No. 1 Bruins Beat BYU, Advance to MPSF Tournament Title Game

Thursday, April 23

Provo, Utah

6:30 pm PT (7:30 pm MT)

UCLA

28-1,13-1MPSFMVB

#5 BYU

21-12,8-7MPSFMVB

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
BYU	25	19	17	18	1
UCLA	20	25	25	25	3

No. 1 Bruins Beat BYU, Advance to MPSF Tournament Title Game

April 23, 2026 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

PROVO, Utah – The UCLA men's volleyball program earned a spot in the MPSF tournament championship on Thursday evening, taking down the hosts BYU in four sets. Set scores were 20-25, 25-19, 25-17, 25-18.

Multiple milestones happened on Thursday evening as senior setter Andrew Rowan became the all-time assists leader in the rally scoring era (since 2001), and head coach John Hawks earned his 50th win as the head coach at UCLA. For his career Hawks is now 50-8 (.862 winning percentage) as the head coach of the Bruins.

Rowan dished out 44 assists and now has 4,390 assists in his career. He surpassed the old career assists record of 4,346 set by Rich Nelson.

The loss for BYU (21-12, 7-7 MPSF) marks the first time they have lost in the MPSF Tournament at home since 2011, snapping a 12-game winning streak.

Sean Kelly led the way for the Bruins (28-1, 13-1 MPSF) with 19 kills, while Zach Rama tallied 18 kills and hit. 500 on the night. Rowan paced the offense with his 44 assists as UCLA hit .347 as a squad.

Defensively, UCLA limited BYU to a .244 hitting percentage, and middle blocker Cameron Thorne recorded three block solos and six total blocks on the night.

After dropping the opening set, UCLA stormed out to a 6-2 lead in the second set. UCLA then utilized a 3-0 scoring run to make it 9-4, forcing a BYU timeout. During those first nine points, Rama recorded four kills, and Rowan tallied an ace.

BYU closed the gap to two, 15-13, forcing a Bruin timeout. A kill from Thorne followed by a service ace from Rowan made it 18-14 in favor of UCLA.

A solo block by Thorne pushed in to 21-15, before a kill from Kelly made it 22-16.

The Bruins closed out the set with a kill from Micah Wong Diallo, taking the second set 25-19, and evening the match at 1-1.

As for the third set, UCLA went in front 5-2 when Rowan tallied another ace. A kill from Kelly and Won Diallo made it 10-6 in favor of the Bruins.

A block assist from Thorne and Kelly made it 18-10 to the Bruins, and BYU recorded a timeout. Rowan then dished a quick ball to Wong Diallo thorugh the middle, making it 22-15. Grayson Bradford came in to serve and made it 24-16 with his third service ace of the year.

UCLA then closed out the third set 25-17, with Thorne hammering home a kill to close it out.

In the fourth set, Thorne ripped an ace to put UCLA in front 7-3. Kills from Kelly and Rama then pushed UCLA in front by eight, 16-8.

Wong Diallo made it 19-14 before back-to-back kills from Rama pushed UCLA in front 21-15. The Bruins closed out the set and the match with two kills in a row from Kelly, as the Bruins won their third match against the Cougars in 2026.

Up Next: UCLA will play crosstown rival USC in the MPSF Tournament Championship on Saturday evening at 6 pm PT (7 pm MT). The match will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.