MVB Picked for MPSF Top Spot in Pre-Season Poll
December 15, 2022 | Men's Volleyball
Coach John Speraw's UCLA men's volleyball team was picked to finish atop the standings in the 2023 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Preseason Coaches' Poll released on Thursday afternoon.
The Bruins, who finished 22-5 overall and advanced to the national semifinals after going 11-1 in MPSF play a year ago, collected five first-place votes from the league coaches in the poll. Headlining the list of returners for UCLA are 2022 MPSF Player of the Year and All-American setter Miles Partain and MPSF Freshman of the Year middle blocker Guy Genis.
Defending MPSF Tournament Champion Pepperdine was selected second with 28 points and one first-place vote. Stanford was picked third with 24 points and a first-place vote. Grand Canyon and USC totaled 19 points for a projected fourth-place tie. BYU (18) was just one point back from that pair, followed by Concordia (6) to round out the 2023 MPSF Coaches' Poll.
UCLA begins its 2023 season on January 5, 6 and 7 when it squares off against CSUN, UC San Diego and UCSB in the UC Santa Barbara Tournament. The Bruins then return home to host Princeton, a 2022 NCAA Tournament team, on January 14 at 6 p.m. in the John Wooden Center. The first MPSF match of the new season is against BYU on February 17 at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.
Each MPSF team is scheduled for 12 regular season conference matches. The regular season conference winner will be the No. 1 seed in the MPSF Championship Tournament, hosted by Stanford (Apr. 19-22). The MPSF Champion receives automatic entry to the NCAA Tournament two weeks later at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.
Rank /Team / Points (First-Place) / 2022 Record
1-- UCLA 33 (5) 22-5 Overall; 11-1 MPSF
2-- Pepperdine 28 (1) 19-10 Overall; 7-5 MPSF
3-- Stanford 24 (1) 14-14 Overall; 4-8 MPSF
4-- Grand Canyon 19 16-12 Overall; 6-6 MPSF
4-- USC 19 22-7 Overall; 8-4 MPSF
6-- BYU 18 8-17 Overall; 3-9 MPSF
7-- Concordia 6 10-16 Overall; 3-9 MPSF
