Four Bruins Earn MPSF Academic Honors
May 17, 2023 | Men's Volleyball
Four Bruins were named to the 2023 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Men's Volleyball All-Academic Team in an announcement on Wednesday by MPSF Executive Director Foti Mellis. Junior outside hitter Ethan Champlin, redshirt sophomore middle blocker Guy Genis, senior outside hitter Alex Knight and redshirt senior middle blocker J.R. Norris IV were each honored by the MPSF for outstanding achievements in the classroom.
Champlin was a first-team All-MPSF and first-team AVCA All-America selection in 2023. He produced 14 double-digit kill matches during the season. Champlin, also one of UCLA's primary passers, posted a career-high of 19 kills in a win at Pepperdine and tied his career-best with six block assists in a home match against the Waves and a regular season match at Hawai'i. He was credited with a career-best 12 digs in the NCAA Championship win over Hawai'i. The junior hitter rated 21st in the NCAA with a .349 attack percentage and was 31st in the NCAA in aces per set average (0.36).
Genis was an honorable mention All-MPSF pick as well as an honorable mention AVCA All-America selection this past season. He tied the school record (rally scoring era) with his 19th block solo of the season against Long Beach State in the NCAA semifinals. For the season, he rated fourth in the NCAA with a 1.21 blocks per set average. Genis compiled at least a .500 attack percentage in 14 contests during the year. He registered a season-high seven kills in both regular season matches at Grand Canyon. Genis totaled eight blocks each in a pair of road wins at Stanford to earn Off the Block National Middle Attacker of the Week and MPSF Defensive POW honors.
Knight was a first-team All-MPSF choice and a second-team AVCA All-America selection. He was named the Most Outstanding Player at the 2023 NCAA Championships after hitting over .350 in both the semifinal and final with a combined 21 kills (including a career-high tying 15 kills in the Championship match) to go with a total of four aces and six blocks. Also one of the primary passers on the team, Knight recorded double-digit kills in 13 matches and had a career-high tying 18.5 points in a victory at UC Irvine as well as in the Championship contest. He was named Off the Block Outside Attacker of the Week after hitting over .400 with double-digit kills in each match vs. USC. Knight was also named Off the Block's National Attacker of the Week for his play versus BYU when he hit .708 (17k 0e 24att) over the two meetings. He was tabbed as MPSF Offensive POW (2/13) for his performance in a pair of regular season wins against Long Beach State when he hit a combined .476 with 23 kills.
Norris IV saved his best for last as he recorded eight kills on 11 swings with no errors to register a .727 attack percentage in the NCAA title match win against Hawai'i. He added a career-best five aces in the championship contest. Norris IV made 10 starts on the season and hit a combined .609 percentage over his last 19 matches played in 2023. He tied his career-best with 11 kills in a match at Penn State and was named Off the Block's National Middle Attacker of the Week after posting a combined .593 attack percentage on 27 swings in battles against the Nittany Lions and Ohio State. He totaled six blocks in a win over Purdue Fort Wayne, including a season-high five block assists.
The UCLA men's volleyball team won the 2023 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship and finished the season as the No. 1-ranked team in the American Volleyball Coaches Association and Off the Block media polls. UCLA completed the campaign with a record of 31-2 which is the most wins since the 1995 Bruins went 31-1 and also captured the NCAA title. The Bruins ended the season with 12 straight wins to mark the longest streak by the program since the 2006 National Champs won the final 14 contests on the way to a title. UCLA Head Coach John Speraw won his fourth NCAA men's volleyball title as a collegiate head coach – also 2007, 2009, 2012 while at UC Irvine and was named 2023 AVCA National Coach of the Year. He had helped win three more titles as a UCLA men's volleyball assistant coach – 1996, 1998, 2000 – and also brought home two trophies as a Bruin men's volleyball player in 1993 and 1995 for coach Al Scates.
Each MPSF All-Academic selection must carry at least a 3.00 cumulative grade point average, compete in at least half of the team's matches and have completed at least one full academic year at UCLA prior to the season for which the award is received to have been nominated for honors.
