Photo by: Don Liebig/ASUCLA
MVB at CSUN; Hosts Long Beach Saturday
February 26, 2020 | Men's Volleyball
THIS WEEK -- UCLA (7-7), ranked No. 12 in this week's American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll, will take a break from Mountain Pacific Sports Federation league action to begin a stretch of five straight matches against Big West Conference teams on Friday at CSUN (4-9). On Saturday, UCLA will host No. 4 Long Beach State (8-1) in the Wooden Center at 5 p.m. The Bruins enter the week with a 1-2 record versus Big West teams with a win over Beach and losses to No. 6 UCSD and No. 3 UCSB.
MATCH INFO
Feb. 28 - No. 12 UCLA at CSUN - 7 p.m.
Live Stats -- https://gomatadors.com/sidearmstats/mvball/summary
Live Video -- https://bigwest.org/watch/default.aspx?Live=2549&path=csun
Feb. 29 - No. 4 Long Beach State at No. 12 UCLA - 5 p.m. Wooden Center
TV - Pac-12 Network
Live Stats -- http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla
Live Video -- https://pac-12.com/mens-volleyball/event/2020/02/29/long-beach-state-ucla
Live Audio -- http://ucla.leanplayer.com/
This past Friday, UCLA fell in a four-set decision at Grand Canyon (25-20, 17-25, 23-25, 19-25). Cole Ketrzynski topped the Bruins with 14 kills (.500), Daenan Gyimah added 11 kills (.391). Last Wednesday, the Bruin dropped a non-league battle to No. 3 UC Santa Barbara (23-25, 22-25, 18-25). UCLA hit .169, its lowest mark of the season.Daenan Gyimah paced the team with nine kills, an ace and two block assists.
LAST MEETING -- UCLA lost in straight sets in last season's only meeting at Northridge (22-25, 16-25, 23-25) after being outhit by the Matadors .417 to .200. Earlier this season, UCLA handed Long Beach State its lone defeat of the year (Feb. 1) in the Pyramid. The setback was Long Beach's first at home in a regular season contest since March of 2016 and snapped UCLA's six-match losing skein against the Beach. The Bruins used a season-high 14.0 total blocks to key the victory (25-23, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23). Matt Younggren had a career-best 7 block assists and 9 kills in the win. Grant Maleski tied his career-best with two block solos and freshmen Alex Knight (4 block assists) and Mads Kyed Jensen (1 block solo and 3 block assists) each added then season-best efforts at the net. The last previous win by the Bruins in the series had been in a 2016 MPSF Playoff semifinal match held at BYU. Last season, Long Beach won in the Pyramid (20-25, 17-25, 19-25) on Feb. 16 and at Pauley Pavilion (27-29, 22-25, 17-25) on Jan. 19.
NOTES -- Daenan Gyimah has hit at least .400 in seven of the nine matches he has played in this season and has earned first-team AVCA All-America honors in each of the last two seasons while also being the recipient of the Ryan Millar Award as the nation's top middle attacker ... In matches it has won this season, UCLA is outhitting the opponent .358 to .199 and leading at the service line 62 aces to 28 --- In losses, UCLA is hitting .272 to .393 for its opponents and is trailing at the service line 34 to 43 aces ... UCLA's .489 hitting percentage in win at Ohio State is the highest by a NCAA team in four-set match this season ... Cole Ketrzynski has reached double-digit kills in eight of his last 10 matches (not UCSB, at Stanford) ... Ketrzynski's 17 kills in the win at Concordia (most by a Bruin true freshman player since Micah Ma'a put down 18 balls against Hawai'i in February of 2016) tied his season-high (also 17 at Long Beach, v. Ohio State, at Princeton) ... UCLA recorded a season-best 14.0 total blocks in the first meeting of the season at Long Beach with then season-highs from Matt Younggren (7), Mads Kyed Jensen (4), Grant Maleski (4) and Alex Knight (4) ... Austin Matautia has at least two aces in eight matches this season and tallied a career-high four aces at George Mason ... UCLA had a season-high 13 aces in its win over Ohio State ... Matt Younggren posted a career-high four aces in the win at Concordia ... Mads Kyed Jensen has at least four aces in five matches this season (Daemen-4, at Princeton-5, Penn State-5, Ohio State-4, USC-4) ... J.R. Norris IV led UCLA with two aces at Grand Canyon ... Cole Pender made his first starts at outside hitter in wins at Concordia (4ba) and vs. USC (8k, 3ba) ... Sam Burgi saw his first career action at George Mason, Kevin Kobrine debuted at UCSD, Ian Eschenberg made his first appearance of 2020 at Long Beach ... The last time UCLA held an opponent below .000 hitting% prior to Daemen (-.081) was in 2015 (Cal Baptist -.011).
ON THE ROAD -- UCLA, 5-5 so far in 2020, was 7-7 on the road last season, with a 2-1 mark in neutral site contests.
NCAA STATS -- UCLA entered the week third in the nation in aces average (1.92) and sixth in hitting % .318 ... Last season, UCLA finished fifth in the nation in hitting percentage (.323) and fifth in aces per set (1.73). Mads Kyed Jensen is sixth in the NCAA in aces this week with his 0.60 mark.
AT HOME -- UCLA,1-2 overall (1-0 in Pauley, 0-2 in Wooden Center) for far in 2020, was 10-1 at home (7-1 in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom, 3-0 in the Wooden Center) last season ... UCLA had won its last nine matches played in the Wooden Center before dropping the 2020 season-opener to Princeton on Jan. 30. Over the past four-plus seasons, UCLA is 39-5 in Pauley (2016: 10-1--lost to UCI, 2017: 8-1--CSUN, 2018: 13-2--Long Beach 2xs, 2019: 7-1--Long Beach, 2020: 1-0).
MPSF STANDINGS (2/26)
BYU 5-0
Grand Canyon 4-1
Pepperdine 3-2
UCLA 2-3
Stanford 2-3
Concordia 1-4
USC 1-5
MATCH INFO
Feb. 28 - No. 12 UCLA at CSUN - 7 p.m.
Live Stats -- https://gomatadors.com/sidearmstats/mvball/summary
Live Video -- https://bigwest.org/watch/default.aspx?Live=2549&path=csun
Feb. 29 - No. 4 Long Beach State at No. 12 UCLA - 5 p.m. Wooden Center
TV - Pac-12 Network
Live Stats -- http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla
Live Video -- https://pac-12.com/mens-volleyball/event/2020/02/29/long-beach-state-ucla
Live Audio -- http://ucla.leanplayer.com/
This past Friday, UCLA fell in a four-set decision at Grand Canyon (25-20, 17-25, 23-25, 19-25). Cole Ketrzynski topped the Bruins with 14 kills (.500), Daenan Gyimah added 11 kills (.391). Last Wednesday, the Bruin dropped a non-league battle to No. 3 UC Santa Barbara (23-25, 22-25, 18-25). UCLA hit .169, its lowest mark of the season.Daenan Gyimah paced the team with nine kills, an ace and two block assists.
LAST MEETING -- UCLA lost in straight sets in last season's only meeting at Northridge (22-25, 16-25, 23-25) after being outhit by the Matadors .417 to .200. Earlier this season, UCLA handed Long Beach State its lone defeat of the year (Feb. 1) in the Pyramid. The setback was Long Beach's first at home in a regular season contest since March of 2016 and snapped UCLA's six-match losing skein against the Beach. The Bruins used a season-high 14.0 total blocks to key the victory (25-23, 25-18, 22-25, 25-23). Matt Younggren had a career-best 7 block assists and 9 kills in the win. Grant Maleski tied his career-best with two block solos and freshmen Alex Knight (4 block assists) and Mads Kyed Jensen (1 block solo and 3 block assists) each added then season-best efforts at the net. The last previous win by the Bruins in the series had been in a 2016 MPSF Playoff semifinal match held at BYU. Last season, Long Beach won in the Pyramid (20-25, 17-25, 19-25) on Feb. 16 and at Pauley Pavilion (27-29, 22-25, 17-25) on Jan. 19.
NOTES -- Daenan Gyimah has hit at least .400 in seven of the nine matches he has played in this season and has earned first-team AVCA All-America honors in each of the last two seasons while also being the recipient of the Ryan Millar Award as the nation's top middle attacker ... In matches it has won this season, UCLA is outhitting the opponent .358 to .199 and leading at the service line 62 aces to 28 --- In losses, UCLA is hitting .272 to .393 for its opponents and is trailing at the service line 34 to 43 aces ... UCLA's .489 hitting percentage in win at Ohio State is the highest by a NCAA team in four-set match this season ... Cole Ketrzynski has reached double-digit kills in eight of his last 10 matches (not UCSB, at Stanford) ... Ketrzynski's 17 kills in the win at Concordia (most by a Bruin true freshman player since Micah Ma'a put down 18 balls against Hawai'i in February of 2016) tied his season-high (also 17 at Long Beach, v. Ohio State, at Princeton) ... UCLA recorded a season-best 14.0 total blocks in the first meeting of the season at Long Beach with then season-highs from Matt Younggren (7), Mads Kyed Jensen (4), Grant Maleski (4) and Alex Knight (4) ... Austin Matautia has at least two aces in eight matches this season and tallied a career-high four aces at George Mason ... UCLA had a season-high 13 aces in its win over Ohio State ... Matt Younggren posted a career-high four aces in the win at Concordia ... Mads Kyed Jensen has at least four aces in five matches this season (Daemen-4, at Princeton-5, Penn State-5, Ohio State-4, USC-4) ... J.R. Norris IV led UCLA with two aces at Grand Canyon ... Cole Pender made his first starts at outside hitter in wins at Concordia (4ba) and vs. USC (8k, 3ba) ... Sam Burgi saw his first career action at George Mason, Kevin Kobrine debuted at UCSD, Ian Eschenberg made his first appearance of 2020 at Long Beach ... The last time UCLA held an opponent below .000 hitting% prior to Daemen (-.081) was in 2015 (Cal Baptist -.011).
ON THE ROAD -- UCLA, 5-5 so far in 2020, was 7-7 on the road last season, with a 2-1 mark in neutral site contests.
NCAA STATS -- UCLA entered the week third in the nation in aces average (1.92) and sixth in hitting % .318 ... Last season, UCLA finished fifth in the nation in hitting percentage (.323) and fifth in aces per set (1.73). Mads Kyed Jensen is sixth in the NCAA in aces this week with his 0.60 mark.
AT HOME -- UCLA,1-2 overall (1-0 in Pauley, 0-2 in Wooden Center) for far in 2020, was 10-1 at home (7-1 in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom, 3-0 in the Wooden Center) last season ... UCLA had won its last nine matches played in the Wooden Center before dropping the 2020 season-opener to Princeton on Jan. 30. Over the past four-plus seasons, UCLA is 39-5 in Pauley (2016: 10-1--lost to UCI, 2017: 8-1--CSUN, 2018: 13-2--Long Beach 2xs, 2019: 7-1--Long Beach, 2020: 1-0).
MPSF STANDINGS (2/26)
BYU 5-0
Grand Canyon 4-1
Pepperdine 3-2
UCLA 2-3
Stanford 2-3
Concordia 1-4
USC 1-5
Players Mentioned
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