THIS WEEK — UCLA (25-2, 10-0 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation) is ranked No. 2 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) and No. 1 in the Off the Block media poll this week. The Bruins will wrap up the regular season schedule with a pair of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) matches against No. 9 Pepperdine. UCLA travels to Malibu for a Thursday evening match at Pepperdine (16-11, 5-5) at 6 p.m. UCLA will host the Waves on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom on Senior Night. Two UCLA men's volleyball National Championship teams will also be honored -- 1983 and 1993 -- that evening.
• First Serve at Pepperdine (Thu. Apr. 13): 6:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=438836
TV/Video: https://wccsports.com/watch/?sid=496165
• First Serve vs. Pepperdine (Sat. Apr. 15): 7:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=439516
TV/Video: Pac-12 Network https://pac-12.com/live?networks=P12LAX (Anne Marie Anderson)
After last season's 22-5 record, the Bruins have posted the first back-to-back 20-win seasons by the program since the 2012 and 2013 squads recorded 22 and 21 wins, respectively. The last time UCLA won more than 25 matches, prior to the current campaign, was in 2018 when it went 26-8 and advanced to the national championship match. The last time the Bruins won more than 26 matches in a season was in 2000 when it went 29-5 and won the national title. The all-time school mark for wins in a season is 38 which was achieved in the 1987 and 1984 seasons.
The 3-0 win over the Trojans last Saturday was the 18th sweep of the 2023 campaign which is the most by a UCLA team since it totaled 20 in the 1998 season. The school record for 3-0 wins in a season is 25 in the national championship year of 1995. UCLA has won 30 of 31 possible sets played this season against MPSF teams. The last time UCLA recorded a perfect MPSF regular season record was in 1995 (19-0).
Following the matches against the Waves, the Bruins will advance to play an MPSF Tournament semifinal match against an opponent to be determined (lowest remaining seed after April 19 quarterfinal round) on April 20 in Maples Pavilion at 4:30 p.m. 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 AVCA RANKINGS -- UCLA sits at No. 2 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll. 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 tied with Penn State for the nation's best ace average (2.04, UCLA has six double-digit ace matches in 2023, including a school-record tying 18 against UCSD (1/6) and three players ranked among the top 24 in the nation in ace average in Andrew Rowan-12th 0.47, Ethan Champlin-20th 0.41, Ido David-24th 0.40. The Bruins are also listed in the top 10 nationally in hitting percentage (2nd .378), blocks (2nd-2.76), set assists (3rd-12.27) and kills (3rd-12.97). The Bruins are rated 11th in opponent hitting% (.209, with 12 opponents held below .200 this season).
MPSF -- The Bruins (10-0) have kicked off MPSF play having won all but one set against USC, BYU, Concordia-Irvine, Stanford and GCU and have clinched the top seed, and quarterfinal round bye, in the league's post-season tournament ... The Bruins have four players listed among the top 8 in the MPSF in ace average --- Andrew Rowan-2nd (0.47), Ethan Champlin-3rd (0.41), Ido David-4th (0.40), Merrick McHenry-T8th (0.31) ... this year's MPSF Post-Season Tournament, which determines the league's automatic bid to the NCAA MVB Championship Tournament, will be held at Stanford, with video coverage provided by FloSports (subscription service).
PLAYER/COACH NOTES -- Alex Knight was selected offtheblockblog.com National Outside Attacker of the Week (4/10) after hitting over .400 on 43 swings and registering double-digit kills in each contest against USC ... Ethan Champlin is swinging at a .372 rate over the last 6 matches and has handled 87 of last 89 opponent serves w/o error (.978) ... Ido David has at least one ace in 11 of last 13 matches and double-digit kills in 6 of last 7 matches ... Merrick McHenry has hit at least .500 in 10 of last 14 matches to rise to No. 1 in nation in hitting percentage at .500 ... Andrew Rowan has at least one ace in 15 of the last 16 matches and his 41 aces leads all MPSF players this season ... John Speraw captured his 400th career win as a men's collegiate head coach against No. 6 UC Irvine (2/26/23). In a match at UCI (2/24/23), he won his 200th match while head coach at UCLA ... Speraw was head coach at UC Irvine from 2003-2012 and won three NCAA Championships (2007, 2009, 2012) ... UCLA added two new assistant coaches during the off-season, both former Bruin players, in Nick Vogel (2009-12) and Brandon Taliaferro (1997-2000).
MPSF Standings
UCLA 10-0
BYU 6-4
Stanford 6-4
Grand Canyon 6-6
Pepperdine 5-5
Concordia-Irvine 2-8
USC 1-9
This week's matches:
Thursday, April 13--UCLA at Pepperdine; USC at Concordia
Friday, April 14--Stanford at BYU
Saturday, April 15: Stanford at BYU; Pepperdine a UCLA; Concordia at USC
• First Serve at Pepperdine (Thu. Apr. 13): 6:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=438836
TV/Video: https://wccsports.com/watch/?sid=496165
• First Serve vs. Pepperdine (Sat. Apr. 15): 7:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=439516
TV/Video: Pac-12 Network https://pac-12.com/live?networks=P12LAX (Anne Marie Anderson)
After last season's 22-5 record, the Bruins have posted the first back-to-back 20-win seasons by the program since the 2012 and 2013 squads recorded 22 and 21 wins, respectively. The last time UCLA won more than 25 matches, prior to the current campaign, was in 2018 when it went 26-8 and advanced to the national championship match. The last time the Bruins won more than 26 matches in a season was in 2000 when it went 29-5 and won the national title. The all-time school mark for wins in a season is 38 which was achieved in the 1987 and 1984 seasons.
The 3-0 win over the Trojans last Saturday was the 18th sweep of the 2023 campaign which is the most by a UCLA team since it totaled 20 in the 1998 season. The school record for 3-0 wins in a season is 25 in the national championship year of 1995. UCLA has won 30 of 31 possible sets played this season against MPSF teams. The last time UCLA recorded a perfect MPSF regular season record was in 1995 (19-0).
Following the matches against the Waves, the Bruins will advance to play an MPSF Tournament semifinal match against an opponent to be determined (lowest remaining seed after April 19 quarterfinal round) on April 20 in Maples Pavilion at 4:30 p.m. 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 AVCA RANKINGS -- UCLA sits at No. 2 in this week's AVCA Coaches Poll. 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 tied with Penn State for the nation's best ace average (2.04, UCLA has six double-digit ace matches in 2023, including a school-record tying 18 against UCSD (1/6) and three players ranked among the top 24 in the nation in ace average in Andrew Rowan-12th 0.47, Ethan Champlin-20th 0.41, Ido David-24th 0.40. The Bruins are also listed in the top 10 nationally in hitting percentage (2nd .378), blocks (2nd-2.76), set assists (3rd-12.27) and kills (3rd-12.97). The Bruins are rated 11th in opponent hitting% (.209, with 12 opponents held below .200 this season).
MPSF -- The Bruins (10-0) have kicked off MPSF play having won all but one set against USC, BYU, Concordia-Irvine, Stanford and GCU and have clinched the top seed, and quarterfinal round bye, in the league's post-season tournament ... The Bruins have four players listed among the top 8 in the MPSF in ace average --- Andrew Rowan-2nd (0.47), Ethan Champlin-3rd (0.41), Ido David-4th (0.40), Merrick McHenry-T8th (0.31) ... this year's MPSF Post-Season Tournament, which determines the league's automatic bid to the NCAA MVB Championship Tournament, will be held at Stanford, with video coverage provided by FloSports (subscription service).
PLAYER/COACH NOTES -- Alex Knight was selected offtheblockblog.com National Outside Attacker of the Week (4/10) after hitting over .400 on 43 swings and registering double-digit kills in each contest against USC ... Ethan Champlin is swinging at a .372 rate over the last 6 matches and has handled 87 of last 89 opponent serves w/o error (.978) ... Ido David has at least one ace in 11 of last 13 matches and double-digit kills in 6 of last 7 matches ... Merrick McHenry has hit at least .500 in 10 of last 14 matches to rise to No. 1 in nation in hitting percentage at .500 ... Andrew Rowan has at least one ace in 15 of the last 16 matches and his 41 aces leads all MPSF players this season ... John Speraw captured his 400th career win as a men's collegiate head coach against No. 6 UC Irvine (2/26/23). In a match at UCI (2/24/23), he won his 200th match while head coach at UCLA ... Speraw was head coach at UC Irvine from 2003-2012 and won three NCAA Championships (2007, 2009, 2012) ... UCLA added two new assistant coaches during the off-season, both former Bruin players, in Nick Vogel (2009-12) and Brandon Taliaferro (1997-2000).
MPSF Standings
UCLA 10-0
BYU 6-4
Stanford 6-4
Grand Canyon 6-6
Pepperdine 5-5
Concordia-Irvine 2-8
USC 1-9
This week's matches:
Thursday, April 13--UCLA at Pepperdine; USC at Concordia
Friday, April 14--Stanford at BYU
Saturday, April 15: Stanford at BYU; Pepperdine a UCLA; Concordia at USC