Bruin Seniors: Jonah Kay (6), Micah Ma'a (13), Dylan Missry (12), Spencer Sachs (21)
MVB Hosts No. 14 CUI for Senior Night; at USC Saturday
April 02, 2019 | Men's Volleyball
THIS WEEK -- No. 5 UCLA (17-7, 7-3 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action-MPSF) will host No. 14 Concordia (3-7, 14-16) on Thursday at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion, presented by Wescom in the final regular season home match of the season and Senior Night for Jonah Kay, Spencer Sachs, Micah Ma'a and Dylan Missry. The Bruins will finish regular season play at No. 6 USC (15-8, 6-4) on Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Galen Center. The Trojans enter the week having won eight of their last nine matches overall and own a perfect 10-0 record at home this year.
UCLA can clinch the top spot in the MPSF with two wins this week, along with a Pepperdine loss --or-- if the Bruins lose once and Pepperdine loses twice (as long as, if the UCLA loss is at USC, the Bruins win at least one set against the Trojans). The top team in the MPSF will receive a bye in the Quarterfinal round and host the semifinals (Apr. 18) and championship match (Apr. 20). The Quarterfinals will be held on Apr. 13 at 7 p.m. at the home courts of seeds 2,3 and 4.
MATCH DAY: Thursday, Apr. 4
No. 14 Concordia, Irvine at No. 5 UCLA - Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
Time: 7:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla
Live Video: https://pac-12.com/live/ucla
Live Audio: https://ucla.leanplayer.com/
MATCH DAY: Saturday, April 6
No. 5 UCLA at No. 6 USC - Galen Center
Time: 7:00 p.m. PT
TV: Pac-12 Network (Los Angeles)
Live Stats: https://usctrojans.com/sidearmstats/mvball/summary
Live Video: https://pac-12.com/mens-volleyball/event/2019/04/06/ucla-usc
Live Audio: https://ucla.leanplayer.com/
LAST MEETINGS -- The Bruins dealt Concordia a 25-17, 26-24, 25-17 setback in the first meeting in Irvine on Feb. 20. UCLA outhit the Eagles .356 to .101. The Bruins also won the battle at the net 8.0 total blocks to 6.0. UCLA had a seven to four edge in aces, led by a career-high tying four from Brandon Rattray who paced the attack with 13 kills. Gyimah finished with 11 kills and hit .529. UCLA defeated USC in three sets on Feb. 24 --- 25-21, 25-21, 25-22. UCLA out hit the Trojans .420 to .349 and had 12 aces (one shy of its season best 13 vs. BYU) to one for USC. The Trojans owned a 7.0 to 4.5 advantage in total blocks. Brandon Rattray had 17 kills and hit .583. Daenan Gyimah totaled 14 kills and hit .722 for the match.
ACE RECORD AND TRIPLE FOR MA'A -- Micah Ma'a, with 198, moved into the top spot on the UCLA career aces list against GCU (old mark Gonzalo Quiroga, 2011-14 ---194). Ma'a began the week in the career ace lead among active NCAA I-II players, just ahead of Dimitar Kalchev of CSUN (193). He needs two more aces to surpass his own school mark of 58 aces in a season (set in 2016) and become the first Bruin with 200 career aces. Ma'a has also registered the lone triple-double in men's volleyball this season with15 kills, 44 set assists, 15 digs in a match at BYU on Mar. 14. It marked the first triple-double by an MPSF player since Ma'a had one in the 2016 season.
AT HOME -- UCLA is 8-1 at home (5-1 in Pauley) this season after posting a 19-2 record in its home venues of Pauley Pavilion, presented by Wescom (13-2) and in the Wooden Center (6-0) last season ... It was the most home wins ever by the Bruins, one more than the 18 wins registered in 1987 ... Over the past three-plus seasons, UCLA is 36-5 in Pauley (2016: 10-1, 2017: 8-1, 2018: 13-2, 2019: 5-1) ... The last team not named Long Beach State (which also won in Pauley in February 2018 and May 2018) to defeat UCLA in Pauley was CSUN in February of 2017 (note: the Bruins did lose three home matches in the Wooden Center after the 2017 CSUN loss).
ON THE ROAD -- UCLA is 7-6 on the road this season (losses at Pepperdine, at Stanford, at BYU, at Long Beach, at UCSB, at CSUN). The Bruins have posted key road wins against ranked teams from Loyola-Chicago and Lewis. Last year, UCLA was 6-6 in true road matches in 2018.
CROSSTOWN CUP -- The Crosstown Cup is a trophy awarded each year to recognize the most successful program in the UCLA-USC rivalry. The winner of this week's volleyball match at USC will earn 5 points toward the Cup. UCLA leads this season's competition, 60-55.
NCAA STATS -- UCLA began the week 5th in the nation in hitting % (.326) and 5th in Aces/set (1.70) ... It is 6th in kills/set (12.90) and 6th in set assist average (12.19). Daenan Gyimah is 4th in the nation in hitting % (.479) ... Micah Ma'a rates 2nd nationally in aces (0.63 per set).
MPSF -- Each MPSF team has 12 conference matches. The MPSF Championship Tournament begins with seeds two, three and four hosting a quarterfinal match (April 13). Seed one receives a bye. The semifinals (Apr. 18) and final (Apr. 20) will be on the home floor of the No. 1 seed, with the winner earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament which will be hosted by Long Beach State on May 2 and 4. The Opening Round play-in matches of the NCAA Tournament will be held between April 25-30 at a site to be determined.
REMAINING MPSF MATCHES -- Apr. 4: BYU at GCU, USC at Pepperdine; Apr. 6: Concordia at Pepperdine, Stanford at GCU.
NCAA MVB TOURNAMENT - The field features seven teams, including automatic qualifiers from the MPSF (Pepperdine current leader), Big West (Hawai'i), Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assoc. (EIVA-Princeton), Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Assoc. (MIVA-Lewis), Conference Carolinas (Barton) and two at-large teams. The NCAA Men's Volleyball selection show is scheduled for Sunday, Apr. 21 at 10 a.m. on ncaa.com.
BY THE NUMBERS
• Micah Ma'a has totaled at least 3 aces in 10 matches this season: Grand Canyon-6, at Stanford-5, at BYU-3, at Loyola-3, at UCSD-3, UCSD-3, USC-4, Long Beach-4, BYU-5 and Lindenwood-5 ... He has 18 aces, 52 digs and 54 kills in last 6 matches.
• Micah Ma'a, who began the week 2nd in NCAA in aces/set (0.63), has at least one ace in 22 of 24 matches this year (not at McKendree or at GCU) ... Ma'a became the all-time school leader in aces against Grand Canyon (now has 198).
• Daenan Gyimah began the week fourth in the NCAA in hitting at .479 (1st in MPSF) ... The Bruins were rated 5th in the NCAA (2nd in MPSF) in hitting % (.326) and 5th (1st in MPSF) aces/set (1.70) to begin the week.
• Daenan Gyimah has totaled 17 matches this season with at least a .400 (not vs. GCU, at Pepperdine, at BYU, vs. Pepperdine, at GCU, vs. Princeton and at CSUN) ... He had a streak of 13 straight matches hitting at least .400 stopped at home against Pepperdine (.211).
• UCLA is 17-0 when it hits for a higher % than the opponent ... In 9 home matches in 2019, UCLA is swinging at a .324 clip vs. .223 for opponents and owns a 74-36 edge in aces ... In 13 true away matches - UCLA hits .318 to .300 for opponents and the visitors own a 71-67 ace advantage.
• UCLA is 7-7 this year vs. teams ranked in the AVCA poll at the time of the match, after going 14-7 last season.
• UCLA utilized its 11th different starting lineup of the season in its last outing on Sunday against Grand Canyon University.
• UCLA has won the ace battle in 17 matches (14-3) this season.
• The Bruins are 8-0 in 2019 when holding the opponent at or below .200 after limiting 4 of last 7 opponents to .180 or under (GCU .180, Penn St. .117, Ohio State .017, at GCU .170). Earlier, UCLA held Concordia to .101, BYU (home) to .118, UCSD to .066 and UCSB (in Pauley) to .183.
• Brandon Rattray ranks 10th in the MPSF in hitting % at .325 ... He registered a career-best 24 kills at Stanford ... Rattray began the week ranked 18th in the NCAA in kills/set this year (3.59) ... He has 251 kills this season after totaling 40 a season ago at UH where he appeared in 12 matches, with one start (2.0 kills/set; 0.8 digs/ 0.55 blocks per set).
• Grant Maleski, who has started the last 16 matches, compiled a career-best 9 kills at UCSB and totaled a career-best 7 block assists in win over Stanford ... He moved inside this season after seeing action in eight matches last season at OH, with two starts. Maleski has led or tied for the team lead in block assists eight times in those 16 starts ... He had a streak of 8 straight matches with at least one ace stopped at BYU.
• Senior hitter Dylan Missry (returned to starting lineup at Pepperdine) has at least one service ace in eight of his 13 matches this season ... Missry is seventh on the all-time school list for career aces with 86 (rally scoring era of 2001 to the present). Missry missed 11 matches due to injury before returning to play in a limited role at Stanford.
• MB Matt Younggren registered a UCLA career-best seven kills last week at Pepperdine ... He posted a season-high six block assists in the back-to-back MPSF home matches vs. BYU and Stanford, has appeared in 12 matches ... Last year, he saw action in 18 contests for UC Irvine.
• Libero Cole Pender has handled 164 of his last 168 serve receptions (.976) without error over his last 7 matches.
• True freshman Cole Pender (libero) saw his first career action against UCSD; R-Fr. Adam Parks took the court for the first time at CSUN and saw his first extensive action at Lewis; R-Fr. J.R. Norris saw his initial career action vs. Long Beach State and made his first start vs. Stanford; R-Jr. Jonah Kay saw his first action at UCSD. Alex Parks and Spencer Sachs saw action on the Chicago trip. True freshman Ian Eshcenberg, who made his first career start at BYU Thursday, saw his first career action this season at Long Beach State.
• Austin Matautia is out for the season with an ankle injury suffered against Penn State ... He hit .343 over his last five matches ... He was MPSF Offensive POW after leading UCLA to wins over Pepperdine (2/27) and Grand Canyon (3/1) ... He had a career-best 22 kills vs. Pepperdine.
MPSF Standings (4/2)
Pepperdine 7-3
UCLA 7-3
USC 6-4
BYU 6-5
Stanford 5-6
Concordia 3-7
Grand Canyon 2-8
AVCA Coaches Poll (4/1)
1. Hawaii 23-0
2. Long Beach State 21-1
3. UC Santa Barbara 17-5
4. Pepperdine 18-6
5. UCLA 17-7
6. USC 15-8
7. Lewis 20-5
8. UC Irvine 14-9
9. Stanford 14-10
10. Loyola-Chicago 17-7
11. BYU 12-10
12. CSUN 10-12
13. Purdue Ft. Wayne 16-9
14. Concordia 14-16
15. George Mason 14-7
UCLA can clinch the top spot in the MPSF with two wins this week, along with a Pepperdine loss --or-- if the Bruins lose once and Pepperdine loses twice (as long as, if the UCLA loss is at USC, the Bruins win at least one set against the Trojans). The top team in the MPSF will receive a bye in the Quarterfinal round and host the semifinals (Apr. 18) and championship match (Apr. 20). The Quarterfinals will be held on Apr. 13 at 7 p.m. at the home courts of seeds 2,3 and 4.
MATCH DAY: Thursday, Apr. 4
No. 14 Concordia, Irvine at No. 5 UCLA - Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom
Time: 7:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla
Live Video: https://pac-12.com/live/ucla
Live Audio: https://ucla.leanplayer.com/
MATCH DAY: Saturday, April 6
No. 5 UCLA at No. 6 USC - Galen Center
Time: 7:00 p.m. PT
TV: Pac-12 Network (Los Angeles)
Live Stats: https://usctrojans.com/sidearmstats/mvball/summary
Live Video: https://pac-12.com/mens-volleyball/event/2019/04/06/ucla-usc
Live Audio: https://ucla.leanplayer.com/
LAST MEETINGS -- The Bruins dealt Concordia a 25-17, 26-24, 25-17 setback in the first meeting in Irvine on Feb. 20. UCLA outhit the Eagles .356 to .101. The Bruins also won the battle at the net 8.0 total blocks to 6.0. UCLA had a seven to four edge in aces, led by a career-high tying four from Brandon Rattray who paced the attack with 13 kills. Gyimah finished with 11 kills and hit .529. UCLA defeated USC in three sets on Feb. 24 --- 25-21, 25-21, 25-22. UCLA out hit the Trojans .420 to .349 and had 12 aces (one shy of its season best 13 vs. BYU) to one for USC. The Trojans owned a 7.0 to 4.5 advantage in total blocks. Brandon Rattray had 17 kills and hit .583. Daenan Gyimah totaled 14 kills and hit .722 for the match.
ACE RECORD AND TRIPLE FOR MA'A -- Micah Ma'a, with 198, moved into the top spot on the UCLA career aces list against GCU (old mark Gonzalo Quiroga, 2011-14 ---194). Ma'a began the week in the career ace lead among active NCAA I-II players, just ahead of Dimitar Kalchev of CSUN (193). He needs two more aces to surpass his own school mark of 58 aces in a season (set in 2016) and become the first Bruin with 200 career aces. Ma'a has also registered the lone triple-double in men's volleyball this season with15 kills, 44 set assists, 15 digs in a match at BYU on Mar. 14. It marked the first triple-double by an MPSF player since Ma'a had one in the 2016 season.
AT HOME -- UCLA is 8-1 at home (5-1 in Pauley) this season after posting a 19-2 record in its home venues of Pauley Pavilion, presented by Wescom (13-2) and in the Wooden Center (6-0) last season ... It was the most home wins ever by the Bruins, one more than the 18 wins registered in 1987 ... Over the past three-plus seasons, UCLA is 36-5 in Pauley (2016: 10-1, 2017: 8-1, 2018: 13-2, 2019: 5-1) ... The last team not named Long Beach State (which also won in Pauley in February 2018 and May 2018) to defeat UCLA in Pauley was CSUN in February of 2017 (note: the Bruins did lose three home matches in the Wooden Center after the 2017 CSUN loss).
ON THE ROAD -- UCLA is 7-6 on the road this season (losses at Pepperdine, at Stanford, at BYU, at Long Beach, at UCSB, at CSUN). The Bruins have posted key road wins against ranked teams from Loyola-Chicago and Lewis. Last year, UCLA was 6-6 in true road matches in 2018.
CROSSTOWN CUP -- The Crosstown Cup is a trophy awarded each year to recognize the most successful program in the UCLA-USC rivalry. The winner of this week's volleyball match at USC will earn 5 points toward the Cup. UCLA leads this season's competition, 60-55.
NCAA STATS -- UCLA began the week 5th in the nation in hitting % (.326) and 5th in Aces/set (1.70) ... It is 6th in kills/set (12.90) and 6th in set assist average (12.19). Daenan Gyimah is 4th in the nation in hitting % (.479) ... Micah Ma'a rates 2nd nationally in aces (0.63 per set).
MPSF -- Each MPSF team has 12 conference matches. The MPSF Championship Tournament begins with seeds two, three and four hosting a quarterfinal match (April 13). Seed one receives a bye. The semifinals (Apr. 18) and final (Apr. 20) will be on the home floor of the No. 1 seed, with the winner earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament which will be hosted by Long Beach State on May 2 and 4. The Opening Round play-in matches of the NCAA Tournament will be held between April 25-30 at a site to be determined.
REMAINING MPSF MATCHES -- Apr. 4: BYU at GCU, USC at Pepperdine; Apr. 6: Concordia at Pepperdine, Stanford at GCU.
NCAA MVB TOURNAMENT - The field features seven teams, including automatic qualifiers from the MPSF (Pepperdine current leader), Big West (Hawai'i), Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Assoc. (EIVA-Princeton), Midwest Intercollegiate Volleyball Assoc. (MIVA-Lewis), Conference Carolinas (Barton) and two at-large teams. The NCAA Men's Volleyball selection show is scheduled for Sunday, Apr. 21 at 10 a.m. on ncaa.com.
BY THE NUMBERS
• Micah Ma'a has totaled at least 3 aces in 10 matches this season: Grand Canyon-6, at Stanford-5, at BYU-3, at Loyola-3, at UCSD-3, UCSD-3, USC-4, Long Beach-4, BYU-5 and Lindenwood-5 ... He has 18 aces, 52 digs and 54 kills in last 6 matches.
• Micah Ma'a, who began the week 2nd in NCAA in aces/set (0.63), has at least one ace in 22 of 24 matches this year (not at McKendree or at GCU) ... Ma'a became the all-time school leader in aces against Grand Canyon (now has 198).
• Daenan Gyimah began the week fourth in the NCAA in hitting at .479 (1st in MPSF) ... The Bruins were rated 5th in the NCAA (2nd in MPSF) in hitting % (.326) and 5th (1st in MPSF) aces/set (1.70) to begin the week.
• Daenan Gyimah has totaled 17 matches this season with at least a .400 (not vs. GCU, at Pepperdine, at BYU, vs. Pepperdine, at GCU, vs. Princeton and at CSUN) ... He had a streak of 13 straight matches hitting at least .400 stopped at home against Pepperdine (.211).
• UCLA is 17-0 when it hits for a higher % than the opponent ... In 9 home matches in 2019, UCLA is swinging at a .324 clip vs. .223 for opponents and owns a 74-36 edge in aces ... In 13 true away matches - UCLA hits .318 to .300 for opponents and the visitors own a 71-67 ace advantage.
• UCLA is 7-7 this year vs. teams ranked in the AVCA poll at the time of the match, after going 14-7 last season.
• UCLA utilized its 11th different starting lineup of the season in its last outing on Sunday against Grand Canyon University.
• UCLA has won the ace battle in 17 matches (14-3) this season.
• The Bruins are 8-0 in 2019 when holding the opponent at or below .200 after limiting 4 of last 7 opponents to .180 or under (GCU .180, Penn St. .117, Ohio State .017, at GCU .170). Earlier, UCLA held Concordia to .101, BYU (home) to .118, UCSD to .066 and UCSB (in Pauley) to .183.
• Brandon Rattray ranks 10th in the MPSF in hitting % at .325 ... He registered a career-best 24 kills at Stanford ... Rattray began the week ranked 18th in the NCAA in kills/set this year (3.59) ... He has 251 kills this season after totaling 40 a season ago at UH where he appeared in 12 matches, with one start (2.0 kills/set; 0.8 digs/ 0.55 blocks per set).
• Grant Maleski, who has started the last 16 matches, compiled a career-best 9 kills at UCSB and totaled a career-best 7 block assists in win over Stanford ... He moved inside this season after seeing action in eight matches last season at OH, with two starts. Maleski has led or tied for the team lead in block assists eight times in those 16 starts ... He had a streak of 8 straight matches with at least one ace stopped at BYU.
• Senior hitter Dylan Missry (returned to starting lineup at Pepperdine) has at least one service ace in eight of his 13 matches this season ... Missry is seventh on the all-time school list for career aces with 86 (rally scoring era of 2001 to the present). Missry missed 11 matches due to injury before returning to play in a limited role at Stanford.
• MB Matt Younggren registered a UCLA career-best seven kills last week at Pepperdine ... He posted a season-high six block assists in the back-to-back MPSF home matches vs. BYU and Stanford, has appeared in 12 matches ... Last year, he saw action in 18 contests for UC Irvine.
• Libero Cole Pender has handled 164 of his last 168 serve receptions (.976) without error over his last 7 matches.
• True freshman Cole Pender (libero) saw his first career action against UCSD; R-Fr. Adam Parks took the court for the first time at CSUN and saw his first extensive action at Lewis; R-Fr. J.R. Norris saw his initial career action vs. Long Beach State and made his first start vs. Stanford; R-Jr. Jonah Kay saw his first action at UCSD. Alex Parks and Spencer Sachs saw action on the Chicago trip. True freshman Ian Eshcenberg, who made his first career start at BYU Thursday, saw his first career action this season at Long Beach State.
• Austin Matautia is out for the season with an ankle injury suffered against Penn State ... He hit .343 over his last five matches ... He was MPSF Offensive POW after leading UCLA to wins over Pepperdine (2/27) and Grand Canyon (3/1) ... He had a career-best 22 kills vs. Pepperdine.
MPSF Standings (4/2)
Pepperdine 7-3
UCLA 7-3
USC 6-4
BYU 6-5
Stanford 5-6
Concordia 3-7
Grand Canyon 2-8
AVCA Coaches Poll (4/1)
1. Hawaii 23-0
2. Long Beach State 21-1
3. UC Santa Barbara 17-5
4. Pepperdine 18-6
5. UCLA 17-7
6. USC 15-8
7. Lewis 20-5
8. UC Irvine 14-9
9. Stanford 14-10
10. Loyola-Chicago 17-7
11. BYU 12-10
12. CSUN 10-12
13. Purdue Ft. Wayne 16-9
14. Concordia 14-16
15. George Mason 14-7
Players Mentioned
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