Friday, February 23
Provo, UT
6:00 PM
UCLA
at
Brigham Young
Photo by: Jenny Xu
MVB Plays Two at No. 8 BYU
February 21, 2024 | Men's Volleyball
Bruins Hit the Road For Two at BYU — Fourth-ranked UCLA (11-3, 2-0) travels to play a pair of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) matches at eighth-ranked BYU (9-5, 0-2) on Friday and Saturday nights (6 p.m. PT/ 7 p.m. MT). The Bruins have won the last five meetings overall (last meeting in 2021 at home, two away in '22, two at home in '23) with BYU. The Bruins captured the most recent two matches played in Provo during the 2022 campaign in four and five sets, respectively. UCLA opened up defense of its 2023 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) title with a sweep of Pepperdine last week for its 20th and 21st straight regular-season MPSF league wins.
• First Serve at BYU (Fri. Feb. 23): 6 p.m. PT
Video: byutv https://www.byutv.org/1f8b1f01-1276-455f-a812-6ea7dbc68ba8/show-your-cougar-pride-as-you-cheer-on-the-byu-mens-volleyball-team-ucla-vs-byu-2-23-24
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=498589&vislive=ucla
• First Serve at BYU (Sat. Feb. 24): 6 p.m. PT
Video: byutv https://www.byutv.org/0d714b18-6fac-4351-ac49-7915ab99a1c3/show-your-cougar-pride-as-you-cheer-on-the-byu-mens-volleyball-team-ucla-vs-byu-2-24-24
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=498590&vislive=ucla
With the win over Long Beach earlier this season, UCLA has defeated the AVCA's No. 1-ranked team in each of the last four seasons -- 2024: Feb. 10 Long Beach (3-1) in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom; 2023: March 6 Hawai'i (3-1) in Fairfax, Va.; 2022: Feb. 19 vs. Long Beach (3-2) in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom; 2021: Feb. 4 at BYU (3-1). After 14 matches this season, UCLA owns a 147.5 to 95 edge over opponents in total blocks; 103 to 51 margin in service aces. It has out hit the first 14 opponents by a combined .356 to .227.
UCLA and Rankings — UCLA was voted No. 4 in this week's AVCA poll and third in the Off the Block listing. The Bruins have been ranked as high as No. 2 in the AVCA poll at some point in seven of the last eight seasons (not in 2021) ... The Bruins have risen as high as No. 1 in the AVCA poll in five seasons under John Speraw -- 2024,2023, 2022, 2016, 2014 ... UCLA has ended a season ranked No. 1 in the AVCA poll a record 10 times (1987, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1995,1996, 1998, 2000, 2006, 2023) over the years.
Ranking Notes — UCLA is ranked among the nation's top 10 as a team in kills per set (2nd-13.06), set assists (2nd-12.42), blocks per set (2nd-2.84), hitting % (5th-.356) and aces (5th-1.98) ... So far in 2024, UCLA has 8 double-digit total block efforts (Lewis, Loyola,Ohio St., UCSB, UCI, Long Beach 2x, Pepp), three double-digit ace performances (Lewis-14, UCI-10, Pepp-10) and has hit at least .400 in five matches (Ft. Valley St., Morehouse, UCSD, UCI, Pepp) ... Two Bruins rate among the nation's top 10 -- Andrew Rowan is 5th in the nation in set assists/set (10.55) and Merrick McHenry is 9th in blocking (1.12) ... After recording a block solo in this year's home match against Long Beach, Merrick McHenry moved past Garrett Muagututia (2007-10, 44), and has risen to the top of the school list for career block solos with his 45th solo stuff ... last season (.382) marked the second straight season in which the Bruins topped the nation in hitting percentage after posting a .374 mark in 2022 ... UCLA hit at least .400 in 17 matches in 2023. The Bruins had seven matches in '23 with at least 10 aces, including the championship match against Hawai'i. UCLA recorded double-digit total blocks in 14 matches with a high of 18.5 against Pepperdine.
Sullivan Award Honors — Ethan Champlin was named last week as a semi-finalist for the 94th AAU James E. Sullivan Award which is presented annually to the top amateur athlete in the United States. The senior led UCLA to the 2023 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship, won a gold medal playing for the U.S. Men's National Team during the summer at the Pan Am Cup Final Six and was a 2023 College Sports Communications (CSC) At-Large Team Academic All-America selection. He was also a first-team AVCA All-America choice and a finalist for the Karch Kiraly Award as the nation's top outside attacker.
MPSF — Counting last week's two wins over Pepperdine, the Bruins have won 21 straight regular-season MPSF matches since a loss at Stanford on Mar. 11, 2022. UCLA finished atop the 2023 MPSF standings with a 12-0 record last season and is picked to repeat by the coaches ... the '24 Pre-season MPSF coaches poll: 1-UCLA, 2-Stanford, T3-BYU, T3-GCU, 5-USC, 6-Pepperdine, 7-CUI ... this year's MPSF Post-Season Tournament will be held at USC on April 17-20 with the league's auto bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
• First Serve at BYU (Fri. Feb. 23): 6 p.m. PT
Video: byutv https://www.byutv.org/1f8b1f01-1276-455f-a812-6ea7dbc68ba8/show-your-cougar-pride-as-you-cheer-on-the-byu-mens-volleyball-team-ucla-vs-byu-2-23-24
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=498589&vislive=ucla
• First Serve at BYU (Sat. Feb. 24): 6 p.m. PT
Video: byutv https://www.byutv.org/0d714b18-6fac-4351-ac49-7915ab99a1c3/show-your-cougar-pride-as-you-cheer-on-the-byu-mens-volleyball-team-ucla-vs-byu-2-24-24
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=498590&vislive=ucla
With the win over Long Beach earlier this season, UCLA has defeated the AVCA's No. 1-ranked team in each of the last four seasons -- 2024: Feb. 10 Long Beach (3-1) in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom; 2023: March 6 Hawai'i (3-1) in Fairfax, Va.; 2022: Feb. 19 vs. Long Beach (3-2) in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom; 2021: Feb. 4 at BYU (3-1). After 14 matches this season, UCLA owns a 147.5 to 95 edge over opponents in total blocks; 103 to 51 margin in service aces. It has out hit the first 14 opponents by a combined .356 to .227.
UCLA and Rankings — UCLA was voted No. 4 in this week's AVCA poll and third in the Off the Block listing. The Bruins have been ranked as high as No. 2 in the AVCA poll at some point in seven of the last eight seasons (not in 2021) ... The Bruins have risen as high as No. 1 in the AVCA poll in five seasons under John Speraw -- 2024,2023, 2022, 2016, 2014 ... UCLA has ended a season ranked No. 1 in the AVCA poll a record 10 times (1987, 1989, 1993, 1994, 1995,1996, 1998, 2000, 2006, 2023) over the years.
Ranking Notes — UCLA is ranked among the nation's top 10 as a team in kills per set (2nd-13.06), set assists (2nd-12.42), blocks per set (2nd-2.84), hitting % (5th-.356) and aces (5th-1.98) ... So far in 2024, UCLA has 8 double-digit total block efforts (Lewis, Loyola,Ohio St., UCSB, UCI, Long Beach 2x, Pepp), three double-digit ace performances (Lewis-14, UCI-10, Pepp-10) and has hit at least .400 in five matches (Ft. Valley St., Morehouse, UCSD, UCI, Pepp) ... Two Bruins rate among the nation's top 10 -- Andrew Rowan is 5th in the nation in set assists/set (10.55) and Merrick McHenry is 9th in blocking (1.12) ... After recording a block solo in this year's home match against Long Beach, Merrick McHenry moved past Garrett Muagututia (2007-10, 44), and has risen to the top of the school list for career block solos with his 45th solo stuff ... last season (.382) marked the second straight season in which the Bruins topped the nation in hitting percentage after posting a .374 mark in 2022 ... UCLA hit at least .400 in 17 matches in 2023. The Bruins had seven matches in '23 with at least 10 aces, including the championship match against Hawai'i. UCLA recorded double-digit total blocks in 14 matches with a high of 18.5 against Pepperdine.
Sullivan Award Honors — Ethan Champlin was named last week as a semi-finalist for the 94th AAU James E. Sullivan Award which is presented annually to the top amateur athlete in the United States. The senior led UCLA to the 2023 NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship, won a gold medal playing for the U.S. Men's National Team during the summer at the Pan Am Cup Final Six and was a 2023 College Sports Communications (CSC) At-Large Team Academic All-America selection. He was also a first-team AVCA All-America choice and a finalist for the Karch Kiraly Award as the nation's top outside attacker.
MPSF — Counting last week's two wins over Pepperdine, the Bruins have won 21 straight regular-season MPSF matches since a loss at Stanford on Mar. 11, 2022. UCLA finished atop the 2023 MPSF standings with a 12-0 record last season and is picked to repeat by the coaches ... the '24 Pre-season MPSF coaches poll: 1-UCLA, 2-Stanford, T3-BYU, T3-GCU, 5-USC, 6-Pepperdine, 7-CUI ... this year's MPSF Post-Season Tournament will be held at USC on April 17-20 with the league's auto bid to the NCAA Tournament on the line.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Volleyball
MB
/ Men's Volleyball
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