No. 1 Bruins Host No. 6 Pepperdine Saturday Night

Saturday, April 4

5:00 pm (PT)

UCLA

No. 6 Pepperdine

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No. 1 Bruins Host No. 6 Pepperdine Saturday Night

March 31, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

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NO. 1 UCLA HOSTS NO. 6 PEPPERDINE SATURDAY EVENING
The UCLA men's volleyball program, winners of 21 NCAA titles, will host No. 6 Pepperdine on Saturday night in a battle of the top two teams in the MPSF conference. UCLA heads into the match 7-1 in conference play and 20-1 overall, while Pepperdine is 9-0 in conference play and 18-4 overall.

FIVE SET THRILLER
UCLA fell for the first time in 2026 on Thursday night, losing in five sets at No. 6 Pepperdine. Senior setter Andrew Rowan tallied 53 assists in the loss, while sophomore outside hitter Sean Kelly recorded a team-high 22 kills in the loss.

UCLA is now 7-2 in five set matches dating back to the beginning of the 2025 season. Both five set losses have come at Pepperdine during that time frame.

BRUINS TAKE TWO IN THE BAY
UCLA beat No. 14 Stanford on back-to-back nights in the Bay Area last weekend. The Bruins won both matches in a sweep, 3-0, to improve to 20-0 overall for the first time since 1984.

In Friday's win senior setter Andrew Rowan surpassed 4,000 career assists, becoming the second Bruin to dish out 4,000 or more assists in the rally scoring era (since 2001).
As for Saturday, Sean Kelly and Zach Rama each recorded double digit kills in the 3-0 sweep of the Cardinal.

HOW MAY I ASSIST YOU?
Senior setter Andrew Rowan, a 3x AVCA First Team All-American, surpassed 4,000 career assists on Friday evening. For his career, Rowan has 4,098 assists, and trails only Rich Nelson in the rally scoring era (since 2001) in total assists. Nelson recorded 4,346 assists between 2001 and 2003.

WINNING ON ISLAND TIME
UCLA won the OUTRIGGER Invitational hosted by Hawai'i in mid-March, defeating two ranked opponents to win the tournament. UCLA took down No. 14 Lewis 3-0, before beating the hosts No. 3 Hawai'i in front of over 10,000 in straight sets, 3-0.

Sean Kelly, Cameron Thorne and Andrew Rowan were all named to the All-Tournament team, while Rowan was also named the tournament's most outstanding player.
Offensively the Bruins hit .395 on the night in the 3-0 win over No. 3 Hawai'i. Sean Kelly led all players with 15 kills and hit .609, while Zach Rama added 11 kills. Senior Setter Andrew Rowan tallied 36 assists.

TOOK DOWN THE TROJANS x 2
The UCLA men's volleyball program earned two wins over No. 5 USC last week. The first came at USC in a comeback win in five sets, 3-2, while the second came on the campus of UCLA in four sets, 3-1. With the two wins the Bruins improve to 16-0 for the first time since 1998.

AVCA NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK, SEAN KELLY
Sean Kelly was named AVCA National Player of the Week for the first time on Tuesday. The Manhattan Beach, California native totaled 38 kills and hit .438 over the two matches. Kelly tallied a career-high 21 kills in a five-set win over USC, while also adding seven digs, a solo block, and a solo block. He followed that performance with 17 kills, two aces, and six digs in a four-set win over USC inside Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial.

UCLA OUTLASTS UC IRVINE
The No. 1 UCLA men's volleyball program earned a comeback five-set win on Friday night, taking down No. 4 UC Irvine 3-2 in a non-conference match inside the Bren Events Center on the campus of UC Irvine. Set scores on Friday night were 25-22, 20-25, 28-30, 25-22, and 15-11. Three Bruins finished in double-figure kills on Friday evening as the Bruins won set one, lost the next two, and then won sets four and five. Zach Rama led the Bruins with 20 kills on the night, while Sean Kelly added a career-high 19 kills, and opposite David Decker added 12 kills.

SWEPT THE BEACH
UCLA took on No. 2 Long Beach State last Friday night, taking down the Beach 3-1. Senior Cameron Thorne led the way for UCLA, tallying 13 kills and six blocks on the night, while senior setter Andrew paced the Bruins to a .477 hitting percentage on the night in front of 4,800 fans. As for the away game, the Bruins won 3-2 in a reverse sweep in front of a crowd of over 4,000 in Long Beach. The Bruins dropped the opening two sets before winning the final three. Set scores were 16-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 15-10. Zach Rama led the Bruins with 21 kills, while setter Andrew Rowan dished out 45 assists and served an ace to end the fifth set and the match.

ONE'S TO WATCH
Senior outside hitter Zach Rama and senior setter Andrew Rowan have been named to the AVCA National Player of the Year Watch List, the conference announced on Wednesday, Feb. 3.

Rama, a senior from Phoenix, Ariz., has started the 2026 season strongly for the Bruins. Over the course of seven matches, Rama has tallied 105 kills, is hitting .438 on the year, and has had double-digit kills in six of the seven matches he has participated in. The senior currently leads the nation in kills per ser at 4.77, is fourth in points per set at 5.16, and is 10th nationally in hitting percentage at .438.
Rowan, a senior from Trabuco Canyon, Calif., is no stranger to AVCA accolades. The senior setter is already a three-time AVCA first-team All-American and a three-time MPSF first-team selection. He has paced the Bruins to a nation-leading .460 hitting percentage, and has tallied 318 assists in 2026. Rowan leads the nation in assists per set at 12.72, and is also fifth in aces per set at .720.

ATOP THE CHARTS
The Bruins currently are in the top five in the nation in multiple categories to begin the 2026 season:

UCLA is ranked first in the country in assists per set at 12.93
The Bruins lead the nation in hitting percentage at .386
UCLA is second in kills per set at 13.68
The Bruins are fifth in aces per set at 1.81
Andrew Rowan is first in assists per set at 11.59
Rowan is sixth at .527 aces per set, and David Decker is eighth nationally in aces per set at .514
Zach Rama is eighth in kills per set at 3.87
Sean Kelly is 10th in hitting percentage at .400

MAKING HISTORY
The UCLA men's volleyball team made history in their three-set sweep of Ohio State. The Bruins won the second set 48-46, setting a new NCAA record for most points in a single set. The set featured a record 94 points, lasted 58 minutes, and featured 17 set points, with the Bruins coming out on top 48-46 courtesy of an Andrew Rowan service ace to end the set.

HAVE A WEEK, RAMA
Senior outside hitter Zach Rama was named the AVCA National Player of the week and the MPSF Offensive Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 20. Rama led the Bruins in total kills in two ranked wins over No. 16 Ball State and No. 6 Loyola Chicago at the First Point Collegiate Challenge in Phoenix, Arizona, over the weekend. He averaged 5.71 kills per set, added 1.29 digs per set, and averaged 5.86 points per set. The Phoenix, Arizona native totaled 40 kills and hit .515 over the two matches. After tallying 17 kills in a four-set win over Ball State, Rama caught fire on Sunday, recording a career-high 23 kills in a straight-sets sweep of No. 6 Loyola Chicago. In the win over Loyola Chicago, Rama hit .618 on the night and totaled 23 points on his 23 kills.

SETTING THE TONE
Senior setter Andrew Rowan paced the Bruins offense to a .396 hitting percentage over the opening two months of the season. Rowan has tallied 697 assists over 17 matches so far in 2026, pacing at 11.61 assists per set. The senior has had at least 40 set assists in 10 of the 17 matches and had a season-high 59 set assists in a win at No. 5 USC on March 3.

MPSF OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
In addition to earning AVCA and MPSF player of the week honors in week two, Rama also earned MPSF Offensive Player of the Week for week one and three. Rama led the Bruins in kills in two straight set wins over McKendree and Concordia, averaging 4.50 kills per set, totaling 27 kills, and hitting .420 over the two games. Rama led the way with 16 kills and hit .500 in UCLA's opening night win over McKendree. He then added 11 kills and hit .333 in UCLA's 3-0 sweep of CUI on Sunday. After another strong weekend where he tallied 21 kills against LBSU and added another 12 kills in the win at Vanguard, totaling 33 kills on the weekend.

MIDDLE U
Middle Blocker's Cameron Thorne and Micah Wong Diallo have started the 2026 season strongly.

Thorne, a two-time AVCA first team All-American, recorded 13 kills on 16 swings (.688 hitting percentage) through the opening weekend, and has totaled 129 kills through the first 13 matches of the year, with a season-high 13 in UCLA's four set win over Long Beach State. Thorne is hitting .581 on the year.
Wong Diallo, in his first season as a starter as a junior, recorded 14 kills on 17 swings (.824 hitting percentage) throughout the opening weekend, and through his first 14 matches is hitting .511.

2025 IN REVIEW

The Bruins earned their third straight NCAA Championship final appearance and their fourth final four in a row
Cooper Robinson was named MPSF Player of the Year in his senior season
Four Bruins were named AVCA All-Americans
UCLA returns three All-Americans in setter Andrew Rowan (1st team), middle blocker Cameron Thorne (1st team), and outside hitter Zach Rama (2nd team)
UCLA finished the season 22-7 and 10-2 in MPSF play and finished top of the standings during the MPSF regular season for the fifth year in a row
The Bruins finished in the top five in the country in multiple categories during the 2025 season. UCLA was second in the country in hitting percentage at .364 and were fourth in the country in aces per set with 1.93.
At the conclusion of the 2025 season head coach John Hawks and rising sophomore Sean Kelly represented the United States at the U21 World Championships held in China. The trio of Bruin then earned bronze on the world stage, becoming the first USA youth national team to medal at a world championships.

SWEEPIN' BRUINS
UCLA has swept its opponents in 12 of 18 matches throughout the 2026 season. Of those 12 sweeps, eight have come against ranked opponents in No. 15 McKendree, No. 6 Loyola Chicago, No. 11 UC San Diego, No. 12 Ohio State, No. 17 CSUN, No. 12 UC Santa Barbara, No. 14 Lewis, and No. 3 Hawai'i..

CAREER NIGHTS
Redshirt Junior Opposite David Decker and senior outside hitter Zach Rama had career nights on back-to-back nights at the First Point Collegiate Challenge in Phoenix, Arizona.

Decker supplied a career-high 22 kills in the four-set win over No. 14 Ball State on Friday night, hitting a sizzling .621, while also adding 3 block assists, 2 aces, and two digs.
Rama followed suit on the following night, with a career-high 23 kills in just three sets in the win over No. 6 Loyola Chicago. The senior hit .618 on the night.

THE BRUINS JUST WIN
UCLA enters the 2026 season having won at least 22 matches over each of the last four seasons. Throughout those four seasons UCLA has a record of 101-21 (.849 winning percentage), have won two NCAA titles, made three NCAA title matches, and won five MPSF titles.

TOP OF THE CLASS
UCLA enters the 2026 season having won 44 of their last 48 MPSF matches dating back to the 2022 season. UCLA's MPSF records over that timeframe are 10-2 in 2025, 11-1 in 2024, 12-0 in 2023, and 11-1 in 2022. The Bruins' winning percentage over that span is .917.

UCLA PICKED FIRST IN AVCA PRESEASON POLL
UCLA men's volleyball was ranked first in the Preseason AVCA Coaches Poll, earning 12 first-place votes. Hawai'i was picked second and received seven first place votes, while Long Beach State took third, Pepperdine fourth, and USC rounded out the top five.

BRUINS PICKED TO REPEAT AS MPSF CHAMPS
UCLA was picked to win a fifth-straight regular season conference title in the 2026 MPSF Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' poll, collecting 75 points and four of the 10 first-place votes. USC and Pepperdine finished tied for second in the preseason poll, while Stanford and BYU rounded out the top five in the standings.