Photo by: Don Liebig/ASUCLA
MVB Opens NCAA Play on Tuesday
May 01, 2018 | Men's Volleyball
BRUINS EARN AT-LARGE BID TO NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS — No. 3-ranked UCLA (24-7, at-large) will take on Harvard (13-13, Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association-EIVA champion) on Tuesday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. PT in an NCAA men's volleyball championship Opening Round match to be held in Pauley Pavilion. The winner will advance to the Semifinals to be held on Thursday,May 3 in Pauley at 7:30 p.m. to take on No. 2-seeded and No. 2-ranked BYU (22-6, champion of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation-MPSF).
MATCH DAY: Tuesday
NCAA Opening Round
UCLA v. Harvard
Time: 7:30 p.m. PT
Site: Pauley Pavilion
Live Stats: https://www.ncaa.com/game/volleyball-men/d1/2018/05/01/harvard-ucla
Video:http://pac-12.com/live/ucla
Audio: http://ucla.leanplayer.com/
2018 NCAA MVB Championship Bracket
Apr. 26 - NCAA Opening Round (at Columbus, Ohio)
Ohio State d. King 3-0
May 1 - NCAA Opening Round (Pauley Pavilion)
Ohio State vs. UC Irvine - 5 p.m.
UCLA vs. Harvard - 7:30 p.m.
May 3 - NCAA Semifinals (Pauley Pavilion)
No. 1 seed Long Beach St. vs. winner of Ohio St. v. UCI-5 p.m.
No. 2 seed BYU vs. winner of UCLA v. Harvard - 7:30 p.m.
May 5 - NCAA Championship (Pauley Pavilion - 4 pm) ESPNU
The Bruins, who have won nine of their last 11 overall matches, did not face Harvard during the 2018 regular season. The two teams met last season which resulted in a UCLA sweep in Pauley Pavilion on March 11 (25-11, 25-17, 25-17). UCLA hit .560 with 13 aces and 5.5 blocks --- Harvard hit .294 with 0 aces and 0.0 blocks.
Last Time---UCLA's last NCAA win came in the championship season of 2006, a 3-0 victory against Penn State which produced program championship No. 19 ... The Bruins' last NCAA tournament experience came as an at-large team in the 2016 event, hosted by Penn State, where UCLA lost a semifinal match to eventual national champion Ohio State (2-3) ... Current Bruins Oliver Martin, JT Hatch, Micah Ma'a and Jake Arnitz each saw action against the Buckeyes in that match ... The last time UCLA won more than 24 matches in a season was in 2016, when it went 25-7 and advanced to the NCAA semifinals --- The 2006 team won 26 matches in its championship season.
POST-SEASON HONORS - Daenan Gyimah and Micah Ma'a earned first-team AVCA All-America honors. Christian Hessenauer, JT Hatch and Jake Arnitz were named honorable mention. Ma'a had been a first-team pick as a freshman in 2016. Arnitz was selected to the AVCA second-team in each of the two previous seasons. Hatch was an honorable mention choice in 2015. These are the first AVCA honors for Gyimah and Hessenauer. Gyimah was also named the winner of Off the Block's Ryan Millar Award as the best middle attacker in the nation. Seven Bruins earned all-league honors. Four were chosen first-team All-MPSF – Arnitz, Hessenauer, Ma'a, Gyimah. Second-team honors went to Hatch and Dylan Missry. Oliver Martin was an honorable mention selection. Arnitz was a first-team honoree for the third straight season.This is the first all-league honor for Hessenauer who ranks in the top 15 in the MPSF league statistics in five categories. Ma'a, who was an honorable mention pick last season and first-teammer in 2016, leads the MPSF in set assists average. Gyimah, an honorable mention selection last season, paced the MPSF with a .582 mark in league matches. Hatch merited All-MPSF honors for the fourth straight season (hon. ment. in '17 and '16, second-team in '15). Missry and Martin earned their first All-MPSF honors.
NCAA STATS - Deanan Gyimah ended the regular season leading the nation in hitting percentage at .535 and was listed third in blocks/set (1.22). UCLA was second nationally in hitting percentage (.350). Micah Ma'a rated fifth in the NCAA in assists / set at 10.56. The Bruin team was listed fifth in the NCAA in aces (1.72) per set and third in the nation in kills per set (13.02).
RANKING - UCLA finished the regular season in the No. 3 spot in the 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.
BY THE NUMBERS
• Vs. teams in NCAA MVB field this season, the Bruins went 5-4 (Jan. 5: 3-0 win v. King; Jan. 10: 3-2 win v. UC Irvine; Jan. 20: 3-2 win v. Ohio State; Feb. 3: 3-1 win at UC Irvine; Feb. 17: 1-3 loss at Long Beach; Feb. 21: 1-3 loss v. Long Beach: Mar. 3: 0-3 loss at BYU; Apr. 7: 3-0 win v. BYU; Apr. 21: 1-3 loss at BYU).
• The Bruins are 17-1 (11-1 in Pauley Pavilion) in home matches. UCLA, 1-0 on a neutral court, was 6-6 overall on the road.
• UCLA is hitting .375 in the 18 home matches this season to .202 for the opponents and has lost just 12 sets with 10 sweeps ... On the road, UCLA has hit for a .316 mark and opponents have registered a .277 hitting percentage.
• UCLA had hit at least .343 in 10 straight matches (9-1 record) before producing a .204 mark in the MPSF Championship match setback at BYU on Apr. 21 ... Prior to that, the last time the Bruins hit below .300 in a match came in the Mar. 3 loss at BYU (.214).
• The Bruins have held 11 opponents this season under .200 hitting % for the match, all wins (King .103, Ohio St. .113, Penn St. .186, UCSD .160, Princeton .123, .195 at Concordia, .179 at Grand Canyon, USC .141, George Mason .123, UCSB .099, Stanford .057).
• Daenan Gyimah was named the winner of Off the Blocks' Ryan Millar Middle Attacker of the Year award ... He had a team-high 6 blocks in the MPSF semifinal win over Concordia, while hitting .571, registered a career-high 17 kills in the home win over Pepperdine (Mar. 7) on a .889 (17-1-18) hitting percentage, just shy of the Bruin school record and the best mark by a NCAA player this season ... Gyimah ended the regular season leading the nation in hitting percentage at .535 and was third in the NCAA in blocks/set (1.22).
• UCLA has hit at least .400 in 12 matches, all wins --- .400 v. BYU(h), .446 v. UCSB(h), . 493 v. George Mason(h), .412 v. Pepperdine(h), .458 v. USC(h), .494 at Grand Canyon, .400 at Concordia, .430 v. CSUN(h), .455 v. UC Irvine(h), .414 v. Princeton(h), .403 v. King(h).
• Senior Jake Arnitz has hit .333 while starting in the last 11 straight matches (118-36-246) with 53 digs.
• The Bruins hold a 59-30 advantage in service aces over the opponent in last 10 matches and tied the school record with 15 aces in the match vs. Princeton earlier this season and also had tied the school mark for aces in a set, with seven, in that same match.
• Only four times this season have opponents recorded more aces than UCLA----at BYU Apr. 21 (5-6), Pepperdine(h) (3-5), at BYU Mar. 3 (1-3) and Ohio State(h) (2-4).
• UCLA is 24-1 when it hits for a higher % than its opponent (only loss at USC)... The only matches in which UCLA has been outhit by an opponent were in losses at BYU, Apr. 21 (.225/.204), at BYU, Mar. 3 (.318/.214), at Pepperdine (.455/.203), at Hawai'i (.236/.209), Long Beach State (twice: home-.408/.315; away- .343/.191).
• The 14-1 start was the best by a Bruin team since the 2005 squad, which advanced to the NCAA final that season, began 15-1.
• This is 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, 10th in NCAA (0.48) in aces/set to begin the NCAAs, has moved up to second at UCLA all-time in aces - he ranked 25th in NCAA last season (0.33) ... Ma'a has an aces in each of his last nine matches and a total of 22 aces in those 9 matches.
• Seven freshmen have seen action this season - MB Ian Parish, L Garland Peed, Opp Colin Bailey played large roles in the home win over UC Irvine. 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). Sam Jones saw his first action vs. BYU (Apr. 7).
• Christian Hessenauer has led/tied for team lead in kills in 17 matches this season.
• Head Coach John Speraw secured victory milestones (100 wins at UCLA- vs. Penn State; and 300 career wins vs. Ohio State) at this season's AVCA Showcase ... His current records are 317-171 overall as a collegiate head coach and 118-60 as head coach at UCLA.
• JT Hatch, who has started at libero (15 matches) and at outside hitter (15) this season, is swinging at a .329 clip so far in 2018. He hit a career-best .328 in 2017 and had a season-high 24 kills and 16 digs at Pepperdine last season.
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