Friday, April 5
Los Angeles, CA
7:00 PM
UCLA
vs
Grand Canyon
Photo by: Don Liebig/ASUCLA
MVB Battles GCU for top spot in MPSF
April 03, 2024 | Men's Volleyball
Bruins Host First-Place Grand Canyon on Friday-Saturday — Second-ranked UCLA (18-4, 7-1), which has won seven straight matches, returns to the court for a pair of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) contests against No. 3 Grand Canyon (20-2, 8-0) on Friday and Saturday in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom (video for both on ucla stream). UCLA trails GCU by one match with four left for both teams to play. This week's battles will mark the 21st and 22nd straight matches in which the Bruins have faced an AVCA-ranked opponent. After defeating Stanford twice last week, UCLA has won its last 15 home regular-season MPSF matches dating back to an Apr. 9, 2021 loss to BYU. This weekend's matchup features the top two teams in the MPSF in hitting percentage (UCLA is No. 1 at .368 and Grand Canyon is No. 2 at .349).
• First Serve vs. Grand Canyon (Fri. Apr. 5): 7 p.m. PT
Video: UCLA stream https://pac-12.com/live/ucla
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=498664
• First Serve vs. Grand Canyon (Sat. Apr. 6): 5 p.m. PT
Video: UCLA stream https://pac-12.com/live/ucla
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=498665
UCLA is pursuing a third straight regular-season MPSF crown in 2024 and in two weeks heads into the MPSF Tournament (at USC) which will determine the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship tournament. The Bruins have won at least two sets in all but one match this season, a 1-3 loss at top-ranked Long Beach. The eight-team NCAA bracket will be announced on ncaa.com on Sunday April 21. NCAA Quarterfinal matches begin at Long Beach State on Apr. 30 with all eight teams in action.
With the home win over top-ranked 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).
UCLA and Rankings — UCLA was voted No. 2 in this week's AVCA coaches poll and in the Off the Block media listing. After starting out 2024 as the top-ranked team in the pre-season poll and first two listings of the regular season, the Bruins have now 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 began the week ranked among the nation's top 10 entering the week as a team in hitting % (1st-.368), aces (3rd-1.93), set assists (6th-12.07), blocks per set (7th-2.49), and kills per set (7th-12.80) ... So far in 2024, UCLA has 10 double-digit total block efforts (Lewis, Loyola,Ohio St., UCSB, UCI, Long Beach 2x, Pepperdine, BYU, USC), four double-digit ace performances (Lewis-14, UC Irvine-10, Pepperdine-10, Stanford-11) and has hit at least .400 in nine matches (Ft. Valley St., Morehouse, UCSD, UCI, Pepp, BYU, at USC, Ohio St.-h, Stanford) ... Two Bruins rated among the nation's top 10 to begin the week -- Andrew Rowan is 6th in the nation in set assists/set (10.20) and Ido David is 10th in aces per set (0.46) ... Merrick McHenry began the week 14th in blocking (0.99) ... After recording a block solo in this year's home match against Long Beach, McHenry moved past Garrett Muagututia (2007-10, 44), and has risen to the top of the school list for career block solos (currently has 47 solo stuffs) ... the Bruins climbed into the top spot nationally this in hitting percentage (.368) and are looking to lead the nation in the category for a third straight season (2023 hit .382; 2022 hit .374).
Player Notes — Merrick McHenry has hit at least .400 in each of the last 19 matches and has one attack error over the last six matches (44 swings) ... Ethan Champlin owns the team lead with 11 double-digit kill matches this season ... Cooper Robinson has double-digit points in 8 of the last 11 matches and at least one ace in 9 of last 11 matches (total of 16) ... Andrew Rowan has multiple aces in 10 matches and the team has hit at least .350 in 12 matches he has started this season ... Grant Sloane has at least one ace in each of the last six matches ... Sean McQuiggan has started at middle blocker in 8 of the last 9 matches ... Ido David has at least one ace in 12 of his last 15 matches (27 this season, began week ranked 10th in NCAA 0.46 avg.) he has played in ... Zach Rama has double-digit points in 4 of last 8 matches.
MPSF — The Bruins own a current 15-match regular-season home MPSF match win streak ... UCLA had a 21-match MPSF regular-season win streak snapped at BYU earlier this season. UCLA finished atop the 2023 MPSF standings with a 12-0 record last season and was 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 ... FloSports (pay service) will provide live streaming coverage of this year's MPSF Championship Tournament (at USC) again this year. This year's NCAA tournament will feature eight teams with two at-large bids and six spots going to conference winners. Quarterfinal action begins on April 30 at Long Beach State with all eight teams in action on day one.
MPSF Standings (Apr. 1)
Grand Canyon 8-0
UCLA 7-1
BYU 6-4
Pepperdine 5-5
Stanford 2-6
USC 2-6
Concordia-Irvine 0-8
• First Serve vs. Grand Canyon (Fri. Apr. 5): 7 p.m. PT
Video: UCLA stream https://pac-12.com/live/ucla
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=498664
• First Serve vs. Grand Canyon (Sat. Apr. 6): 5 p.m. PT
Video: UCLA stream https://pac-12.com/live/ucla
Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=498665
UCLA is pursuing a third straight regular-season MPSF crown in 2024 and in two weeks heads into the MPSF Tournament (at USC) which will determine the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship tournament. The Bruins have won at least two sets in all but one match this season, a 1-3 loss at top-ranked Long Beach. The eight-team NCAA bracket will be announced on ncaa.com on Sunday April 21. NCAA Quarterfinal matches begin at Long Beach State on Apr. 30 with all eight teams in action.
With the home win over top-ranked 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).
UCLA and Rankings — UCLA was voted No. 2 in this week's AVCA coaches poll and in the Off the Block media listing. After starting out 2024 as the top-ranked team in the pre-season poll and first two listings of the regular season, the Bruins have now 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 began the week ranked among the nation's top 10 entering the week as a team in hitting % (1st-.368), aces (3rd-1.93), set assists (6th-12.07), blocks per set (7th-2.49), and kills per set (7th-12.80) ... So far in 2024, UCLA has 10 double-digit total block efforts (Lewis, Loyola,Ohio St., UCSB, UCI, Long Beach 2x, Pepperdine, BYU, USC), four double-digit ace performances (Lewis-14, UC Irvine-10, Pepperdine-10, Stanford-11) and has hit at least .400 in nine matches (Ft. Valley St., Morehouse, UCSD, UCI, Pepp, BYU, at USC, Ohio St.-h, Stanford) ... Two Bruins rated among the nation's top 10 to begin the week -- Andrew Rowan is 6th in the nation in set assists/set (10.20) and Ido David is 10th in aces per set (0.46) ... Merrick McHenry began the week 14th in blocking (0.99) ... After recording a block solo in this year's home match against Long Beach, McHenry moved past Garrett Muagututia (2007-10, 44), and has risen to the top of the school list for career block solos (currently has 47 solo stuffs) ... the Bruins climbed into the top spot nationally this in hitting percentage (.368) and are looking to lead the nation in the category for a third straight season (2023 hit .382; 2022 hit .374).
Player Notes — Merrick McHenry has hit at least .400 in each of the last 19 matches and has one attack error over the last six matches (44 swings) ... Ethan Champlin owns the team lead with 11 double-digit kill matches this season ... Cooper Robinson has double-digit points in 8 of the last 11 matches and at least one ace in 9 of last 11 matches (total of 16) ... Andrew Rowan has multiple aces in 10 matches and the team has hit at least .350 in 12 matches he has started this season ... Grant Sloane has at least one ace in each of the last six matches ... Sean McQuiggan has started at middle blocker in 8 of the last 9 matches ... Ido David has at least one ace in 12 of his last 15 matches (27 this season, began week ranked 10th in NCAA 0.46 avg.) he has played in ... Zach Rama has double-digit points in 4 of last 8 matches.
MPSF — The Bruins own a current 15-match regular-season home MPSF match win streak ... UCLA had a 21-match MPSF regular-season win streak snapped at BYU earlier this season. UCLA finished atop the 2023 MPSF standings with a 12-0 record last season and was 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 ... FloSports (pay service) will provide live streaming coverage of this year's MPSF Championship Tournament (at USC) again this year. This year's NCAA tournament will feature eight teams with two at-large bids and six spots going to conference winners. Quarterfinal action begins on April 30 at Long Beach State with all eight teams in action on day one.
MPSF Standings (Apr. 1)
Grand Canyon 8-0
UCLA 7-1
BYU 6-4
Pepperdine 5-5
Stanford 2-6
USC 2-6
Concordia-Irvine 0-8
Players Mentioned
OH
/ Men's Volleyball
MB
/ Men's VolleyballMB
/ Men's VolleyballOH
/ Men's VolleyballS
/ Men's Volleyball
OH
/ Men's VolleyballHighlights - Men's Volleyball vs. Hawai'i, NCAA Semifinals (May 10, 2025)
Sunday, May 11
Highlights - Men's Volleyball vs. Belmont Abbey, NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals (May 8, 2025)
Thursday, May 08
Men’s Volleyball - NCAA Travel Day Vlog ft. Matthew Aziz
Wednesday, May 07
Highlights - UCLA Men's Volleyball vs. #5 USC (4/17/25)
Friday, April 18