Top Seed UCLA Wins First MPSF Title Since '06; Bruins Joined by 'Lopes in NCAA Field

4/22/2023 9:20:24 PM

Photo by: Jack Larkin

MPSF Men's Volleyball Weekly Release # 16 (PDF)

2023 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT

Sunday-Saturday, Apr. 30-May 6
Host: George Mason (Eagle Bank Arena; Fairfax, VA)

2023 NC Men's Volleyball Official Bracket | NCAA.com

First Round: Sunday, April 30

Ohio State vs. King—3:00 pm PT

Quarterfinals: Tuesday, May 2

Grand Canyon vs. Long Beach State---2:00 pm PT
Penn State vs. Ohio State/King----4:30 pm PT

Semifinals: Thursday, May 4

TV: ncaa.com

1 seed UCLA vs. GCU/Long Beach State---2:00 pm PT
2 seed Hawaii vs. Penn State/Ohio State/King---4:30 pm PT

NCAA Championship: Saturday, May 6

TV: ESPN2

Semifinal Winners---2:00 pm (PT)

MPSF CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT
Wednesday-Saturday, April 19-22
Host: Stanford University
Maples Pavilion; Stanford, Calif.

MPSF Championship Central

MPSF Championship Central (Stanford)

2023 MPSF All-Tournament Team:

MVP: Merrick McHenry @UCLAMVB
Andrew Rowan @UCLAMVB
Ido David @UCLAMVB
Justin Lui @StanfordMVB
Will Rottman @StanfordMVB
Heath Hughes @BYUvolleyball
Christian Janke @GCU_MVolleyball

MPSF Championship: Saturday, April 22

No. 1 seed UCLA 3, No. 3 seed Stanford 0 (25-22, 25-21, 25-23)
Stats: UCL 3, STA 0 - FINAL (statbroadcast.com)

*UCLA wins 8th MPSF Championship, first since 2006.

Recap by UCLA:

The top-seeded UCLA men's volleyball team (29-2) captured the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) Tournament title for the first time since 2006 when it topped third-seeded Stanford (15-13) on Saturday night in Maples Pavilion. Scores of the match were 25-22, 25-21, 25-23. In recording its 10^th straight win, UCLA earns the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Men's Collegiate Volleyball Championship. The bracket will be announced on Sunday morning at 10 a.m. on ncaa.com.

Middle blocker Merrick McHenry led the UCLA attack with 10 kills on 12 swings without an error for a .833 attack percentage as the Bruins out hit the Cardinal .373 to .173. It marked the 14^th time this season that an opponent has been held below .200. Ido David and Ethan Champlin added seven kills and an ace apiece. Andrew Rowan added three aces and has now registered at least one ace in 19 of the last 20 matches. Troy Gooch added a team-high seven digs.

UCLA moved out to a 7-5 edge to begin set one after an ace by Rowan. Alex Knight's swing made it 10-8. Champlin's spike put UCLA up 13-11. After Stanford rallied to even the score at 13-all, UCLA capitalized on a Cardinal service error and another ace by Rowan for a 15-13 advantage. Back-to-back kills by Champlin handed UCLA a 17-14 advantage. A block by Knight / Guy Genis put the Bruins up 18-14. J.R. Norris IV's swing made it 19-15. A Bruin service error, attack error and Cardinal block pulled Stanford to within one, at 20-19. Zach Rama stopped the run with a kill. A Cardinal kill once again reduced the lead to one. Champlin answered with a kill for 22-20. A bad Cardinal set put UCLA up 23-20. The teams then traded a series of service errors which resulted in a 25-22 Bruin win. UCLA hit .550 in the frame to .375 for the Cardinal.

Champlin's strong serve provided a 5-0 Bruin run to supply a 6-3 lead in set two. The Cardinal tallied three of the next four points to make it 7-6. A block solo by Champlin made it 12-8. McHenry's kill put UCLA up 14-10. Stanford closed to 15-14, but two Cardinal errors followed to put UCLA ahead by three. The Cardinal rallied to even the score at 19-all on an ace. The Bruins responded with four straight points from a McHenry kill, a David kill, a Champlin/McHenry/David block and a Cardinal error for a 23-19 edge. A Champlin / McHenry block handed UCLA set point. A setting error made it 24-21, but Stanford returned the favor with a service error to finish off the set at 25-21.

Stanford grabbed a 5-7 lead early in set three. UCLA tied the score at 9-all following a Rowan ace. The Cardinal used a Bruin service error and a kill to go up 13-15 at the media timeout. Another Cardinal ace grew the gap to 14-17. A kill by Norris, a service error and a Champlin kill pulled UCLA to within one, at 17-18. A Champlin swing keyed a three-point run along with a block by Knight / McHenry and a Champlin ace to put UCLA in front 20-19. The score was then tied at points 21 and 22. Consecutive kills by Norris put UCLA at set point, at 24-22. A Stanford kill made it 24-23. David's seventh kill of the match ended the contest at 25-23.

UCLA now has won 29 matches on the season for the first time since it went 29-5 on the way to winning the National Championship in 2000. The 3-0 win over the Cardinal marked the 20^th Bruin sweep of the season which is the most by a UCLA team since the 1998 squad also had 20 wins in straight sets.

MPSF Semifinals: Thursday, April 20
No. 1 Seed UCLA 3, No. 4 seed Grand Canyon 0 (25-23, 25-19, 25-20)
Stats: GCU vs. UCLA (statbroadcast.com)

No. 3 seed Stanford 3, No. 2 seed BYU 2 (25-20, 23-25, 25-22, 22-25, 15-12)
Stats: Stanford vs. BYU (statbroadcast.com)

MPSF Quarterfinals: Wednesday, April 19
No. 1 Seed UCLA---Bye

No. 2 Seed BYU 3, No. 7 Seed Concordia 1 (20-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-15)
Stats: Concordia (CA) vs. BYU (statbroadcast.com)

No. 3 Seed Stanford 3, No. 6 Seed USC 1 (21-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-15)
Stats: USC vs. Stanford (statbroadcast.com)

No. 4 Seed Grand Canyon 3, No. 5 Seed Pepperdine 0 (25-22, 25-17, 25-20)
Stats: Pepperdine vs. GCU (statbroadcast.com)