No. 2 UCLA Men's Volleyball Hosts No. 7 BYU This Week

No. 2 UCLA HOSTS No. 7 BYU THIS WEEK
The UCLA men's volleyball program, winners of back-to-back National Championships and 21 NCAA titles, returns to Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom Financial this week to host No. 7 BYU on Friday and Saturday evening. First serve is set for 7 pm PT on Friday, followed by a 5 pm PT start on Saturday. Friday's match will be streamed on B1G+ while Saturday's match has been picked up by the Big Ten Network.

STATS TO KNOW

Cooper Robinson is leading the team in kills with 254 and is averaging 3.53 kills per set while hitting .388. His .388 hitting percentage is good for 12th nationally. Of players with at least 250 kills, a total of 37 student-athletes, Robinson is second in that group in hitting percentage at .388 (Parker Van Buren, 335 kills, .415 hitting percentage).
Zach Rama is second on the team with 209 kills on the year, an average of 3.07 per set and is hitting .279 to begin the year.
Andrew Rowan has totaled 658 assists through 19 matches played, an average of 9.82 per set.
Cameron Thorne has tallied 80 blocks over 20 matches, good for a team-leading 1.11 blocks per set. Thorne is also hitting .556 for the season and has 152 kills on the year. Thorne's blocks per set number of 1.11 put him 11th nationally in the category.

ROBINSON EARNS MPSF OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
UCLA's Cooper Robinson was named on Monday (March 31) as the MPSF Offensive Player of the Week. The redshirt junior tallied 33 total kills over two wins over Pepperdine last week for the No. 2 UCLA Bruins.
Robinson recorded 16 kills on 33 swings on Thursday in a 3-0 win in Pauley Pavilion, and then added 17 kills on 28 swings to hit .536 on Saturday in a 3-1 win in Malibu. The redshirt junior also added three service aces during the week.

BRUINS IN MPSF PLAY
UCLA heads into the BYU weekend at 7-1 in conference play. UCLA is one of two teams that are 7-1 to begin MPSF play, along with USC. The Bruins have picked up wins over No. 10 Stanford twice, Vanguard twice, No. 9 Pepperdine twice, and most recently went 1-1 at GCU to begin the MPSF conference slate.

Going back to the beginning of conference play in 2022, UCLA is 41-3 (.932 winning percentage).

BRUINS SPLIT WITH GCU
UCLA split a pair of road matches at GCU last week with the Bruins falling on night one, 3-0, beofre earning a bounce-back five set win on night two. The Bruins won Saturday's match despite a season-high 42 service errors, as Robinson led the way with a season-high 19 kills to pace the Bruins to the win.

ROBINSON NAMED AVCA, MPSF PLAYER OF THE WEEK
UCLA's Cooper Robinson was named on Tuesday (March 11) as the AVCA National Player of the Week. The redshirt junior registered 31 kills on 53 swings, with five errors, to hit .491 for the week as UCLA beat No. 10 Stanford twice, 3-1 on Thursday and 3-0 on Friday in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.

This is the second time that Robinson has earned AVCA National Player of the Week honors. Robinson also won MPSF/Molton Offensive Player of the Week honors on Monday, March 10.
This is the second time in his career that Robinson has earned AVCA National Player of the Week honors. Robinson also won MPSF/Molton Offensive Player of the Week honors on Monday, March 10.
With Robinson earning AVCA National Player of the Week, it marks the 28th time overall that a Bruin has earned the honor, and the second time in 2025. Prior to Robinson, the most recent AVCA National Player of the Week honoree was Cameron Thorne for his play during the week of February 24, 2024.

UCLA SWEEP UC SANTA BARBARA
UCLA men's volleyball two wins over No. 16 UC Santa Barbara. The Bruins beat UCSB inside Pauley Pavilion on Thursday, 3-1, before winning the return leg in Santa Barbara, 3-1 as well.

On Thursday in Pauley Pavilion Zach Rama led the way for UCLA (9-3) offensively on Wednesday, finishing with 14 kills on 25 attempts to hit .440, while Cooper Robinson added 13 kills and Thorne chipped in with seven kills on nine attempts.
As for Saturday in Santa Barbara, Cooper Robinson led the team with 13 kills on 23 swings on Friday, while Cameron Thorne tallied 11 kills on 12 swings to hit .917 on the night. Zach Rama and David Decker both finished in double digit kills as well with 11 and 10 kills respectively.

KILLA CAM
Cameron Thorne had a stellar week in UCLA's two wins over UC Irvine. The junior registered 32 kills on 38 swings, with four errors, to hit .711 for the week as UCLA beat No. 2 UC Irvine twice, 3-0 on Wednesday in Irvine, and 3-2 on Saturday in Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom.

For his play Thorne was named AVCA National Player of the Week and MPSF Offensive player of the Week.
On Wednesday in Irvine, California, Thorne tallied a then career-high 15 kills in UCLA's 3-0 sweep of UC Irvine. On the day Thorne recorded a .579 hitting percentage, and added three blocks in the win at No. 2 UCI.
As for Saturday, Thorne continued his success at the net and produced a career-high 17 kills on 19 swings to hit .842 on the day. A Hollywood, Florida native, Thorne also added three service aces and six blocks to his tally.
Thorne finished the week averaging 4.00 kills per set across the two matches, 1.13 blocks per set and 5.00 points per set.

BRUINS SWEEP UC IRVINE
UCLA men's volleyball earned back-to-back wins against No. 2 UC Irvine last week. The Bruins beat UCI in Irvine, 3-0, before winning the return leg 3-2 in five sets inside Pauley Pavilion on Saturday. Saturday's contest marked the first time UCLA had played in a five set match in 2025.

UCLA has now won five matches in a row against UCI dating back to the beginning of the 2024 season.
On Wednesday in Irvine, California, Cameron Thorne, Cooper Robinson, and Sean McQuiggan all finished in double-digit kills on the night. Thorne tallied a career-high 15, Robinson added 11, and McQuiggan added a career-high 10. As a team, UCLA hit .442 in the match, while McQuiggan hit 1.000 and Thorne hit. 579 to pace the Bruins offensively.
As for Saturday, Cameron Thorne led the Bruins (8-3) attack with 17 kills on 19 attempts, hitting .842 for the match. He also added a team-high six blocks in the win. Cooper Robinson and Zach Rama tacked on 15 kills and 11 kills, respectively, as the Bruins hit .406 as a team on the night.

THE BRUINS JUST WIN
UCLA enters the 2025 season having won at least 22 matches over the last three seasons. Throughout those three seasons UCLA has a record of 79-14 (.849 winning percentage), have won two NCAA titles, and four MPSF titles.

TOP OF THE CLASS
UCLA enters the 2025 season having won 34 of their last 36 MPSF matches dating back to the 2022 season. UCLA's MPSF records over that timeframe are 11-1 in 2024, 12-0 in 2023, and 11-1 in 2022. The Bruins' winning percentage over that span is .944.

A PERFECT 10 OUT OF 10
In UCLA's 3-0 sweep of UCI in Irvine, redshirt junior Sean McQuiggan tied the program record for highest hitting percentage in a single match. McQuiggan finished with 10 kills on 10 attack attempts and became the second Bruin to ever hit 1.000 in a match. The only other Bruin to do so was J.R. Norris IV, who also went 10-for-10 back in 2022 against Morehouse.

COOP'S BIG DAY
Redshirt junior Cooper Robinson had a career day in UCLA's 3-1win over No. 15 CSUN. The Pacific Palisades, Calif. native recorded 22.5 points, 15 kills, a career-high six aces, and three total blocks. His six service aces were the most of any Bruin so far in a single match this season. Heading into Thursday's match Robinsons' six aces against CSUN were tied for the most in the NCAA in any four-set match.

2024 IN REVIEW
The Bruins earned their second national championship in a row, defeating Long Beach State in four sets:

UCLA returns 16 players who were on the roster during the title-winning 2024 campaign
UCLA finished the season 26-5 and 11-1 in MPSF play and finished top of the standings during the MPSF regular season
The Bruins finished in the top five in the country in multiple categories during the 2024 season. UCLA led the nation in hitting percentage at .372, while the Bruins had the second-highest winning percentage in the country at .839. UCLA also was fourth in the country in blocks per set at 2.52 and was fourth nationally in aces per set at 1.90.
Ethan Champlin and Cooper Robinson both finished in the top 20 nationally in hitting percentage. Champlin hit .339 good for 17th on the list while Robinson hit .332 to put him 20th nationally.
Five Bruins earned All-America honors, and three earned first-team nods. Champlin, Merrick McHenry and Andrew Rowan all earned first-team honors, while Grant Sloane and Cooper Robinson were awarded honorable mention All-America honors.
Over the last two seasons (2023, 2024) UCLA has gone a combined 57-7 (.891 winning percentage) have won two NCAA titles, two MPSF regular season titles and an MPSF tournament title (2023).

MAKING AN IMPACT
Thiago Zamprogno made his first career appearance in UCLA's 3-1 win over No. 14 UC San Diego, playing two sets off the bench and earning six kills off of seven swings, hitting .714 and adding a block. Zamprogno then earned the start at No. 15 CSUN and helped the Bruins to a 3-1 win on the road with four blocks, three kills and three digs.

MPSF RANKS
The Bruins are amongst the leaders in the MPSF in multiple categories to begin the 2025 season:

Ido David is leading the conference in aces per set at 0.55.
Cameron Thorne tops the conference in hitting percentage at .576, and is second in the conference in blocks, averaging 1.16 per set.
As a team, UCLA leads the conference in service aces with 107, and leads the conference in aces per set at 1.95. The Bruins are third in hitting percentage at .365, and are second in the conference in opponent hitting percentage at .212, and UCLA is second in blocks at 2.47 per set.

A DAY OF FIRSTS
In UCLA's season-opening win over St. Francis that was played in Long Beach due to the wildfires in the Los Angeles area, multiple firsts happened for the Bruins.

Head Coach John Hawks earned his first career win as head coach of the UCLA men's volleyball program.
Cameron Thorne, Sean Kelly, and Trent Taliaferro all made their first appearances as a member of the Bruins.
UCLA earned its first win of the 2025 season in its first match.

NEW JOHN ON THE BLOCK
John Hawks, who was an assistant coach at UCLA from 2015-22 and head coach at Loyola University Chicago from 2022-24, has been name the third head coach men's volleyball history, The Alice and Nahum Lainer Family Director of Athletics Martin Jarmond announced on Friday, October 11, 2024. Hawks also currently serves as the head coach of the U21 USA National Team, and recently won Gold at the NORCECA Qualifiers this past summer in Mexico, earning a bid to the World Championships in China next summer. In Hawks' two seasons as head coach of Loyola Chicago, he posted a 40-17 record (.702 winning percentage), earned Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Coach of the Year honors in 2023, and coached six All-Americans.

BRUINS PICKED TO REPEAT AS MPSF CHAMPS
Back-to-back defending NCAA Champion UCLA was picked to win a fourth-straight regular season conference title in the 2025 MPSF Men's Volleyball Preseason Coaches' poll, collecting the maximum possible totals of 64 points and eight first-place votes. USC was projected second in the MPSF standings, while BYU, Pepperdine and Grand Canyon rounded out the top five.

BRU-CREW RETURNING
16 UCLA student-athletes return to Westwood following their 2024 title-winning season, including four starters from the title match. Andrew Rowan, Cooper Robinson, Ido David, and Matthew Aziz all return and have won two NCAA Championships each. Additionally, players who came off the bench in big moments throughout the 2024 season return with outside hitter Zach Rama and Coleman McDonough slated to make an impact in 2025.

Cooper Robinson, Redshirt Junior, Outside Hitter: Saw action in 28 matches with 25 starts in 2024 ... second-team All-MPSF selection ... honorable mention AVCA All-America pick ... ranked 20th in the NCAA in attack percentage (.332) ... double-digit kills in 14 contests with a high of 23 against UC Irvine ... first UCLA player to record back-to-back 20 kill matches since Jake Arnitz ... ninth in the MPSF in points per set average (3.36) after having 20 matches with double-digits in points ... seventh in the MPSF in aces per set (0.37) and registered at least three aces in 5 contests ... 20 matches with double-digit points... multiple aces in 11 matches ...3 aces v. USC, GCU, USC, Loyola, Ohio State ... 10 kills vs. Stanford ... 11 kills vs. Penn Stare ... 13 kills at BYU ... 10 kills vs. Pepperdine ... 10 kills in regular season win over Beach ... named AVCA National Player of the Week, OTB's National Attacker of the Week and MPSF Offensive POW for his performances against UCI ... 9 kills off bench vs. UCSB; 11k, 6 blocks vs. Ohio State; 10 kills, 3 aces at Loyola.
Ido David, Senior, Opposite/Outside Hitter: Saw action in 28 matches with 18 starts ... had five double-digit kill matches and a season-high of 15 kills at Long Beach State ... had nine multi ace matches with a high of five service winners at Lewis ... rated 24th in the NCAA and fifth in the MPSF in aces average (0.40) ... registered three aces in the NCAA Championship match versus Long Beach ... had 10 matches with five or more digs ... had 14 matches with multiple blocks ... totaled 22 kills over a pair of matches at BYU .... had season-best five aces at Lewis to go with 9 kills and added 12 more kills at Loyola to be named Off the Block National Opposite of the Week ... As for 2023, David was a
First-team All-AVCA All-America selection and first-team All-MPSF pick ... named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament team after recording 17 kills in semis against Long Beach and a season-high 23 kills in championship match versus Hawaii.
Andrew Rowan, Junior, Setter: Saw action in 30 matches ... AVCA first-team All-America selection ... MPSF first-team ... named to the NCAA Championship all-tournament team ... directed the Bruin offense to a .372 hitting percentage, which led the nation ... his 10.06 set assists mark ranked 10th in the NCAA and second in MPSF ... had team-high 40 aces and rated 8th in the MPSF with 0.35 aces per set average ... had at least one kill in 26 of 30 matches, including a season-high five kills in matches against Grand Canyon and UCI ... had multiple aces in 12 contests with a high of 6 at Lewis ... at least four digs in 19 matches ... multiple blocks in 20 matches with a high of 7.0 vs. UC Santa Barbara ... named Off the Block's National Setter of Week after team hit combined .350 in a pair of wins over GCU ... has at least one kill in 26 matches ... OTB's National Setter of Week after leading team to combined .425 percentage in the two regular season USC match wins.
Zach Rama, Junior, Outside Hitter: Saw action in 25 matches with five starts (Morehouse, Lewis, Pepperdine, BYU, BYU) ... had five double-digit kill matches with a season-high of 21 at BYU ... had 16 kills in win over USC and 14 in the MPSF Championship match against Grand Canyon ... had season-high three aces in matches against Morehouse and UC Irvine ... season-high 10 digs in win over UC Irvine ... season-high six blocks in win at Lewis. ... also registered 12 kills at Pepperdine and 10 against Morehouse... As for the 2023 season was named to All-MPSF All-Freshman Team ... saw action in 18 matches with four starts (George Mason, CUI, Purdue Ft. Wayne, Pepperdine) ... recorded five double-digit kill matches vs. George Mason (10), CUI (11), Purdue Fort Wayne (12), at Hawai'i (12), Pepperdine (12) ... recorded a season-best of three aces in a win at CUI ... credited with season-best seven digs and four blocks in win over Pepperdine ... saw his first action at CSUN in January.

WELCOME TO WESTWOOD
Five Bruins enter their first season in Weswtood in 2025, with one transfer coming in (Cameron Thorne of GCU) and four freshman.

Cameron Thorne, Transfer, Middle Blocker: Spent two seasons at Grand Canyon University (GCU) ... Was a first-team All-American in 2024, earned second-team MPSF honors, was named to the MPSF All-Tournament team, and made it to the NCAA semifinals with the Lopes ... Led the country in total blocks with 149 in 2024 and in blocks per set with 1,34 ... Hit .530 with 2016 kills on the season ... As for 2023 Thorne had 93 kills and hit .420 in his freshman season .... Totaled 63 blocks on the season over 25 matches and helped the Lopes advance to the MPSF Tournament final and the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals ... Over his two seasons at GCU the Lopes finished 48-13 overall (.787 winning percentage), made the MPSF Tournament finals twice ( one title), and made the NCAA Tournament twice.
Caleb Sapp, Freshman, Opposite: A 6-8 opposite from Upland, Calif. and Claremont High School... Was a four-year varsity letter winner and was named to the first-team Baseline League squad the past two seasons ... A year ago, he recorded over 500 kills, 44 aces and 45 blocks for Claremont ... Sapp was selected for the 2022-23 National Training and Development program with the U.S. Boys' U19 National Team and also played for Balboa Bay Volleyball Club which captured first-place at the 2023 AAU Nationals 17s Open and second-place at the 2022 AAU Nationals 16s Open.
Trent Taliaferro, Freshman, Setter: Played for Balboa Bay Volleyball Club where he earned a plethora of awards and accolades ... While with the Balboa Bay Club earned MVP at the AAU Boy's Junior Nationals event in 2024, and earned the Gold Medal with his squad ... In 2023 while playing for the Balboa Bay U17 team he earned a spot on the All-Tournament team at the AAU Boy's Junior Nationals event and won the gold medal ... With USA Volleyball was selected to participate on the 2024 US Men's U21 National Team that earned the Gold Medal in the NORCECA U21 Continental Championships in Nogales, Mexico Summer 2024 ... Selected to participate on the 2023 US Boy's U19 National Team that got 4th Place – U19 World Championship in San Juan Argentina ... Earned a spot on the U19 USA Volleyball squad which earned the Gold Medal at the NORECA U19 Continental Championships in Guatemala in March of 2023.
Sean Kelly, Freshman, Outside Hitter: Kelly was named the 2023 CIF Div. I Player of the Year at Loyola High School which won the HS National Championship ... Loyola also captured the 2023 CIF State Championship ... Kelly is a three-time volleyballmag.com Top 25 Underclassman selection ... He represented the U.S. and was the team captain at the U19 FIVB World Championships where the team recorded a best-ever finish of fourth ... Kelly totaled 17 kills in the bronze medal match ... He also helped the U.S. earn the Gold Medal at the 2023 NORCECA Pan Am Games and was named Best Spiker ... In 2022, he was the U19 captain and a gold medalist at the Pan Am Games where he was named MVP and Best Spiker ... Kelly plays club volleyball for MB Surf which captured the gold medal at the 2023 AAU Boys' Nationals 18 Open ... He was also a gold medalist and MVP at the 2023 SoCal Cup 18 Open.
Matthew Chun, Freshman, Libero: Played four seasons at Punahou School in Honolulu Hawaii ... Earned All-Hawaii first-team honorsand was named to the Hawaii Fab 15 his senior season ... Won the Hawaii state title during senior year at Punahou School ... Played club volleyball for Outrigger Canoe Club where he earned All-Tournament team honors at the USAV U15 and U17 levels... His greatest pre-UCLA athletic thrill was winning the Hawaii State Championship ... Got into UCLA as a student before joining the men's volleyball program in the fall ... His father, Kimo, played football at UCLA in the mid-1980s.

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No. 2 UCLA Men's Volleyball Hosts No. 7 BYU This Week

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Players Mentioned

Matthew Aziz

Ethan Champlin

Matthew Chun

Ido David

David Decker

Sean Kelly

Coleman McDonough

Merrick McHenry

Sean McQuiggan

Zach Rama

Cooper Robinson

Andrew Rowan

Caleb Sapp

Grant Sloane

Trent Taliaferro

Cameron Thorne

Thiago Zamprogno

University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics

No. 2 UCLA Men's Volleyball Hosts No. 7 BYU This Week

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Matthew Aziz

Ethan Champlin

Matthew Chun

Ido David

David Decker

Sean Kelly

Coleman McDonough

Merrick McHenry

Sean McQuiggan

Zach Rama

Cooper Robinson

Andrew Rowan

Caleb Sapp

Grant Sloane

Trent Taliaferro

Cameron Thorne

Thiago Zamprogno

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