THIS WEEK
In its final week of non-league action prior to the start of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) play, the No. 2-ranked UCLA (8-1) men's volleyball team welcomes Princeton (TV/Video:TV-Pac-12 Networks; https://pac-12.com/mens-volleyball/event/2018/02/01/princeton-ucla ; Audio: http://ucla.leanplayer.com/; Live Stats:  http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla ) on Thursday to the Wooden Center and then travels to play Saturday at 7 p.m. at No. 4-ranked UC Irvine. (stream: http://bigwest.sidearmstreaming.com/watch/?Live=628;
 Audio: http://ucla.leanplayer.com/; Live Stats:  http://www.sidearmstats.com/ucirvine/mvball/ ) Irvine, 10-1 on the year, suffered its lone setback of the season earlier this year to the Bruins in Pauley and hosts Stanford in a match on Feb. 2 before taking on UCLA.

The Bruins have hosted Princeton (1-4, with match at UCSD on Wed.) from the Eastern Intercollegiate VB Association (EIVA) in each of the three previous seasons - 2017: UCLA 3-0 win, 2016: UCLA 3-0 win, 2015: 3-0 win. JT Hatch had 14 kills (.345 ) in last year's win. Princeton gained its lone victory this year in a five-set decision over Stanford. The Tigers lost to USC (1-3), Long Beach (0-3) and CSUN (0-3) on their first trip west this season.
 
In week two of this season, the Bruins rallied from two sets down to take out UC Irvine (21-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-16, 16-14) in Pauley. Christian Hessenauer and Daenan Gyimah (.684) led the way with 13 kills each. Dylan Missry added career-highs with five aces, 10 digs. The Bruins had 13 aces in the contest to three for UCI. The Bruins outhit the 'Eaters .317 to .243 and won the blocking battle 6.5 to 5.0. JT Hatch and Hessenauer provided the spark to turn the Bruin fortunes around. Hatch had five kills in set three and Hessenauer totaled seven in set four to send the match the distance.   

Gyimah is ranked third in the nation this week in hitting percentage at .465. UCLA is sixth in the nation in hitting percentage coming into the week (.326). Setter Micah Ma'a is eighth in the NCAA in set assists/s at 10.24 and is T14th in NCAA in service aces/s (0.47). Ma'a moved up to third on the all-time school list for aces after registered six over the weekend in the matches at Hawai'i. Ma'a and Gyimah shared MPSF Player of the Week Honors.

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.

LAST WEEK
Over the weekend, UCLA split a pair of non-league matches at No. 3 Hawai'i and snapped the Warriors' 26-match home court win streak in the process. Hawai'i won the first match (25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 19-25) in the weekend series halting UCLA's seven-match win streak and then the Bruins returned the favor by capturing the Sunday night match (22-25, 25-20, 25-22, 32-30). Hessenauer led UCLA with a career-high tying 20 kills (.457) in the winning effort. Missry (12k) and Oliver Martin (8k, 6ba) had season-best numbers in that match. The Bruins hit a season-low .209 at Hawai'i in the loss, but out blocked the Warriors 13.5 to 9.0 in the loss and 10.5 to 3.0 in the win. Gyimah led UCLA with a career-high nine blocks assists in the first match. Martin had six block assists in the win.

NOTES
• Head Coach John Speraw secured victory milestones (100 wins at UCLA- vs. Penn State; and 300 career wins vs. Ohio State) at the AVCA Showcase ... His current records are 301-165 overall as a collegiate head coach and 102-54 as head coach at UCLA.
• The 7-0 start was 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 sixth in the nation in aces per set (1.85) with Micah Ma'a and Dylan Missry tied for 14th in the NCAA at 0.47.
• The Bruins have held four opponents under .200 hitting % for match this year (King .103, Ohio St. .113, Penn St. .186, UCSD .160).
• Daenan Gyimah began the week 3rd in the nation in hitting % at .465...Micah Ma'a is 8th in the NCAA in set assists per set (10.24).
• Daenan Gyimah was named the MPSF/Molten Defensive Player of the Week (Jan. 28) - career-high nine block assists vs. Hawai'i and (Jan. 21) - 9 kills (.500) and seven BA vs. OSU; seven blocks vs. Penn State; six blocks at UCSD.
• Micah Ma'a was named MPSF/Molten Offensive POW after guiding the Bruins to .396 hitting % with 46 set assists in win at Hawai'i; he also had six aces in the pair of matches ---The Bruins are hitting .326 for the season which ranks sixth in the NCAA.
• 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.
• 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.
• Ohio State is the lone opponent to record more aces than the Bruins in a match this season ... The Bruins have had more total blocks than each opponent this season ... In its win, Hawai'i became the first team to have a higher hitting % than the Bruins for a match this season.
• Christian Hessenauer registered 20 kills in the win at Hawai'i, a figure which ties his career-best number set against Long Beach State in 2015 and is the most by a Bruin player this season ... He had 19 kills in the earlier win over Ohio St. to go with 13 digs.
• Dylan Missry posted career-high numbers for service aces (5) and digs (10) in the first meeting of the season over UC Irvine.
• Three true freshmen have seen action so far this season and each made contributions in the home win over UC Irvine - MB Ian Parish (4 kills), L Garland Peed (4 digs), Opp Colin Bailey (3 kills, 3 blocks). Sam Kobrine saw his first career action in brief appearance against Hawai'i (Jan. 26).
• 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 five matches - 12 -NJIT, 13-UC Irvine, 11-Penn St., 19-Ohio St., 20-at UHaw.2

Next Up in the MPSF
Feb. 2 - USC at Lewis, Grand Canyon at Lindenwood, Stanford at UC Irvine, UCSB at BYU, Concordia at Long Beach St.
Feb. 3 - Princeton at Pepperdine, USC at Loyola-Chi., UCSB at BYU, Grand Canyon at McKendree, Stanford at UCSD, UCLA at UC Irvine

AVCA MEN'S VOLLEYBALL POLL (Jan. 28)
1. Long Beach St. (25) 375  9-0
2. UCLA  341    8-1
3. Hawai'i  324    7-1
4. UC Irvine 294    10-1
5. Ohio State 287    5-2
6. BYU   248    5-3
7. Loyola-Chicago  225    6-2
8. Lewis  192    5-3
9. Penn State  165    3-2
10. Grand Canyon  130    8-2
11. CSUN  126    5-3
12. Pepperdine  122    3-2
13. USC  69    3-5
14. UC Santa Barbara  40    3-3
15. Fort Wayne  24    7-0
rec. votes - Ball St., George Mason, St. Francis, UCSD