THIS WEEK — UCLA (19-2, 4-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) is ranked No. 3 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and will return to MPSF action this week with a pair of matches at No. 10 Stanford (9-8, 2-2) on Friday and Saturday.
With a win this week, the Bruins would post the first back-to-back 20-win seasons by the program since the 2012 and 2013 squads finished with 22 and 21 wins, respectively. In 2022, UCLA recorded a 22-5 record which was the most wins in a season since the 2016 Bruins won 25 matches.
• First Serve at Stanford (Fri. Mar. 17): 7:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=438930
Video: https://pac-12.com/live/stanford-university
• First Serve at Stanford (Sat. Mar. 18): 5:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=438931
Video: https://pac-12.com/live/stanford-university
UCLA registered its 10th straight win in the Outrigger Invitational against Purdue Fort Wayne which was the longest win streak by a Bruin team since the 2016 squad also ran off a string of 10 consecutive wins. The last time a UCLA team won more than 10 straight was in 2006 when it won the last 14 matches of the season on the way to winning the national title over Penn State.
Following the matches at Stanford, the Bruins will take a break for exams and then return to the court for a pair of matches at No. 5 Grand Canyon (5-1) on March 31 and April 1. UCLA finished the non-league portion of its schedule with records of 10-1 vs. the Big West Conference; 3-1 vs. EIVA; 2-0 vs. MIVA.
UCLA AND RANKINGS -- UCLA slipped to No. 3 in this week's AVCA Poll after the loss to Hawai'i in the Outrigger Invitational ... the Bruins earned the No. 2 spot in the pre-season AVCA poll for the fourth time in the past five seasons ... UCLA has now been ranked as high as No. 2 in the AVCA poll at some point in 7 of the last 8 seasons (not in 2021) ... The Bruins finished the 2022 season listed fourth in the final AVCA poll after being as high as No. 1 for nine weeks during the year ... UCLA has ended a season ranked No. 1 in the AVCA poll a record nine times (1987, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1995,1996, 1998, 2000, 2006) over the years.
TEAM NCAA RANKING NOTES -- UCLA began the week leading the nation in hitting percentage (.373; the Bruins led the nation in hitting % last season as well at .374) ... the Bruins are 3rd nationally with an average of 2.06 aces per set which is helped by a school-record tying 18 aces by the Bruins against UCSD (1/6) ... UCLA has five matches this season with at least 10 aces ... the Bruins began the week also listed in the top 10 nationally in set assists (3rd-12.12), kills (3rd-12.82), blocks (3rd-2.63) and opponent hitting % (9th .217).
MPSF -- The Bruins (4-0) have kicked off MPSF play with a pair of 3-0 sweeps over both BYU and Concordia-Irvine ... UCLA, which finished atop the 2022 MPSF standings with an 11-1 record, is picked to repeat by the coaches in 2023 ... The '23 Pre-season MPSF coaches poll: 1-UCLA, 2-Pepperdine, 3-Stanford, T4-Grand Canyon, T4-USC, 6-BYU, 7-CUI ... this year's MPSF Post-Season Tournament, which determines the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament, will be held at Stanford, with video coverage provided by FloSports, as the location will rotate among the league schools going forward.
PLAYER/COACH NOTES -- Ido David was named MPSF Offensive POW after recording 42 kills in the matches against Penn St. and Hawai'i ... Merrick McHenry was the offtheblockblog.com Co-Middle Attacker of the Week after hitting .633 at the Outrigger ... David and McHenry were named to the Outrigger All-Tournament Team ... Guy Genis has 34 blocks over the last 9 matches ... Troy Gooch has handled 147 serves with 3 errors over last 8 matches ... J.R. Norris IV is hitting .608 over last 13 matches (53k, 8e, 74 att) ... Merrick McHenry has hit at least .500 in each of the last 7 matches ... John Speraw captured his 400th career win as a men's collegiate head coach against No. 6 UC Irvine (2/26) ... in a match at UCI (2/24), he won his 200th match while head coach at UCLA ... Zach Rama had a season-best 12 kills in matches against Hawai'i and Purdue Fort Wayne ... the Bruins are hitting .379 in his Andrew Rowan's 16 starts.
With a win this week, the Bruins would post the first back-to-back 20-win seasons by the program since the 2012 and 2013 squads finished with 22 and 21 wins, respectively. In 2022, UCLA recorded a 22-5 record which was the most wins in a season since the 2016 Bruins won 25 matches.
• First Serve at Stanford (Fri. Mar. 17): 7:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=438930
Video: https://pac-12.com/live/stanford-university
• First Serve at Stanford (Sat. Mar. 18): 5:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=438931
Video: https://pac-12.com/live/stanford-university
UCLA registered its 10th straight win in the Outrigger Invitational against Purdue Fort Wayne which was the longest win streak by a Bruin team since the 2016 squad also ran off a string of 10 consecutive wins. The last time a UCLA team won more than 10 straight was in 2006 when it won the last 14 matches of the season on the way to winning the national title over Penn State.
Following the matches at Stanford, the Bruins will take a break for exams and then return to the court for a pair of matches at No. 5 Grand Canyon (5-1) on March 31 and April 1. UCLA finished the non-league portion of its schedule with records of 10-1 vs. the Big West Conference; 3-1 vs. EIVA; 2-0 vs. MIVA.
UCLA AND RANKINGS -- UCLA slipped to No. 3 in this week's AVCA Poll after the loss to Hawai'i in the Outrigger Invitational ... the Bruins earned the No. 2 spot in the pre-season AVCA poll for the fourth time in the past five seasons ... UCLA has now been ranked as high as No. 2 in the AVCA poll at some point in 7 of the last 8 seasons (not in 2021) ... The Bruins finished the 2022 season listed fourth in the final AVCA poll after being as high as No. 1 for nine weeks during the year ... UCLA has ended a season ranked No. 1 in the AVCA poll a record nine times (1987, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1995,1996, 1998, 2000, 2006) over the years.
TEAM NCAA RANKING NOTES -- UCLA began the week leading the nation in hitting percentage (.373; the Bruins led the nation in hitting % last season as well at .374) ... the Bruins are 3rd nationally with an average of 2.06 aces per set which is helped by a school-record tying 18 aces by the Bruins against UCSD (1/6) ... UCLA has five matches this season with at least 10 aces ... the Bruins began the week also listed in the top 10 nationally in set assists (3rd-12.12), kills (3rd-12.82), blocks (3rd-2.63) and opponent hitting % (9th .217).
MPSF -- The Bruins (4-0) have kicked off MPSF play with a pair of 3-0 sweeps over both BYU and Concordia-Irvine ... UCLA, which finished atop the 2022 MPSF standings with an 11-1 record, is picked to repeat by the coaches in 2023 ... The '23 Pre-season MPSF coaches poll: 1-UCLA, 2-Pepperdine, 3-Stanford, T4-Grand Canyon, T4-USC, 6-BYU, 7-CUI ... this year's MPSF Post-Season Tournament, which determines the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament, will be held at Stanford, with video coverage provided by FloSports, as the location will rotate among the league schools going forward.
PLAYER/COACH NOTES -- Ido David was named MPSF Offensive POW after recording 42 kills in the matches against Penn St. and Hawai'i ... Merrick McHenry was the offtheblockblog.com Co-Middle Attacker of the Week after hitting .633 at the Outrigger ... David and McHenry were named to the Outrigger All-Tournament Team ... Guy Genis has 34 blocks over the last 9 matches ... Troy Gooch has handled 147 serves with 3 errors over last 8 matches ... J.R. Norris IV is hitting .608 over last 13 matches (53k, 8e, 74 att) ... Merrick McHenry has hit at least .500 in each of the last 7 matches ... John Speraw captured his 400th career win as a men's collegiate head coach against No. 6 UC Irvine (2/26) ... in a match at UCI (2/24), he won his 200th match while head coach at UCLA ... Zach Rama had a season-best 12 kills in matches against Hawai'i and Purdue Fort Wayne ... the Bruins are hitting .379 in his Andrew Rowan's 16 starts.