MATCH DAY: Wednesday, Feb. 14
No. 15 USC (4-8, 1-1) at No. 2 UCLA (13-1, 2-0)
Time: 7 p.m.
Site: Pauley Pavilion
TV: Pac-12 Network
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=204497
Video: https://pac-12.com/mens-volleyball/event/2018/02/14/usc-ucla
Audio: http://ucla.leanplayer.com/

MATCH DAY: Saturday, Feb. 17
No. 2 UCLA (13-1) at No. 1 Long Beach State (12-0)
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Site: Walter Pyramid
Live Stats: http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=lbst
Video: http://www.bigwest.org/tv/

THIS WEEK - UCLA (13-1, 2-0), which will host the 2018 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship in May, continues Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) play on Wednesday in Pauley Pavilion against No. 15 USC (4-8, 1-1) in a 7 p.m. match televised by the Pac-12 Network. SoCal BMW Crosstown Cup points will be on the line in the match (5 points to winner). UCLA currently holds a 55-25 lead in the annual Cup race held in all sport competitions between the two schools. On Saturday, the Bruins will head down to play at No. 1 Long Beach State (12-0) in a non-league match which begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Walter Pyramid. The 13-1 start to the season is the best by a Bruin team since the 2005 edition secured 15 wins in its first 16 matches in a season which culminated in a loss in the NCAA Championship match (Pepperdine). UCLA won 16 of its first 17 matches to begin the 1998 season (loss to BYU) on the way to an 18-1 overall season start which ended in a NCAA Championship (Pepperdine). The Bruins earned wins in 31 of 32 contests in the NCAA Championship (Penn State) season of 1995 (lone loss was to Ball State). 
The last time a No. 2-ranked Bruin team faced the No. 1-ranked team was last season at Ohio State, a 1-3 loss in Columbus, Ohio in the third match of the campaign in the AVCA Showcase event. The last time the Bruins were ranked No. 1 was in the 2016 season in polls for weeks two, three, four and 12. UCLA has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the AVCA poll at some point in each of the past five seasons.

LAST WEEK - The Bruins used a season-high .494 hitting percentage to capture its sixth match in a row during a straight set win at Grand Canyon on Saturday (25-19, 25-18, 25-18). The victory marked the fifth straight contest in which the Bruins had registered at least a .400 hitting percentage. Christian Hessenauer led in kills (14) for the fourth straight match. Daenan Gyimah had a big match with nine kills (.667), three aces and six blocks. UCLA hit .400 on the nose in a win at Concordia last Thursday (25-18, 28-26, 25-17). Hessenauer led the team with 12 kills. The Bruins hit .430 hitting percentage in posting a decision over CSUN (25-21, 23-25, 25-18, 25-19) last Tuesday in Pauley. Hessenauer led UCLA with 17 kills. Dylan Missry added a season-high 15 kills (.609) and JT Hatch added 10 (.444).

MA'A POW - Setter Micah Ma'a was named Sports Imports / American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I-II National Men's Volleyball Player of the Week.The junior guided the Bruins to a .443 team hitting percentage while averaging 12.5 set assists per set in three winning outings.

NCAA STATS CHECK - Gyimah leads the nation in hitting % at .503. UCLA is second in the nation in hitting % coming into the week (.363). Ma'a leads the NCAA in set assists per set at 10.94 and is 11th in service aces per set (0.51). The Bruin team is second in NCAA in aces (1.98) per set.  

COACH SPERAW - Coach John Speraw achieved victory No. 100 as head coach of the Bruins earlier this season in a win over No. 9 Penn State from EIVA (25-15, 19-25, 25-20, 25-22) and then career-win No. 300 in a five-set victory over No. 3 Ohio State from the Midwest Intercollegiate VB Association (MIVA) (25-18, 22-25, 27-25, 24-26, 16-14) in matches played at the 2018 AVCA Men's Volleyball Showcase in Pauley Pavilion. 

RANKING - 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 MPSF and was No. 6 in the final AVCA National Poll.

OPPOSITION - USC split its first two MPSF matches last week at home. The Trojans took down Stanford in five sets (15-10 in the fifth set) on Thursday and lost in four sets to BYU (25-23, 21-25, 25-23, 27-25) on Saturday. Last season, UCLA topped the Trojans twice (4 sets in Pauley behind 20 kills by Jake Arnitz; three sets at Galen with Missry adding 10 kills and four aces). The Bruins hit .309 in first match and .373 in the away match... Long Beach State, which leads the nation in hitting % at .429, has run off 12 straight wins to open 2018. The 49ers are coming off of straight-set road wins at Harvard and at George Mason last week. The Beach has three wins over ranked opponents (at Lewis 3-0), (at Loyola 3-0) and at home over USC (3-0) and leads the nation in limitied opponents hitting % at .147. Last season, the Beach dealt UCLA a 0-3 setback in the Wooden Center after hitting .404 against the Bruins. Gyimah led UCLA with 13 kills and five blocks.

NEW LOOK LEAGUE - Concordia and Grand Canyon have been added to the MPSF to replace teams (Long Beach St., UC Santa Barbara, CSUN, UCSD, Hawai'i, UC Irvine) which left to form the Big West MVB Conference. Each MPSF team has 12 conference matches on its 2018 schedule. The 2018 MPSF Championship Tournament begins with seeds two, three and four hosting a quarterfinal match on April 14. The semis are 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.

BY THE NUMBERS
• The Bruins enter the week leading the nation in Set Assists (12.65) and Kills/Set (13.49).
• Micah Ma'a leads the NCAA in assists at 10.94/per set, while Daenan Gyimah holds the highest hitting % in the NCAA at .503.
• The Bruins have held seven opponents under .200 hitting % for the match this year (King .103, Ohio St. .113, Penn St. .186, UCSD .160, Princeton .123, .195 at Concordia, .179 at Grand Canyon).
• No opponent has had more total blocks this season than the Bruins ... UC Irvine (away) is the only team to equal the Bruins at the net this season.
• The 13-1 start this season is the best by a Bruin team since the 2005 squad, which advanced to the NCAA final that season, began the year 15-1...The 7-0 start this season was the best by the Bruins since the 2016 squad opened at 10-0 before losing at Hawai'i on February 5.
• 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.
• Micah Ma'a, 11th in NCAA (0.51) in aces/set, has moved into top 3 at UCLA all-time in aces - he ranked 25th in NCAA last season (0.33).
• Four true freshmen have seen action so far this season and three made key contributions in the big home win over UC Irvine - MB Ian Parish (4 kills), L Garland Peed (4 digs), Opp Colin Bailey (3 kills, 3 blocks). Redshirt freshman Sam Kobrine saw his first career action in brief appearance against Hawai'i (Jan. 26). True frosh Grant Maleski's first appearance came at Concordia (Feb. 8).
• Christian Hessenauer has led or tied for the team lead in kills in nine matches ---- 12-NJIT, 13-UC Irvine, 11-Penn St., 19-Ohio St., 20-at UHaw.2, 15-at UC Irvine, 17 v. CSUN, 12 at Concordia, 14 at Grand Canyon.
• 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 306-165 overall as a collegiate head coach and 107-54 as head coach at UCLA.
• Ohio State is the lone opponent to record more aces than the Bruins in a match this season ... In its win over UCLA, Hawai'i became the first and only opponent to have a higher hitting % than Bruins this season.

 AVCA Men's Volleyball Rankings (Feb. 12)
1. Long Beach St. (24) 374  12-0
2. UCLA  (1)  13-1
3. Hawai'i  323  8-1
4. UC Irvine  293 11-2
5. Ohio State  286 9-2
6. Loyola-Chicago 242  9-2
7. BYU   217 8-4
8. Lewis  205 8-3
9. Penn State  164  6-2
10. Grand Canyon  147  11-3
11. CSUN  119  7-4
12. Pepperdine  116  5-3
13. UC Santa Barbara 79  4-4
14. Fort Wayne  37  9-2
15. USC    4-8
rec. votes - George Mason, McKendree