Coming Up— The No. 5-ranked Bruins (10-4, 7-3 in Mountain Pacifi c Sports Federation action), return home for the fi rst time in February to host No. 14 CSUN (9-5, 2-5) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins then will play host to league-leading and No. 2-ranked Long Beach State (11-2, 7-1) on Saturday at 4 p.m. in a match to be played in Collins Court in the Wooden Center.
Live Coverage — Fans can follow matches on UCLA’s live Twitter feed @UCLAMVB.
*Wed. v. CSUN—Live TV — Pac-12 Networks (Kevin Barnett, Al Scates) and http://pac-12.com/mens-volleyball/event/2017/02/15/csun; live stats — http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=ucla ; live internet radio (Darren Preston, Denny Cline) — http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/2016/8/16/live-audio.aspx
*Sat. v. Long Beach St. —Live stream — http://pac-12.com/live/ucla-2; live stats — http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast. php?t=1&gid=ucla; live internet radio (Darren Preston, Denny Cline) — http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/2016/8/16/live-audio.aspx
This Week’s NCAA Stats— To begin the week, UCLA was listed No. 4 nationally in hitting percentage (.330)…No. 8 in blocks per set (2.37)…No. 8 in Aces per set (1.50), No. 8 in set assists/set (12.10), No. 9 in kills per set (12.84), No. 10 in digs (8.96) and No. 16 in oppt. hitting % (.235) … Individually, freshman Daenan Gyimah is 4th in hitting % (.464) … Senior Mitch Stahl is 9th nationally in aces per set (0.48) and tied for 8th blocks per set (1.07). Micah Ma’a had six aces at BYU, most by a player this season in a fi ve-set match … Senior Michael Fisher’s eight block assists vs. Princeton ties him for the most by a player this season in a three-set match.
By the Numbers – Bruins have out blocked the opponent in each match but the away meeting with UCSB, the 2nd away match at BYU and at Pepp … UCLA has been even or out aced its opponents this season in all but the Ohio State and 2nd match at BYU … The 0-3 loss in second match at BYU was the fi rst time the Bruins had been swept in a match since April 25, 2015 vs. UCI … Bruins own 6-0 home mark and 3-4 record in true road matches this season … 37 of the 57 aces in MPSF play this season have come from Mitch Stahl (19) and Micah Ma’a (18, 9 in last 4 matches)… Stahl has at least one ace in each of the last 9 matches he has played in … UCLA has hit over .300 in all but the Ohio State, Princeton, 2nd at BYU, at Pepp matches this season … Hagen Smith matched his career high with 12 kills at Stanford (.429) and has 39 kills, 11 blocks, 23 digs over last four matches … Smith, who is now 9th on the all-time rally scoring school list for digs, has 36 over last 6 matches … Micah Ma’a has started all 45 career matches … JT Hatch has produced double-digit points in 7 of the last 9 matches and had a season-high 24 kills at Pepperdine … He has 37 digs in last four matches, career-best 16 at Pepperdine … Dylan Missry has 35 kills in last four matches … Stahl is 2nd on the all-time school rally scoring list for aces and moved up to 3rd on the all-time career block assist list (rally scoring era 2001-present) at the school … Daenan Gyimah began the week 4th in the NCAA in hitting % with a .464 and has had multiple blocks in all but one match this season … Michael Fisher’s 8 block assists vs. Princeton ties for the most by a Div. I-II player this season … Jake Arnitz, who became the fi rst Bruin to hit the 20-kill mark this season with his performance against USC (20), has missed the last fi ve matches due to injury … Jackson Bantle, 10th on the all-time rally scoring list at UCLA, has 33 digs in last 4 matches … Oliver Martin, who has 16 blocks in last fi ve matches, increased his hitting percentage from .213 in 2015 to .447 in 2016 and is at .418 entering this week’s action and his block per set mark improved from 0.4 to 0.9 to 1.2 this season … Arnitz upped his hitting percentage from .227 as a freshman in 2015 to .313 in 2016 to .355 in 2017 … Stahl improved his blocking average from 0.9 in 2015 per set to 1.19 in 2016 and enters the week at 1.07 this season … Ma’a had at least one ace in 27 of the 32 total matches last season and in the process, he destroyed the old freshman ace record of Gonzalo Quiroga (39 in 2011) with 58 … Ma’a had an MPSF high 7 aces in match versus CSUN on Jan. 29, 2016 … His triple-double v. BYU (4/2/16) was the fi rst by an MPSF player since Jonah Seif of UCSB on Feb. 6, 2014 … A year ago, the Bruins participated in the NCAA Tournament for the fi rst time since it captured the program’s 19th title in 2006 (playing Ohio State in the 2016 semifi nals).
Honors — Micah Ma’a was named the Sports Imports / AVCA Div. I-II Men’s Volleyball National Player of the Week on Jan. 17 for his play in wins over UC I (8 kills, .800, 17 set ast., 3 aces, 7 digs, 1 blk) and UCSD (3 kills, .333, 21 set ast., 3 aces, 6 digs, 2 blk) … Daenan Gyimah was named the Off the Block/Springbak, Inc. National Freshman of the Week for his play vs. UCI (14 kills, .737, 2 blk) and UCSD (2 kills, .500, 4 blks) … 2017 Watch Listees: Karch Kiraly Award (best outside attacker) JT Hatch, Jake Arnitz/ Erik Shoji Award (best libero) Davis Gillett / Ryan Millar Award (best middle attacker) Mitch Stahl / Lloy Ball Award (best setter) Micah Ma’a…Three Bruins were named to the 2016 AVCA All-America squad – 1st team Micah Ma’a; 2nd team Mitch Stahl, Jake Arnitz. Earning 1st team All-MPSF honors were Ma’a and Arnitz; 2nd team was Stahl; Honorable Mention went to JT Hatch and Hagen Smith. Arnitz was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team. Ma’a was named Off the Block’s Server of the Year and a Freshman All-American.
Scouting the Opponents — CSUN, at .372, and Long Beach State, at .367, are ranked No. 2 and No. 3 in the NCAA listing entering the week in hitting percentage. CSUN lost its last match on Saturday at UC Irvine in five sets, but had won three of the previous four matches, including a 3-0 sweep of Stanford. The Bruins beat CSUN last year 3-1 in Pauley and 3-2 in the Matadome. Long Beach State has won four straight matches, all by 3-0 sweeps, heading into Wednesday’s battle at UCSB. The last loss came at top-ranked Ohio State (1-3) on Jan. 28 (22-25, 26-24, 21-25, 24-26). Last season, UCLA defeated LB 3-2 in Pauley, 3-0 in Long Beach and 3-0 at MPSF playoff s in Provo.
Coach Speraw: Year Five at UCLA — John Speraw (UCLA ’95), who is in his fi fth season as the head coach at his alma mater, has captured three NCAA titles as a head coach (2012, 2009, 2007 at UCI), three as an assistant coach (1996, 1998, 2000 at UCLA) and two as a player (1993, 1995 at UCLA). Also the head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Volleyball Team, Speraw led that squad to the 2015 FIVB World Cup and automatic qualifi cation for the 2016 Olympic Games where his squad took home the Bronze medal. Speraw came back to UCLA after 10 seasons at UC Irvine where he led the Anteaters to three NCAA championships, and a 199-106 (.646) overall record. In winning that 2007 title, Speraw became the fi rst individual to produce a championship as a head coach, assistant coach and player in collegiate men’s volleyball history. He was named head coach of the U.S. Men’s National Team on Mar. 25, 2013. In the summer of 2014, he guided the U.S. team to a win over top-ranked Brazil in the FIVB World League gold-medal match. In the summer of 2012, he had served as an assistant coach for the National Team, which advanced to the quarterfinals of the London Olympics. He was also an assistant on the gold medal winning U.S. squad in the 2008 Beijing Games. Speraw won the National Coach of the Year award in 2007.
Recapping Last Week — Last Saturday, UCLA rallied to win at Pepperdine: 23-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23, 15-7. JT Hatch registered 24 kills, hit .340 and totaled a career best 16 digs to lead the Bruin attack. Mitch Stahl had a season-high 11 kills (.611) and added a block solo to go with five block assists. Dylan Missry (13) and Hagen Smith (12) each tied career-highs in kills. The Waves had an opponent season best 17.0 total blocks in the contest. On Thursday night, UCLA lost at Stanford 27-29, 27-25, 25-23, 27-29, 11-15. The Cardinal out hit UCLA .356 to .333 for the match. The Bruins had 29 service errors for the contest to 25 by Stanford. UCLA was led by JT Hatch’s 19 kills.
Signees for 2018 — The Bruins inked 6-6 outside/opposite hitter Colin Bailey from Torrey Pines HS, 6-9 middle blocker Grant Maleski, from Stevenson High in Lincolnshire, Ill., 6-9 middle blocker Ian Parish from Loyola HS, 6-4 setter Adam Parks and 6-3 outside hitter Alex Parks from Oak Park, Calif. HS in the November 2016 signing period.
Elsewhere in MPSF: Feb. 14 – Hawai’i at McKendree; Feb. 15 – Long Beach at UCSB, Hawai’i at Lindenwood; Feb. 16 – Stanford at USC, Pepperdine at Cal Baptist; Feb. 17-UCSD at BYU, CSUN at UCSB; Feb. 18- UCSD at BYU, Pepperdine at USC, Stanford at Cal Baptist; Feb. 22- Cal Bapt. at Long Beach, USC at CSUN; Feb. 23 – BYU at Stanford; Feb. 24-BYU at Stanford, Cal Bapt. at CSUN, Pepperdine at Hawai’i, USC at Long Beach, UCSB at UCSD;
News courtesy of UCLA Athletics.
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