ranks 7th in the NCAA.
• The Bruins host nine of the nation's top 12-ranked teams in the AVCA pre-season poll this season- 1-Ohio St., 2-Long Beach St., 3-BYU, 7-UC Irvine, 8-Stanford, 9-Penn St., 10-Pepperdine, 11-CSUN, 12-USC.
• Christian Hessenauer registered 19 kills in win over Ohio St. to go with 13 digs - both numbers are team-highs for a Bruin player this season.
• Dylan Missry posted career-high numbers for aces (5) and digs (10) in the win over UC Irvine.
• Three true freshmen have seen action so far this season and each made contributions in win over UC Irvine - MB Ian Parish (4 kills), L Garland Peed (4 digs), Opp Colin Bailey (3 kills, 3 blocks).
• Jake Arnitz led the Bruins with 31 kills in the three match wins in week one, with a high of 13 kills against McKendree when he also added 3 aces and 3 block assists. Arnitz hit .390 for week one.
• Christian Hessenauer has led or tied for the team lead in kills in four matches - 12 v. NJIT, 13 v. UC Irvine, 11-Penn St., 19-Ohio St. 

NEW LOOK LEAGUE - Concordia and Grand Canyon have been added to the MPSF this season to replace teams (Long Beach St., UC Santa Barbara, CSUN, UCSD, Hawai'i, UC Irvine) which left to form the Men's Volleyball Big West Conference. Each MPSF team has 12 conference matches on its 2018 schedule, which features a home-and-away contest against each opponent. The 2018 MPSF Championship Tournament begins with seeds two, three and four hosting a quarterfinal match on April 14. The conference semifinals are on April 19, on the home floor of the No. 1 seed. The top seed will host the lowest remaining available seed. The Championship match will take place on April 21, at the same site, with the winner earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament which will be hosted by UCLA on May 3 and 5 in Pauley Pavilion.
Next Up in the MPSF --- Jan. 26: UCSD at Grand Canyon, Stanford at Long Beach St., Pepperdine at George Mason, BYU at UC Irvine, UCLA at Hawai'i; Jan. 27: Ottawa at Grand Canyon, Pepperdine at Ball State, BYU at UC Irvine, USC at Long Beach St.

AVCA MVB Coaches Poll (Jan. 23)
1. Long Beach St. (23) 373  7-0
2. UCLA (1) 348    7-0
T3. Hawai'i (1) 302    6-0
T3. Ohio St.  302  3-2
5. BYU   286    5-1
6. UC Irvine  265  7-1
7. Loyola-Chicago  216  4-2
8. Penn State 177  3-1
9. CSUN  165  5-1
10. Lewis  156  3-3
11. Grand Canyon  122  6-2
12. Pepperdine  108  1-2
13. USC  65  3-4
14. Ball State  40  4-2
15. UC Santa Barbara  37  3-1
rec. votes - St. Francis, UCSD, Ft. Wayne, Concordia