UCLA Athletics - 2023 UCLA Men's Volleyball versus the Pepperdine Waves. Pauley Pavilion, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA.
April 15th, 2023
Copyright  Don Liebig/ASUCLA
230415_MVOL_0085.NEFUCLA Athletics - 2023 UCLA Men's Volleyball versus the Pepperdine Waves. Pauley Pavilion, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA.
April 15th, 2023
Copyright  Don Liebig/ASUCLA
230415_MVOL_0085.NEF
Don Liebig/ASUCLA

L ro R: Ido David, Merrick McHenry, Ethan Champlin

Bruins Picked to Repeat as MPSF Champs

Men's Volleyball

Bruin begin play in the 2024 season on Jan. 4 in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.

Defending Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) and NCAA champion UCLA was picked to finish first in the annual pre-season poll of the league coaches. The Bruins, who return six starters, were named to the top spot by all six opposing coaches and received the maximum voting points possible with 36. Coach John Speraw's team compiled a perfect 12-0 MPSF record last season and went 31-2 overall on its way to winning the program's 20th NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship.
 
UCLA is slated to open the 2024 season with a pair of matches on Jan. 4 in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom against Fort Valley State (5 p.m.) and Morehouse (7:30 p.m.). The MPSF schedule commences on Feb. 14 against Pepperdine in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. The Bruins will host single matches with USC (Mar. 2) and Concordia-Irvine (Apr. 13) and two home battles each with Stanford (Mar. 29-30) and Grand Canyon (Apr. 5-6). UCLA is at BYU for a pair of matches with the Cougars on Feb. 23-24. Single road contests will also be played at Pepperdine, USC and CUI.
 
Each team is scheduled for 12 regular season matches again in 2024. The regular season conference winner will be the No. 1 seed in the MPSF Championship Tournament, hosted this year by USC on April 17-20. The MPSF Conference champ earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament which will be hosted this season by Long Beach State.
 
2024 MPSF Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll
Rank /Team (first-place) / Points / 2023 Records
1--UCLA (6 first-place votes)        36 points             31-2, 12-0 records in 2023
2--Stanford (1)                              29 points             15-13, 6-6
3--BYU                                          23 points             19-7, 8-4
3--Grand Canyon                          23 points             22-8, 6-6
5--USC                                          17 points             10-16, 3-9
6--Pepperdine                               13 points             16-14, 5-7
7--Concordia-Irvine                         6 points              8-19, 2-10