Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Fri, Jan 06 4:57 pm
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In response to MVBall: UCLA ranked #2, starts season vs CSUN on Thurs (Woochifer)
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The Bruins made quick work of UC San Diego on Friday afternoon in the UCSB ASICS tournament. UCLA started a very different lineup from the one that played CSUN last night.
Freshman Andrew Rowan is the top recruit at setter and he's 6'6" with a notable jump serve. He served up 6 aces to lead the Bruins, who set a MPSF record with 18 service aces in today's match. Cole Ketrzynski had a breakout freshman season as the Bruins' leading attacker, but had an injury-filled season last year. He didn't play against CSUN, but led UCLA today with 9 kills.
https://uclabruins.com/news/2023/1/6/mens-volleyball-mvb-aces-tritons.aspx
UCLA will play host #7-ranked UCSB on Saturday night at 8pm PT. The match will be shown on ESPN+.
Even without 2nd team AA Kevin Kobrine (who transferred to Southern Cal as a grad student), this Bruin team looks loaded as they move parts of the #1 recruiting class into the lineup. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Sat, Jan 28 1:15 pm
(Edited Sat, Jan 28 1:22 pm)
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In response to MVBall: UCLA ranked #2, starts season vs CSUN on Thurs (Woochifer)
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It's still early, but the Bruins look dominant and deep. The Bruins are playing a lot of different lineups in the early going.
So far, this season, the Bruins have dropped only one set and swept 6 of their 7 matches. Ido David was injured in the early going. But, he came back last week and has dominated the last couple of matches with 20 kills against UCSD and 16 last night against CSUN.
6'6" freshman setter Andrew Rowan is also becoming more of a factor. Speraw has been alternating between Rowan and 2022 MPSF POTY and 1st team AA Miles Partain at setter.
It will be interesting to see where things go with the lineup over the next couple of weeks. The Bruins have a road trip to the midwest this week with a showdown against #4 Penn State next weekend. And in two weeks, the Bruins will have the much-anticipated home-and-home series against #3 Long Beach State. The Beach eliminated UCLA in last season's national semifinal in a five-set nailbiter that the Bruins led 2-0 but couldn't finish.
https://uclabruins.com/news/2023/1/27/mens-volleyball-mvb-bests-csun.aspx |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Fri, Feb 03 2:14 pm
(Edited Fri, Feb 03 2:17 pm)
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In response to MVBall: UCLA ranked #2, starts season vs CSUN on Thurs (Woochifer)
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The Bruins lost only their second set of the season against #13 Ohio State in the opening match of the annual Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge (this will be weird when UCLA plays this tournament for the Big Ten) at Penn State. But, they rallied to take the 4th set and win 3-1 over the Buckeyes. Ido David once again led the Bruins with 18 kills, and he took over the match in the 4th set. David and Ethan Champlin were just about even in their hitting percentage and kills through the first couple of sets. But, it seems that getting David back a couple of weeks ago has taken the Bruin attack to a different level.
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=458111
Until late in the 3rd set, Speraw basically stuck with the same lineup with freshman setter Andrew Rowan as the only sub. But, more players got shuffled in and out of the lineup in the 4th set that saw UCLA behind for the most part. But, UCLA rallied late and won the first match point to win the set 25-23. The Bruins remain unbeaten at 9-0 on the season (they also swept winless George Mason on the road earlier in the week).
UCLA now plays host #4 Penn State in their home gym on Saturday at 4pm PST. This will be first true road test for the Bruins. The match will stream on Big Ten+ (another sign of things to come when UCLA joins the Big Ten -- most of the non-revenue sports will be shown on a separate paid streaming service). |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Sun, Feb 05 10:51 am
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In response to MVBall: UCLA ranked #2, starts season vs CSUN on Thurs (Woochifer)
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The Bruins probably played their worst match of the season to that point against Ohio State on Friday, with a season-high 23 service errors. But, they made up for it with 11 aces, and still won a tightly contested match 3-1.
Against #4 Penn State, the Bruins would not have such luck. They had 20 attack errors and 20 service errors, with only 3 aces. This was the first time all season that the Bruins got outhit, and fell behind by large margins in all 3 sets that they lost. Speraw tried several different lineups again, but this time it didn't help.
https://uclabruins.com/news/2023/2/4/mens-volleyball-mvb-falls-in-four.aspx
UCLA will now need to regroup with a home-and-home series against #3 Long Beach State looming next weekend.
The Bruins will have another shot at Penn State in March when they travel to Hawaii for a tournament that will also include a match against #1 Hawaii before what will likely be a full house at the Stan Sheriff Center. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Thu, Feb 09 4:10 pm
(Edited Thu, Feb 09 4:29 pm)
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In response to MVBall: UCLA ranked #2, starts season vs CSUN on Thurs (Woochifer)
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Coach Speraw had been alternating setters all season. Miles Partain is the returning starter and was the MPSF POTY last year. But, freshman Andrew Rowan has been gradually receiving more playing time. Rowan is 6'6" and he leads the team in service aces. Knowing how Speraw favors the big service game, that spells more time on the bench for Partain.
A DB article from earlier in the week indicated that Speraw has been playing a lot of players, but seems ready to narrow down his starting lineup. In particular, the players were commenting on how different both setters are, and how it's an adjustment whenever they switch setters.
Looks like Partain has decided that he doesn't want to be a backup or split time at starter. But, also from the DB article, it sounds like Partain could also be stepping away from the team to focus on beach volleyball, where he's paired with his brother, former UCLA player Marcus Partain. Miles was the AVP offensive POTY last year and is looking to make the beach volleyball national team for Paris 2024.
https://dailybruin.com/2023/02/09/miles-partain-steps-away-from-ucla-mens-volleyball-program
Even though this team is deep, Partain is a high caliber player and losing him going into a high stakes series against #2 Long Beach State is not what the team needs. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Thu, Feb 09 9:07 pm
(Edited Thu, Feb 09 9:10 pm)
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In response to MVBall: UCLA ranked #2, starts season vs CSUN on Thurs (Woochifer)
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After losing to then-#4 Penn State last weekend, and dropping down to #4 in this week's poll, the Bruin men's volleyball team came out tonight and dominated #2 Long Beach State in a straight set sweep that saw the Bruins leading nearly the entirety of every set.
http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=439510
Ido David and Alex Knight had 17 and 12 kills, respectively, and the Bruins hit .551 as a team. UCLA led in kills, aces, digs, and blocks. The only thing that kept the score from being even more out of hand was the Bruins' 23 service errors to only 9 for Long Beach State. But, Long Beach also gave away points with 16 attack errors compared to only 6 for UCLA.
Freshman setter Andrew Rowan had 40 assists, and led the Bruins in digs and blocks.
Great start to the home-and-home series. UCLA and Long Beach State will play again at the Pyramid on Friday night in what will be their final meeting of the season unless they meet again in the NCAA tournament. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Mon, Feb 13 6:09 pm
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In response to MVBall: UCLA ranked #2, starts season vs CSUN on Thurs (Woochifer)
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Interesting column from the Daily Bruin about freshman setter Andrew Rowan now locking down the starting job over Miles Partain, who left the team last week.
The column makes the argument that Rowan's emergence is important to the stability of the team moving forward, because he has 3 more years of eligibility after this season. They reiterated the quote from Merrick McHenry, who indicated that it's tough playing with two starting setters, because their passing is different and hard to find consistency from two different setters.
https://dailybruin.com/2023/02/13/amys-angle-amid-roster-tumult-andrew-rowan-promises-stability-for-ucla-mens-volleyball
Former starter Miles Partain was the conference POTY last year, but according to the article he is due to graduate in 3 years and has his sights on the 2024 Olympics in beach volleyball. He's already a rapidly rising star on the AVP tour. So, in all likelihood this would have been Partain's last year with the indoor team.
The column says that Rowan might not be the better setter right now, but he is the right choice moving forward. |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Fri, Feb 17 4:26 pm
(Edited Fri, Feb 17 4:26 pm)
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In response to MVBall: UCLA ranked #2, starts season vs CSUN on Thurs (Woochifer)
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The Bruins begin MPSF play tonight against long-time nemesis BYU. Fortunately for the Bruins, the MPSF scheduling attempts to reduce travel this season, so both matches against BYU will be in Westwood. Unless the Cougs somehow win the MPSF regular season and host the MPSF tournament, the Bruins will avoid having to play at Smith Fieldhouse this season.
According to the official release, last season's Bruin sweep over the Cougars was the first time that UCLA swept the season series over BYU since 2000. Normally, UCLA has to take at least one road trip into the high altitude and play in that packed bandbox in Provo.
https://uclabruins.com/news/2023/2/15/mens-volleyball-mvb-begins-mpsf-action-on-friday-saturday.aspx
Tonight's 7pm PT match will be on Pac-12 Network LA, while tomorrow's 5pm PT match at the Wooden Center will be streamed (link below).
https://pac-12.com/live/ucla-2 |
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Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,123
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Posted Sat, Feb 18 5:33 pm
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In response to MVBall: UCLA ranked #2, starts season vs CSUN on Thurs (Woochifer)
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The Bruins were dominant again tonight against BYU. For the match, the Bruins hit .481 with David, McHenry, Knight, and Champlin each hitting over .500. In each set, the Bruins got off to a big lead that BYU couldn't overcome.
On the flip side, I can't recall ever seeing BYU this weak on the attack. The Bruins had them off balance all match long.
UCLA now has a couple of home-and-home weekend series against UCI and Concordia-Irvine before heading out to Hawaii for a showdown series against #3 Penn State, Purdue-Fort Wayne, and #1 Hawaii. Recall that the Bruins lost to Penn State in University Park. We'll now see how they fare against the Nittany Lions in a "neutral" gym (I have a feeling that the Hawaii fans will pull for Penn State), and a hostile sold out arena against defending national champion Hawaii. |
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