Thursday, February 9
Los Angeles, CA
8:00 PM
UCLA
vs
Long Beach State
Troy Gooch ranks 17th nationally in digs this week.
Photo by: Marie Goldfarb
MVB Plays Two with the Beach
February 07, 2023 | Men's Volleyball
THIS WEEK— UCLA (9-1), ranked No. 4 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll, will play a home-and-home series on back-to-back nights this week against No. 2-ranked Long Beach State (6-0). The teams will meet Thursday night at 8 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.
On Friday, the scene shifts to Long Beach for a 7 p.m. battle. The teams met three times last season with Long Beach winning at home, in three sets, and in the NCAA Semifinal matchup at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom, in five sets, which was UCLA's last loss prior to the defeat at Penn State on Feb. 4. The Bruin win last season over the Beach came in five sets in the Wooden Center. UCLA last won at Long Beach in the 2020 season, in a four-set decision.
Last week, the Bruins split a pair of matches in the BigTen/Pac-12 Challenge at Penn State, defeating Ohio State and losing to the Nittany Lions, each in four sets. The loss at Penn State 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 opens the MPSF league schedule against No. 10 BYU (6-2) on Feb. 17 and 18.
• First Serve vs. Long Beach State (Thu. Feb. 9): 8:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=439510
TV/Video: Pac-12 Networks https://pac-12.com/live?networks=P12LAX
• First Serve at Long Beach State (Fri. Feb. 10): 7:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=439312&vislive=ucla
TV/Video: ESPN+ https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/b1b415b2-11fa-4134-bc95-c887a574cc3
UCLA AND RANKINGS -- UCLA slid to No. 4 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. Eleven of the AVCA's Top 15-ranked teams in the pre-season poll appear on the Bruins' schedule for 2023 and will meet UCLA for a total of 19 matches this season. 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 is ranked 3rd with an average of 2.21 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 sixth in the nation in hitting percentage with a .361 mark. The Bruins are also listed in the top 10 nationally in opponent hitting percentage (7th-.198), assists (7th-11.76), blocks (8th-2.44), digs (8th-9.15) and kills (10th-12.39).
NATIONAL RANK COMPARISON
ACES UCLA-3rd 2.21 Long Beach St.-13th 1.90
KILLS UCLA-10th 10.4 Long Beach St.-7th 12.6
BLKS UCLA-8th 2.44 Long Beach St.-1st 2.93
DIGS UCLA-8th 9.15 Long Beach St.-20th 8.52
HIT% UCLA-6th .361 Long Beach St.-4th .370
Oppt.% UCLA-7th .198 Long Beach St.-4th .185
MPSF -- The Bruins begin MPSF play against No. 10 BYU at home on Feb. 17-18 ... The MPSF has six ranked teams this week - No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Grand Canyon, No. 6 Pepperdine, No. 8 Stanford, No. 10 BYU and No. 12 USC ... Ethan Champlin was the first 2023 winner of the MPSF Offensive Player of the Week honors (1/9) after his performance in the UCSB Tournament ... 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-Concordia, Irvine. This year's post-season tournament, which will determine the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament will be held at Stanford.
PLAYER/COACH NOTES -- J.R. Norris IV was named offtheblockblog.com's National Middle Attacker of the Week after his performance in matches against Ohio State and Penn State when he hit .593 on 27 swings ... Norris registered a career-best 11 kills at Penn State ... Coach John Speraw takes aim at milestone wins No. 200 at UCLA (186-90 entering 2023) and No. 400 overall (385-201 entering 2023) this season ... UCLA added two new assistant coaches during the off-season, both former Bruin players, in Nick Vogel (2009-12) and Brandon Taliaferro (1997-2000) ... Returners J.R. Norris IV, Ethan Champlin and Merrick McHenry each earned bronze medals as members of the U.S. Men's National Team at the 2022 Pan American Cup Final Six in Mexico this past off-season.
On Friday, the scene shifts to Long Beach for a 7 p.m. battle. The teams met three times last season with Long Beach winning at home, in three sets, and in the NCAA Semifinal matchup at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom, in five sets, which was UCLA's last loss prior to the defeat at Penn State on Feb. 4. The Bruin win last season over the Beach came in five sets in the Wooden Center. UCLA last won at Long Beach in the 2020 season, in a four-set decision.
Last week, the Bruins split a pair of matches in the BigTen/Pac-12 Challenge at Penn State, defeating Ohio State and losing to the Nittany Lions, each in four sets. The loss at Penn State 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 opens the MPSF league schedule against No. 10 BYU (6-2) on Feb. 17 and 18.
• First Serve vs. Long Beach State (Thu. Feb. 9): 8:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=439510
TV/Video: Pac-12 Networks https://pac-12.com/live?networks=P12LAX
• First Serve at Long Beach State (Fri. Feb. 10): 7:00 p.m. PT
Live Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=439312&vislive=ucla
TV/Video: ESPN+ https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/b1b415b2-11fa-4134-bc95-c887a574cc3
UCLA AND RANKINGS -- UCLA slid to No. 4 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. Eleven of the AVCA's Top 15-ranked teams in the pre-season poll appear on the Bruins' schedule for 2023 and will meet UCLA for a total of 19 matches this season. 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 is ranked 3rd with an average of 2.21 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 sixth in the nation in hitting percentage with a .361 mark. The Bruins are also listed in the top 10 nationally in opponent hitting percentage (7th-.198), assists (7th-11.76), blocks (8th-2.44), digs (8th-9.15) and kills (10th-12.39).
NATIONAL RANK COMPARISON
ACES UCLA-3rd 2.21 Long Beach St.-13th 1.90
KILLS UCLA-10th 10.4 Long Beach St.-7th 12.6
BLKS UCLA-8th 2.44 Long Beach St.-1st 2.93
DIGS UCLA-8th 9.15 Long Beach St.-20th 8.52
HIT% UCLA-6th .361 Long Beach St.-4th .370
Oppt.% UCLA-7th .198 Long Beach St.-4th .185
MPSF -- The Bruins begin MPSF play against No. 10 BYU at home on Feb. 17-18 ... The MPSF has six ranked teams this week - No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 Grand Canyon, No. 6 Pepperdine, No. 8 Stanford, No. 10 BYU and No. 12 USC ... Ethan Champlin was the first 2023 winner of the MPSF Offensive Player of the Week honors (1/9) after his performance in the UCSB Tournament ... 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-Concordia, Irvine. This year's post-season tournament, which will determine the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament will be held at Stanford.
PLAYER/COACH NOTES -- J.R. Norris IV was named offtheblockblog.com's National Middle Attacker of the Week after his performance in matches against Ohio State and Penn State when he hit .593 on 27 swings ... Norris registered a career-best 11 kills at Penn State ... Coach John Speraw takes aim at milestone wins No. 200 at UCLA (186-90 entering 2023) and No. 400 overall (385-201 entering 2023) this season ... UCLA added two new assistant coaches during the off-season, both former Bruin players, in Nick Vogel (2009-12) and Brandon Taliaferro (1997-2000) ... Returners J.R. Norris IV, Ethan Champlin and Merrick McHenry each earned bronze medals as members of the U.S. Men's National Team at the 2022 Pan American Cup Final Six in Mexico this past off-season.
Players Mentioned
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