Other Bruin Sports
Previous topic | Next topic Return to Forum
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
MVB: UCLA preseason pick to win MPSF
Posted Mon, Dec 16 6:05 pm
Amid the tumult of moving to the B1G, men's volleyball remains comparatively steady with its conference affiliations, although the MPSF adds two new teams -- Vanguard and Menlo College.. The back-to-back national champion Bruins were not surprisingly picked to win the MPSF in the preseason coaches poll. Interestingly, Southern Cal was picked 2nd while BYU received one 1st place vote and ranked 3rd in the poll.

Last season's MPSF tournament champ Grand Canyon lost several key players (including MPSF tournament MVP middle blocker Cameron Thorne, who joins the Bruins this season) and is picked 5th this season.

https://uclabruins.com/news/2024/12/16/mens-volleyball-bruins-picked-first-mpsf-preseason-coaches-poll

The MVB schedule came out a couple of weeks ago, and it looks loaded. The Bruins start the season with a December 30 exhibiton, and then start the season on January 9 and 10 against Fairleigh Dickinson and St. Francis. The level of competition will ramp up considerably as they play Ohio State and Penn State in a pair of preseason tournaments in Austin and Columbus. To start February, they play a succession of loaded home-and-home series against Big West foes -- national runner-up Long Beach State, national semifinalist UCI, and UCSB. Then MPSF play begins.

https://uclabruins.com/sports/mens-volleyball/schedule

The Bruins are looking to three-peat, but they have a lot of things working against them. First off, no team has three-peated since 1983, when the Bruins won the 3rd of what became 4 straight national titles and their first one after the GOAT Karch Kiraly graduated.

Also, the Bruins graduated a trio of All-Americans, Ethan Champlin, Merrick McHenry, and Alex Knight, who were crucial to UCLA's back-to-back championship wins. But, they have the #1 overall recruit, Sean Kelly, coming in. And he is purportedly a potential generational recruit.

But, the biggest unknown will be at the top where former Bruin assistant John Hawks returns to Westwood to take over as only the 3rd HC in program history following John Speraw's promotion to CEO of USA Volleyball. Hawks will not inherit a rebuilding job like Speraw did. The Bruins have a loaded roster, but also a lot of talent that remains untested. UCLA will play title contenders Penn State, UCI, and Long Beach State twice before starting conference play. Early tests that will also be consequential to the Bruins' postseason positioning. Things will move fast. Buckle up.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
MVB: Wow! ALL MPSF teams will be televised on B1G+
Posted Sun, Dec 29 4:43 pm (Edited Sun, Dec 29 4:48 pm)
In response to MVB: UCLA preseason pick to win MPSF (Woochifer)
If you haven't started up your streaming subscription to B1G+, here's another big reason to do so now.

The official site posted the men's volleyball schedule a few weeks ago, but they still haven't posted any info about how to view the matches. Even though the B1G does not sponsor men's volleyball, I thought that the B1G TV deal included events in sports that the conference did not officially sponsor.

So, I checked the event calendar for B1G+ and saw that indeed the UCLA men's volleyball home matches will be streamed through B1G+. But, in looking through the men's volleyball listings, I also saw that not only will B1G+ televise the men's volleyball matches for B1G members UCLA and Southern Cal, they will apparently televise the home matches for ALL of other MPSF men's volleyball schools as well.

So, if you want to watch Stanford, BYU, Pepperdine, Grand Canyon, Concordia, or even new 2025 MPSF members Vanguard and Menlo, B1G+ will televise the home matches, even though none of them are B1G members. This is a huge deal that the B1G is picking up the TV coverage for MPSF men's volleyball, because they don't have a similar TV arrangement for the MIVA or the EIVA conferences, where Ohio State and Penn State, respectively, are members.

For Ohio State and Penn State, B1G+ only televises the MIVA and EIVA matches that involve those schools. But, for the MPSF, B1G+ will be showing the home matches for all MPSF schools. Even the Jessup vs Menlo match on January 25 will be shown on B1G+.

This is way more men's volleyball coverage than what the Pac-12 Network has had, because the Pac-12 Network did not televise the road matches against MPSF opponents that weren't Pac-12 members. It will be interesting to see if B1G+ production goes beyond just a high mounted camera with no commentary, like we saw with a lot of the matches that the Pac-12 streamed.

FYI, the road matches against the Big West teams are televised on ESPN+.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
It's official: BIG+ showing all MPSF MVB and BVB matches
Posted Mon, Jan 13 3:02 pm
In response to MVB: Wow! ALL MPSF teams will be televised on B1G+ (Woochifer)
The B1G+ program grid and MPSF website have been telegraphing this announcement for weeks. But, the official announcement came today from the Big Ten Network and MPSF. B1G+ and BTN will be the exclusive home of MPSF men's and beach volleyball.

The schedule will include 135 men's volleyball matches. The beach volleyball schedule has yet to be announced, but this will be the first season that the MPSF will sponsor beach volleyball. With the demise of the old Pac-12, all of the former Pac-12 beach volleyball schools, except those now in the Big XII, will compete in the MPSF along with Grand Canyon.

The network said that at least 3 men's volleyball and 3 beach volleyball matches will be shown on the linear Big Ten Network. All of the other home and conference matches will stream on B1G+.

https://uclabruins.com/news/2025/1/13/big-ten-mpsf-announces-mens-volleyball-streaming-schedule
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
MVB: UCLA ranked #1 as they play exhibition opener today
Posted Mon, Dec 30 3:37 pm
In response to MVB: UCLA preseason pick to win MPSF (Woochifer)
UCLA men's volleyball sees its first action for the 2025 season with an exhibition match today at Pauley against Trinity Western.

The first AVCA coaches poll was also released today. The Bruins are ranked #1, and received 22 of the 23 first place votes. Basically, the two-time defending national champions are #1 until someone else says otherwise. And those tests will come very early this season, along with a new head coach and several roster spots from last season that need filling. And the Bruins were preseason ranked #1 last year as well, but got off to a slow start with Coach Speraw and more starters from the championship team returning.

https://www.avca.org/polls-awards/polls/?_season=2025&_divisions=national-collegiate-men

UCLA is ranked #1, while Long Beach and UCI are #2 and #3. The Bruins battled UCI to the limit in the NCAA semis and Long Beach in the national championship match, and will play home-and-home series against both teams before conference play starts. So, the NCAA pecking order could be decided very early while UCLA is still sorting out its lineup.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
MVB: Opening match vs SFU moved to LB 3pm PT
Posted Fri, Jan 10 8:46 am (Edited Fri, Jan 10 8:48 am)
In response to MVB: UCLA preseason pick to win MPSF (Woochifer)
Yesterday’s season opener against Fairleigh Dickinson was cancelled due to the fires.

Today’s second match against St Francis has been moved to the Goldmine at Long Beach State. It will start at 3pm PT instead of 7pm, and the match will not be televised. Free admission.

https://uclabruins.com/news/2025/1/9/ucla-mens-volleyball-match-against-st-francis-university-rescheduled

The Bruin schedule will ramp up very quickly the next few weeks as they play top 10 B1G foes Ohio State and Penn State next week in Austin and again in 3 weeks in Columbus. In between they play UCSD and CSUN.

Not much time to get the lineups set before a couple of showdown series against #2 Long Beach State and #3 UCI next month.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
BruWIN! Hawks era begins with 3-0 sweep
Posted Fri, Jan 10 8:48 pm
In response to MVB: Opening match vs SFU moved to LB 3pm PT (Woochifer)
Coach Hawks notched his first win as UCLA HC as the Bruins swept St Francis in the shifted season opener down in Long Beach this afternoon. The Bruin attack was led by Cooper Robinson and Ido David. The Bruins had 18 service errors, but St. Francis had 20, so the hard service game didn't hurt the Bruins as they also only had 3 attack errors.

#1 overall recruit Sean Kelly saw his first action, and it wasn't particularly memorable as he got 2 kills and 1 attack error while hitting .125 in 2 sets.

UCLA will travel to Austin next week for a weekend series with Penn State and Ohio State. The Bruins won't have a lot of tune up matches this season, and the showdowns against UCI and Long Beach State will loom large as they could determine the postseason pecking order very early before MPSF conference play even begins.

With UCLA joining the B1G, one intriguing question I've seen on some other volleyball discussions is the outside possibility of the B1G conference officially sponsoring men's volleyball. The B1G is in a peculiar situation now with 4 men's volleyball members representing 3 different conferences (UCLA and Southern Cal in the MPSF; Ohio State in the MIVA, and Penn State in the EIVA). If the B1G decides to take up men's volleyball, they would need to decide what other members to invite.

Historically, the MPSF was the dominant conference as it encompassed all of the west coast powerhouses. But, beginning in 2017, the Big West conference officially added men's volleyball. So, the MPSF had to add some weaker programs like Concordia, Grand Canyon, and this year, Vanguard and Menlo College.

The B1G can make a power move of its own by forming a men's volleyball conference with UCLA, Southern Cal, Ohio State, and Penn State, and selectively adding other power programs like BYU, Pepperdine, and Stanford from the MPSF, Ball State and Loyola Chicago from the MIVA, and Penn State and George Mason from the EIVA.

But, decimating the MIVA and EIVA would not necessarily be best for collegiate men's volleyball in general, even if it would strengthen the competition level for the B1G members. It remains an intriguing idea though. And the B1G has already established a foothold with the MPSF by serving as the TV partner for all the MPSF men's volleyball schools this season.
UclanDoIt
Joined: 1/13/14 Posts: 3,917

Avatars available for donors only
Interesting discussion on MVB and the Big 10
Posted Sat, Jan 11 3:32 pm
In response to BruWIN! Hawks era begins with 3-0 sweep (Woochifer)
Not sure how high my expectations should be for UCLA this year. A new head coach but one with experience and he inherits a talented roster. The plus is despite the move to the Big 10, UCLA will be playing in a familiar conference outside of a couple of replacement programs.

Any discussion on other Big 10 programs adding MVB? That would help build a new conference consisting of primarily Big 10 schools and reduce the need to weaken other leagues by adding their programs. This thought has to take into consideration the issue of adding men's programs and the impact on Title IX.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
MVB: #1 UCLA sweeps Penn State to open Austin tourney
Posted Fri, Jan 17 4:43 pm
In response to MVB: UCLA preseason pick to win MPSF (Woochifer)
The Bruins played an efficient game today in their sweep over #14 Penn State. UCLA went with a similar lineup to the one they used last week against St. Francis. It looks like Coach Hawks will not carry over the libero rotation from last season where Alex Knight and Matthew Aziz alternated, with Aziz coming in when the Bruins were on-serve. Aziz is still on the roster, but Luca Curci is playing libero most of the time.

Zach Rama led the Bruins with 9 kills. Cooper Robinson had 5 kills, but also had 6 attack errors (his family's home burned in the Palisades fire, so it's understandable if his mind is elsewhere). GCU transfer Cameron Thorne also had 5 kills playing middle blocker. Former AA Ido David is back in the starting lineup after backing up Grant Sloane most of last season.

https://uclabruins.com/news/2025/1/17/mens-volleyball-no-1-ucla-sweeps-no-14-penn-state

#1 overall national recruit Sean Kelly did not play today.

UCLA wasn't always sharp, but they were efficient enough to get the sweep. They play #13 Ohio State tomorrow night at 5pm PT on ESPN+.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
MVB: #1 UCLA loses to #13 Ohio State 3-1
Posted Mon, Jan 20 9:00 am (Edited Mon, Jan 20 9:07 am)
In response to MVB: UCLA preseason pick to win MPSF (Woochifer)
I didn't watch this match, but the Bruins lost their first match of the season against #13 Ohio State. UCLA will play Penn State and Ohio State again in two weeks, so at least UCLA will have a chance to use this match to make some adjustments.

From the first glance of the stat lines, UCLA outperformed Ohio State across the board -- kills, hitting %, blocks, digs. But, the Bruins committed 27 service errors to only 15 for Ohio State. Also, the Buckeyes got 7 aces to only 4 for UCLA. Since Coach Hawks is a Speraw disciple dating all the way back to Speraw's championship teams at UC Irvine, it seems that he's also committed to using hard serves to get opponents out of system when receiving. But, it can also be costly if the Bruins are giving away that many points.

Some of the comments on the 247 board seem to point towards libero as an area of early concern. Last season also saw UCLA get off to a rough start because of issues at the libero position. Speraw tried several different approaches at that position before settling on a rotation that worked by moving AA Alex Knight (who'd been benched at outside hitter) to libero only for service reception.

This week will see UCLA play a couple of Big West opponents -- UCSD and CSUN. Those matches will be crucial to fine-tuning the lineup before UCLA plays those showdown series against #2 Long Beach State and #3 UC Irvine.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
MVB: #3 UCLA bounces back with wins over UCSD and CSUN
Posted Sun, Jan 26 8:43 pm (Edited Sun, Jan 26 8:50 pm)
In response to MVB: UCLA preseason pick to win MPSF (Woochifer)
After their loss to Ohio State, UCLA bounced back with a couple of wins over #14 UC San Diego and #15 CSUN. Both wins came by 3-1 margins.

These are decent Big West opponents, and it looks like UCLA is still looking for answers at libero and middle blocker. GCU transfer Cameron Thorne was first-team all-MPSF at middle blocker last season, and he has played well. But, he's filling in the spot held by first team AA and MPSF POTY Merrick McHenry the last two years.

It looks like Coach Hawks is going with Matthew Aziz again as part of a rotation at libero, this time with converted outside hitter Luca Curci. Last season, the other libero alternating with Aziz was former AA Alex Knight. UCLA has the talent, but there are a lot of new faces that Hawks is trying to mix and match.

In the UCSD match, UCLA tried a lot of lineup combinations. But, the Bruins seemed to go with a much shorter bench against CSUN.

Tonight, #1 Long Beach State had to battle back to beat #11 Pepperdine 3-2. So far, #2 UCI is the only team that has played a top 5 opponent, and #5 BYU gave them all they could handle in a 3-2 match.

The other top teams are unbeaten, but they've also looked vulnerable at times.

We're going to find out a lot about this year's UCLA team on Friday when they play Ohio State again; and next week when UCLA has a home-and-home series against #1 Long Beach State. They have a series against #2 UCI the week after next.
Woochifer
Joined: 12/15/11 Posts: 9,118
MVB: #3 UCLA wins over PSU and OSU in B1G Challenge
Posted Sun, Feb 02 4:41 pm
In response to MVB: UCLA preseason pick to win MPSF (Woochifer)
UCLA avenged their loss to Ohio State a couple of weeks ago with a 3-1 win in Columbus on Saturday. The match did not start off well as the Buckeyes built up a big lead in the 1st set, and held off a late Bruin charge to take the set. Neither team hit well in the set, and the Bruins in particular looked flat.

The Bruin rebounded with a big win in the 2nd set, but seemingly fell asleep at the wheel as a flurry of attack and service errors put the Bruins into a 7-point hole midway through the 3rd set. But, the Bruins kept chipping away at the lead and caught the Buckeyes late, as Ohio State began their own string of sloppy play that allowed UCLA to get back into match. The 4th set began with Ohio State taking a 4-point lead, but the Bruins again responded and were able to take the 4th set 26-24. In a way, the Bruins were fortunate to win the last 2 sets. They fell behind in both sets, and the Buckeyes got the crowd behind them. UCLA though played like a veteran team that has been there before, and was able to weather the pressure.

UCLA is now 6-1 on the season and will likely hold onto their #3 ranking. On Friday, the Bruins swept Penn State for the 2nd time this season, but it was not an easy match. UCLA had some sloppy stretches that perhaps kept the match closer than it should have been. UCLA had 21 service errors, but were efficient on the attack. In that match, starting opposite hitter Ido David hit his head while diving for a ball heading out of bounds. He went back into the match briefly, but went out again and did not return the rest of the weekend. No word on when he might return. Sophomore David Decker replaced Ido for the rest of the PSU match and for the Ohio State match.

The Bruins are still going with an alternating setup with Matthew Aziz and Luca Curci at libero.

UCLA now returns to LA for a showdown home-and-home series against #1 Long Beach State. The Beach has looked formidable again this season, but just from my viewing so far the team to watch is #2 UC Irvine. They've played the tougher schedule so far, and have looked dominant. On B1G+, I also caught a lot of the series between #4 Hawaii and #5 BYU. Those teams also look formidable. UCLA has not been consistently dominant just yet, and the lineup remains in flux. The upcoming series against Long Beach State and UC Irvine will say a lot for where the Bruins are.