MVB Hosts Long Beach for NCAA Title Saturday

BRUINS ADVANCE TO FIRST NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH SINCE 2006 — No. 3-ranked UCLA (26-7, at-large) will meet top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Long Beach State (27-1, champion of the Big West Conference) in the Men's National Collegiate Volleyball Championshp match on Saturday at 4 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA owns an 19-1 record on its home courts this season, the best mark since the 1995 national championship squad went undefeated in 15 home matches. The lone home loss was in a February match against Long Beach State --- Beach d. UCLA 21-25, 25-23, 19-25, 21-25.
After Thursday's win over BYU, the Bruins have won all 11 previous NCAA semifinal matches they have played in Pauley (2018, 2005, 1996*, 1993*, 1989*, 1987*, 1984*, 1979*, 1975*, 1971*, 1970*) and gone on to win titles in all previous attempts but the 2005 event.

MATCH DAY: Saturday
NCAA MVB Finals
UCLA v. No. 1 seed Long Beach State
Time: 4:00 p.m. PT
Site: Pauley Pavilion
TV: ESPN 2
Live Stats: https://www.ncaa.com/game/volleyball-men/d1/2018/05/05/ucla-long-beach-st
Video:http://www.espn.com/watch/
Audio: http://ucla.leanplayer.com/

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.

Last Time--- In 2006, the Bruins earned a 3-0 NCAA Championship victory against Penn State to produce program championship No. 19 ... The Bruins were most recently in the NCAA Championships in 2016, held at 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 25 matches in a season was in 2006 when it captured 26 wins in its last championship season ... The last time UCLA won more than 26 matches was in the NCAA Championship season of 2000 when it posted a 29-5 record and defeated Ohio State for the title ... With the women's gymnastics program winning NCAA Championship No. 115 in April, UCLA is one behind Stanford for the overall NCAA championship lead.

BY THE NUMBERS
• Vs. teams in NCAA field this season, the Bruins have posted a 6-4 record (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; May 5: 3-1 win v. BYU).
• The Bruins are 19-1 (13-1 in Pauley Pavilion) in home matches this season ... last time UCLA went unbeaten at home was in 1995 (15-0) ... the lone loss this season came to Long Beach State in February (1-3).
• UCLA is hitting .373 in the 19 home matches this season to .208 for the opponents.
• The Bruins have held 12 opponents this season under .200 hitting % for the match, all wins.
• Daenan Gyimah was named the winner of Off the Blocks' Ryan Millar Middle Attacker of the Year award ... He has hit at least .500 in each of the last 10 straight matches ... Gyimah ended the regular season leading the nation in hitting percentage at .535 and was third in the NCAA in blocks.
• Micah Ma'a is three shy of his own UCLA season record and has at least one ace in each of the last 11 matches.
• The Bruin block has put up double-digits total team block numbers in each of the last five straight matches (61.0 to 33.0 UCLA overall edge).
• UCLA has hit at least .400 in 12 matches, all wins.
• Senior Jake Arnitz has hit .326 while starting in the last 13 straight matches (139-42-298) with 63 digs.
• The Bruins hold a 58-30 advantage in service aces over the opponent in the last 10 matches.
• In last 13 matches (11-2 record), UCLA is hitting .374 (625k-161e-1243 ta)...Opponents are at .217 (530k-251e-1287ta) during that period.
• 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 26-1 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: Feb. 21 home-.408/.315; Feb. 17 away- .343/.191).
• The 14-1 start this season was the best by a Bruin team since the 2005 squad, which advanced to the NCAA final that season, began 15-1.
• 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 19 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 319-171 overall as a collegiate head coach and 120-60 as head coach at UCLA.
• Christian Hessenauer tied his career-best with 22 kills vs. Harvard (also at USC this season) ... It is the most kills by a Bruin player this season.
• JT Hatch, who has started at libero (17 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.
• Jake Arnitz is moving up all-time school charts, since rally scoring began in 2001 - 4th in kills, 4th in total points and 3rd in total attacks.
• Oliver Martin is hitting .667 in the two NCAA matches (13-1-18) with a block solo and nine block assists ... 9 kills vs. Harvard was season-best.

2018 NCAA MVB Bracket
Apr. 26 - NCAA Opening Round (at Columbus, Ohio)
Ohio State 3 vs. King 0
May 1 - NCAA Opening Round (Pauley Pavilion)
Ohio State 3 vs. UC Irvine 2 - 5 p.m.
UCLA 3 vs. Harvard 1 - 7:30 p.m.
May 3 - NCAA Semifinals (Pauley Pavilion)
No. 1 Long Beach St. 3 vs. Ohio St. 1
No. 2 BYU 1 vs. UCLA 3
May 5 - NCAA Championship (Pauley Pavilion - 4 pm)
No. 1 Long Beach St. at UCLA

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MVB Hosts Long Beach for NCAA Title Saturday

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