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SAN FRANCISCO - Junior Madeleine Gates and sophomore Mac May were named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 Conference Team on Wednesday, while the Bruins were ranked fourth in the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll.
UCLA received 90 points in the poll, trailing only Stanford (121 points - 11 first-place votes), USC (100 points - one first-place vote) and Oregon (96).
Gates, an AVCA Second Team All-American and a VolleyballMag.com Honorable Mention All-American last season, led the Bruins with 1.19 blocks per set and a .338 hitting percentage, and was third with 2.82 kills per set. Also earning AVCA Pacific South All-Region First Team and All-Pac-12 First Team accolades as a sophomore, Gates posted 15 double-figure kills matches, 15 contests with at least five blocks and 11 matches with at least a .400 hitting percentage. She was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week last Nov. 6. Gates ranked seventh among Pac-12 players in bps and hitting.
May was named All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention and Pac-12 All-Freshman a year ago after leading the squad with 33 service aces. She added 2.59 kills, 1.06 digs and 0.42 blocks per set. May had 12 double-figure kills matches and at least a pair of aces in a dozen contests, ranking ninth among Pac-12 players in aces per set (0.30). She was twice named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week (Aug. 28 and Sept. 25).
The Bruins host UC Santa Barbara in an exhibition match at the John Wooden Center on Saturday at 11 a.m. Admission to the match is free of charge.
2018 Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Stanford (11 first-place votes) 121 pts.
2. USC (1 first-place vote) 100 pts.
3. Oregon 96 pts.
4. UCLA 90 pts.
5. Colorado 89 pts.
6. Washington 73 pts.
7. Washington State 64 pts.
8. Utah 47 pts.
9. Arizona 46 pts.
10. Oregon State 27 pts.
11. Arizona State 24 pts.
12. California 15 pts.
Preseason All-Pac-12
Madeleine Gates, UCLA
Mac May, UCLA
Naghede Abu, Colorado
Kara Bajema, Washington
Audrianna Fitzmorris, Stanford
Jenna Gray, Stanford
Morgan Hentz, Stanford
Khalia Lanier, USC
Taylor Mims, Washington State
Berkeley Oblad, Utah
Kathryn Plummer, Stanford
Alexa Smith, Colorado
Ronika Stone, Oregon
Lindsey Vander Weide, Oregon