The UCLA men's volleyball team is ranked second in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I-II Top-15 Pre-Season Poll released on Tuesday. Coach John Speraw's Bruins posted an overall record of 22-5 and advanced to the national semifinals a year ago after finishing first in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation regular season race. This is the fourth time in the last five years that the Bruins have been voted into the No. 2 slot in the AVCA pre-season poll – also in 2022, 2020 and 2019. UCLA received one first-place vote in this week's poll while two-time defending national champion Hawai'i garnered the remaining 21 votes for the top spot.
 
Eleven of the AVCA's Top 15-ranked teams appear on the Bruins' schedule for 2023 and will meet the Bruins for a total of 19 matches this season. The ranked matchups include home contests against No. 15 Princeton (Jan. 14), No. 7 UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 20), No. 3 Long Beach State (Feb. 9), No. 8 UC Irvine (Feb. 26), No. 10 USC (Apr. 6) and No. 5 Pepperdine (Apr. 15). On the road, UCLA will square off against No. 1 Hawai'i (Mar. 11) as well as battle No. 7 UC Santa Barbara (Jan. 7), No. 13 Ohio State (Feb. 3), No. 4 Penn State (Feb. 4 and Mar. 9), No. 3 Long Beach State (Feb. 10), No. 8 UC Irvine (Feb. 24), No. 9 Stanford (Mar. 17 and 18), No. 11 Grand Canyon (Mar. 31 and Apr. 1), No. 10 USC (Apr. 8), No. 5 Pepperdine (Apr. 13) on the road.

The Bruins are slated to open the 2023 season on Thursday at the UC Santa Barbara Asics Tournament which features matches against CSUN (Jan. 5), UC San Diego (Jan. 6) and the host team (Jan. 7). UCLA's first home contest is scheduled for Jan. 14 against No. 15 Princeton which advanced to last season's NCAA Tournament.
 
The 2023 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship is hosted this season by George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. On May 4 and May 6.

2023 AVCA Pre-Season Men's Volleyball Poll
Rank        School (first-place votes)-Points         
1.            Hawai'i (21 first place votes) 328 points
2.            UCLA (1) 295
3.            Long Beach State 284
4.            Penn State 254
5.            Pepperdine 216
6.            Ball State 198
7.            UC Santa Barbara 187
8.            UC Irvine 161
9.            Stanford 156
10.          USC 133
11.          Grand Canyon 118
12.          Loyola-Chicago 106
13.          Ohio State 72
14.          Lewis 47
15.          Princeton 29

Also receiving votes on at least two ballots: NJIT 22, BYU 12,
CSUN 9, UC San Diego 8, Purdue Fort Wayne 2