MVB Returns to MPSF Play Wednesday

Wednesday, March 1

Los Angeles, CA

7:00 PM

UCLA

Concordia University Irvine

Photo by: Don Liebig/ASUCLA

MVB Returns to MPSF Play Wednesday

February 28, 2023 | Men's Volleyball

UCLA_MVB_Notes.pdf

COMING UP — UCLA (15-1, 2-0), ranked No. 2 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) will play host to Concordia-Irvine (5-9, 0-2) on Wednesday as they return to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) action. The Bruins will host the Golden Eagles at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. The two teams then will battle on Friday night at CUI at 7 p.m.
The Bruins bested CUI twice last season, in four sets at UCLA and in three straight in Irvine. CUI last defeated UCLA in the 2021 season, a five-set decision in Irvine. The Bruins opened MPSF play with a pair of 3-0 sweeps over No. 8 BYU on Feb. 17 and 18. Merrick McHenry was named offtheblockblog.com Co-National Middle Attacker of the Week after he posted 25 kills in two wins over UC Irvine last week. UCLA now owns a 10-0 record against Big West Conference opposition in 2023 after winning twice over No. 6 UC Irvine.
UCLA's 15-1 season start matches the start of the 2005 squad which also opened with 15 wins in its first 16 matches. It is the best start since the 1998 Bruin team won its first 16 matches. UCLA's lone loss of the 2023 season, at Penn State (2/4/23), snapped a nine-match win streak which was the longest season-opening Bruin run since the 2016 team won its first 10 matches. Next week, UCLA will take part in the Outrigger Hotels Invitational which features No. 1 Hawai'i, No. 3 Penn State and Purdue Fort Wayne, which received votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll.

• First Serve vs. CUI ( (Wed. Mar. 1): 7:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=439514
TV/Video: https://pac-12.com/live/ucla

• First Serve at CUI (Fri. Mar. 3): 7:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/cui/
TV/Video: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/cui/

UCLA AND RANKINGS -- UCLA remained at No. 2 in this week's AVCA 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 leading the nation in hitting percentage (.379). The Bruins are 2nd nationally with an average of 2.02 aces per set which is helped by a school-record tying 18 aces by the Bruins against UCSD (1/6). The Bruins began the week also listed in the top 10 nationally in set assists (3rd-12.11), kills (4th-12.78) and blocks (5th-2.51).

MPSF -- The Bruins started MPSF play against BYU with a pair of home wins on Feb. 17-18 ... UCLA, which finished atop the 2022 MPSF standings with an 11-1 record, is picked to repeat by the coaches in 2023. The 2023 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 as the location will rotate among the league schools going forward. Returners Ethan Champlin and Merrick McHenry each earned first-team 2022 All-MPSF honors. Guy Genis was the 2022 MPSF Freshman of the Year. Ido David earned honorable mention. Grant Sloane joined Genis and David on the 2022 MPSF All-Freshman Team.
2023 MPSF STANDINGS (Feb. 27)
  MPSF   Overall
UCLA                    2-0   15-1
Grand Canyon 3-1   14-1
BYU                       2-2   10-4
Pepperdine 2-2   10-6
Stanford 2-2   9-6
USC 1-3   7-7
CUI 0-2   5-9
Mar. 1 - CUI at UCLA; Pepperdine at Hawai'i
Mar. 3 - UCLA at CUI; BYU at Grand Canyon; Pepperdine at Hawai'i; CSUN at Stanford; Menlo at USC
Mar. 4 - UC Irvine at Stanford; BYU at Grand Canyon

PLAYER/COACH NOTES -- Coach John Speraw captured his 400th career win as a men's collegiate head coach on Sunday (2/26) against No. 6 UC Irvine. Last Friday at UCI (2/24), he won his 200th match while head coach at UCLA. Speraw was the head coach at UC Irvine from 2003-2012 and won three NCAA Championships (2007, 2009, 2012) with the Anteaters ... Merrick McHenry was named offtheblockblog.com National Co-Middle Attacker of the Week for this play against No. 6 UCI and has hit over .500 in each of the past three matches ...  Ethan Champlin has 8 double-digit kill matches this season ... Ido David has double-digit kills in each of the last 4 matches, and in 9 matches overall ... David has averaged 4.1 kills per set over last 11 matches while hitting a combined .428 ...  Alex Knight recorded a career-high 18.5 points at UCI (2/24) and tied career-best with 15 kills ... Knight has double-digit kills in 5 of last 6 matches ...  Troy Gooch has handled 57 serves without a reception error over the last 3 matches ... J.R. Norris IV is hitting .719 over the last 9 matches he has played in ... The Bruins are hitting a combined .393 in Andrew Rowan's 11 starts ... Rowan has recorded at least one ace in each of the last 5 matches ... Guy Genis has 15 blocks over the last 4 matches.