TWO AT HOME THIS WEEK - No. 5-ranked UCLA (15-5, 4-2 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation), which will host the 2018 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship in May, welcomes No. 7 Pepperdine (10-4, 4-2 in MPSF) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion and then George Mason (10-7, 6-0 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assoc.) on Saturday night at 7 p.m. in a non-league affair in Pauley. The Bruins, with a 9-1 record at home this season, are beginning a stretch where they will play the next five matches on their home court.
In their first meeting of the year, the Bruins dropped a straight-set decision at Pepperdine on Feb. 23 --- 21-25, 23-25, 20-25. UCLA hit .203 in that contest and was out blocked 3.0 to 10.0 by the Waves who hit .455 for the match, the highest by an opponent this season. Jake Arnitz was the lone Bruin in double-digit kills (11). Daenan Gyimah, who had three blocks, was the only Bruin with more than one.
UCLA last played George Mason in the 2016 season. The Bruins began that season at GMU in Fairfax, Va. and earned a 3-0 win over the Patriots.
The 14-1 start to the 2018 season was 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 to Pepperdine.
MATCH DAY: Wednesday
No. 5 UCLA vs No. 7 Pepperdine
Time: 7 p.m.
Site: Pauley Pavilion
Live Stats: http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla
Video: http://pac-12.com/live/ucla
Audio: http://ucla.leanplayer.com/
MATCH DAY: Saturday
No. 5 UCLA vs George Mason
Time: 7 p.m.
Site: Pauley Pavilion
Live Stats:http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla
Video: http://pac-12.com/live/ucla
Audio: http://ucla.leanplayer.com/
LAST FEW MATCHES - UCLA dropped a straight-set decision in an MPSF match at BYU last Saturday --- 23-25, 21-25, 20-25. The Cougars became just the second team to out ace the Bruins (1-3) this season. BYU also won the blocking battle 10.0-5.5. Christian Hessenauer led UCLA with 16 kills (.387) in the four-set win at Stanford on Thursday. The Bruins dominated at the net, winning the blocking battle 11.5 to 2.0 behind seven block assists from Daenan Gyimah and six (tied his career high) from Hessenauer. Micah Ma'a led the Bruins with three aces as UCLA owned a 10-3 advantage at the service line over the Cardinal.
NCAA STATS - Daenan Gyimah leads the nation in hitting % at .500 and is 9th in blocks/set (1.14). UCLA is fourth nationally in hitting percentage coming into the week (.337). Ma'a is third in the NCAA in assists / set at 10.68 and 15th in service aces / set (0.44). The Bruin team is fifth in the NCAA in aces (1.82) per set.
COACH SPERAW - John Speraw achieved victory No. 100 as head coach of the Bruins earlier this season in a 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.
RANKING - UCLA dropped to No. 5 in this week's AVCA poll. The Bruins were No. 4 in the AVCA Preseason Poll and second in the Coaches' Preseason MPSF poll behind BYU. In 2017, UCLA finished fifth in the MPSF and was No. 6 in the final AVCA National Poll. UCLA has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the AVCA poll at some point in each of the past five seasons.
OPPOSITION - Pepperdine defeated Stanford in three straight sets (25-22, 25-21, 27-25) and dropped a five-set decision at BYU last week (22-25, 27-29, 25-23, 25-22, 15-11). George Mason has won its last six matches and is playing at CSUN on Friday. The Patriots are in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) and own a 6-0 league mark which gives them a two-match lead over Penn State and Harvard.
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 (at UCLA on May 3 and 5 in Pauley Pavilion.) Automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament also go the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA), the Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA), the Big West Conference and Conference Carolinas. There are two at-large bids to this year's tournament.
Next Up in the MPSF - Mar 7 - Pepperdine at UCLA, USC at UCSD; Mar. 8 - BYU v. Penn St., Loyola-Chi. at Concordia; Mar. 9 - BYU v. Lewis, UCSD at Stanford, Mt. Olive at Grand Canyon; Mar. 10 - Loyola-Chi. at Pepperdine, UC Irvine at Stanford, BYU at Hawaii
BY THE NUMBERS
• The Bruins have held eight opponents this season under .200 hitting % for the match (King .103, Ohio St. .113, Penn St. .186, UCSD .160, Princeton .123, .195 at Concordia, .179 at Grand Canyon, USC .141).
• Pepperdine posted opponent season bests of 10.0 blocks and .455 hitting percentage in their win in Malibu on Feb. 23.
• The Bruins hold a 53-21 advantage in service aces over the opponent in the last 10 matches ... The Bruins tied the school record with 15 aces in the match vs. Princeton earlier this season and also had tied school mark for aces in a set, with seven, vs. Princeton.
• UCLA was averaging 11 hitting errors per contest in the previous six matches (3.4 per set avg) prior to having 24 at Long Beach State in a loss on Feb. 17. It has averaged 17.2 in the last five matches (4.8 per set avg). Over the last five matches, UCLA is hitting .251 (216k-86e-518 ta).
• BYU became just the second opponent this season to record more aces than the Bruins in a match (3-1)...Ohio State is the other (4-2).
• UCLA is 14-0 when it hits for a higher percentage than its opponent ... The only matches UCLA has had an opponent hit for a higher % were in in losses to BYU (.318/.214), Pepperdine (.455/.203), Hawai'i (.236/.209) and Long Beach State (twice: home-.408/.315; away- .343/.191).
• 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, 15th in NCAA (0.44) in aces/set, has moved into top 3 at UCLA all-time in aces - he ranked 25th in NCAA last season (0.33) ... Ma'a has 38 digs in the last five matches (7.6 avg.).
• Five true freshmen have seen action so far this season and three made key contributions in home win over UCI - 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 against Hawai'i (Jan. 26). True frosh Grant Maleski's first appearance came at Concordia (Feb. 8), while Alex Parks debuted at Long Beach (Feb. 17).
• Christian Hessenauer has led or tied for the team lead in kills in 11 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, 16 at Stanford, 8 at BYU.
• JT Hatch, at .329 so far this season, hit a career-best .328 in 2017 and had a season-high 24 kills and 16 digs at Pepperdine last season.
• Jake Arnitz led the Bruins with 11 kills on 26 swings at Pepperdine ... He is moving up all-time school charts, since rally scoring began in 2001 - 6th in kills, 8th in total points and 4th in total attacks.
THIS WEEK'S AVCA POLL
1. Long Beach St. (25) 375 16-0
2. Hawai'i 350 11-2
3. UC Irvine 309 12-4
4. BYU 303 14-4
5. UCLA 273 15-5
6. Loyola-Chicago 253 15-3
7. Pepperdine 213 10-4
8. Lewis 209 13-5
9. Ohio State 189 13-4
10. Ball State 124 10-7
11. Penn State 82 10-4
12. CSUN 76 8-7
13. Grand Canyon 71 12-6
14. Concordia 63 8-8
14. UC Santa Barbara 63 7-5
rec. votes - George Mason, Fort Wayne